Word Facts

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  Hebrew uses an abjad rather than an alphabet, meaning the vowels are not written. There are diacritics (known as nikudos) written above (e.g פֿ / פ), below, or inside the letters (e.g. תּ / ת). Some of these will indicate vowels, but other functions exist as well, including for cantillation and changing the nature of consonants, as with the examples before, depending on tradition. Because they can be written in multiple places and have different functions—only included later in history—in certain texts multiple per letter will be used. In the special case of the 10 commandments , the word תִּֿרְצָֽח (“you will murder”) has 3 diacritics on the first letter in some versions, because the dot inside תִּֿ as well as the line above function the same but are used in different traditions; merely תִּ is more traditional here though because line known as 'rafe' is no longer used for Hebrew and so is just less practical. Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts...

  Now used exclusively by the Church, the terms 'vicar' and and 'diocese' come from Roman administrative terms, used in the government of that empire. 'Vicar' was used to mean 'second in command' in Rome but it came to mean 'deputy' (i.e. a divine proxy) ecclesiastically. It actually comes from the root 'vicārius' meaning 'change' refers more to the idea of 'interchange' like 'vicarious' means today. In the case of the Vicar of Bray (1540) though, he famously was a Catholic vicar twice, and also a Protestant vicar in the span of 48 years in the same place, making the meaning more literal. Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

  People would probably not be terribly surprised to learn that the word ‘kilt’ comes from the same root as ‘skirt’; they are both from Old Norse and basically look the same. What people might not have guessed is that the root of kilt is a lot more feminine than that, as that root has been traced back to the Proto-IndoEuropean root ‘ gelt- ’ meaning ‘womb’. Indeed, the English word ‘child’ ultimately comes from that root, as do other child-rearing related words like the Swedish ‘kilta’ (to swathe/swaddle). Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

The adjective 'novel' and the same word's use as noun have seemingly very different meanings. In German, French, and Dutch a novel is called 'Roman' from the French 'romanz' meaning 'common language'. In English, 'novel' in both senses (at least originally) meant 'new' with the book coming from the Italian 'novella storia' (new story) but the generic nominal form was eventually replaced by 'novelty'.   Check out the new video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3qWOEUXr3k Get Merch:  teespring.com/stores/word-facts Support on  Patreon.com/wordfacts

  There are certain instances when a contraction can’t be used, such as at the end of “that’s just the sort of nice man *he’s”. The reason for this is because there are multiple uses of certain types of verbs including ‘have’, ‘do’, and ‘be’. It is not for that same principle though in the reverse as to why it doesn’t work. The imperative verb ‘don’t’ in “don’t you dare!” cannot be parsed further into “do not you dare” because it is idiomatic, but in “do not/don’t go in there!” this makes no difference. The reason is actually because imperative verbs, verbs that give a direct command, don’t have a subject, and to include a subject one would need to add a different, modal verb “you must not dare”. Dare is actually somewhat of an exceptional verb, so check out more here . Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

  English has more distinct words than just about any other language, depending upon the metrics, and that fact alongside more flexibility with consonant clusters means that compared to Hawai'ian —with a relatively short vocabulary, fewer letters , and an inability for two consonants to appear together —the words in English can more easily be shorter. For instance, the word for 'zoo' in Hawai'ian is 'kahua hōʻikeʻike holoholona laka ʻole' meaning something like "lockable animal display site". Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

The '-ic' suffix is used for forming adjectives and certain nouns such as 'psychic'. That sound-combination exists in other places of course, but those will typically have a -k, making a word like 'frolic' look slightly exceptional. Indeed, 'frolic' was originally an adjective, from the Dutch 'vrolijk' meaning 'merry' or 'cheerful', though these days it is usually a verb, or the noun associated with that verb meaning "to move joyously". Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

  Usually words will not have multiple capital letters outside of acronyms or certain surnames, but digraphs are not treated uniformly. English has plenty of digraphs like CH and TH and so on, treated as one letter for the sake of pronunciation, but two for everything else including capitalization. In Dutch however, digraphs like ij, often even written like ÿ, are both capitalized often, such as with 'IJsland' as opposed to 'Ijsland'. Each language will have its own rules, but usually only one is capitalized. In South Slavic languages which alternate between both Latin and Cyrillic scripts, a Latin digraph—written as only one letter in Cyrillic—will also only capitalize the first Latin letter. Check out the new video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3qWOEUXr3k Get Merch:  teespring.com/stores/word-facts Support on  Patreon.com/wordfacts

  The name for 'Guadalupe' in Mexico comes from Spanish, sort of. Any further than that, there is some debate, though most experts would say that is is from the Arabic وَادِي ال‎ 'wadi' (valley from a dried up river) and the Latin 'lupum' (wolf). This combination was then applied for the patron saint of Mexico. Some others may say however that it was originally from a Celtic hydronym , i.e. a name for a waterway. A disproportionate amount of European river names are from Celtic, and it was possibly borrowed from one of these. Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

Along with the name ' Madelyn ', the Biblical character of Mary Magdalene gave rise to the word 'maudlin'. These days, it cas come to mean tearful or sentimental, but in the past it meant 'weeping'. It is from that sense that the modern definition arose, and it comes from the understanding of Mary Magdalene as weeping in repentance, often depicted as such in art. At one point in time, 'maudlin' also meant 'drunk'. Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

Other names like 'Jocelyn' and 'Kaitlyn' have the '-lyn' ending as a sort of Germanic feminine suffix, but this is not the case with 'Madelyn', or indeed ‘ Madeline '. This name actually originates from 'Magdala'. In English, there is a Biblical figure Mary Magdalene, but in Latin this is Maria Magdalena, or literally 'Maria from Migdal' (a city in Israel). The given name 'Madelyn' as such originated as with many other modern ones as a surname. Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

  There are lots of systems for measurements, often with internal variations. For instance, there are long and short versions of both hundreds and hundredweights . There are also Troy weights, which are an alternative weight system alongside avoirdupois called Troy weight, started in Troyes, France, but used officially in England in the 15th century until 1824. All of the weights were based on the grain like the current Imperial system, and indeed, most of the terminology was the same, so it does mean that even though writing from the past may reference similar terms, there will be slight discrepancies. Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

  European alphabets in use today like the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic alphabets are all bicameral, meaning they have both upper and lower cases. However, there are some exceptions to this. For instance, the German ß representing SS (or technically SZ) did not have a capital form ẞ until 2017 because it only appears in the middle of words, and would only be used for all-caps use; this therefore is still pretty rare and not accepted everywhere. There will be more on capitals tomorrow. Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

  The Torah is written in Hebrew, the New Testament in Greek, and the Quran in Arabic, but the Mormons actually invented a writing system for the Book for Mormon too. The Deseret alphabet was invented in 1847, but it was designed as a writing system for English. Over its development period however, it was believed that this more phonologically based system would help immigrants to learn the language, providing more symbols for distinct vowels, diphthongs, and consonants which are not distinguished specifically in the Latin-based script, such as 𐐟 representing ʃ (SH). In total there are 40 characters, but many are similar to the Latin script, though some visual similarities are not correspondent, such as 𐐛 which represents θ (TH as in 'thin'). Despite extensive promotion by the LDS Church, use in books and streetsigns, by the 1870s the Deseret alphabet was falling out of favor. Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/w...

  Lyres are instruments and obviously can't sing, but they are the reason why sung words are called 'lyrics'. Lyres were essentially a national instrument in Greece originally Egyptian, but by the 18th century or so, it became emblematic of lyric poetry which also bears the name. It is from this association with music in a general sense that 'lyre' gave rise not only to 'lyrics' but also a constellation in the shape of the instrument, apparently. Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

  During the Spanish Inquisition, two words very came to the forefront: 'converso' and 'marrano'. These were both terms for Muslims and Jews who professed faith in Christianity, but while 'converso' describes a converted person, marranos practiced their faith in secret. This ultimately derives from the Arabic حَرَّمَ‎ (muḥarram) meaning 'forbidden', but the word had already been adopted into Spanish. This term is also related to 'haram' in Sharia, and also 'harem' originally meaning 'forbidden place', as in a room only designated for women, forbidden to men. Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

  The Iberian peninsula was under Muslim control to varying degrees for 7 centuries. The linguistic effects are less extreme than the French effect on English, with only about 8% of modern Spanish vocabulary from Arabic as opposed to about 30% of English's vocabulary from French, but it is still noticeable. In both however, disproportionately these are words for foods, legal terms , high culture, academia, and interjections. Examples from each in Spanish include 'arroz' (rice) and 'azeite' (olive oil in Portuguese), alcalde (mayor), 'cero' (zero), and ojalá ('let it be...') originally 'may Allah want...'. Many scientific and mathematical words eventually entered English . Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

  The German city of Baden-Baden is famous for its double name (along with its many spas ), but that name has only been formal since 1931. The name has always referenced the natural springs, even in Roman times with the Latin 'Aquae' (Waters). In German, 'Baden' means 'bathing', but it is also an earlier form of 'Bäder' meaning 'baths' and it is this that the name derives. Like how there is a Bath in England, other areas with natural springs have this name in the German-speaking world, including a Baden near Vienna and one near Zürich, so not only is the duplication as a reference to a now-dissolved territory around the city (i.e. 'Baden in Baden'), but also as a distinguishing factor. Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts

  Creole's in general, are marked by having elements of various languages mixed together, both in the vocabulary and in the grammar, but also a lot of morphological simplification. Both Seychelles creole and Haitian creole lack grammatical gender for instance despite the fact that they are based off of French primarily. In general, analytic languages are easier for adults to understand and so language invented mainly by adults, such as creoles, will likely end up as such. Watch the newest video, about historical languages . Get Word Facts Merch . Support on Patreon.com/wordfacts