My newest image using this template, here’s the word for “tongue” in 64 living Indo-European languages, and a bunch of dead ones. If it doesn’t look HD, try clicking on it to open the image in a new window: This is my second image in this style. For the previous one, in which I go […]
Language
Indo-European Words for ‘Name’
I’ve created a huge tree to show the relationship between 64 living Indo-European languages, and many dead or extinct ones.With this template I’m planning on making a series of images to show how various words in these languages have shared etymologies. This is the first image in that series: words for “name”. If it doesn’t […]
Map of British English dialects
This map took me a long time to make, and is very detailed, but will always be incomplete and inaccurate due to the nature of language. Why this map is so detailed The diversity of English dialects in the United Kingdom is enormous. It’s common for people from either side of a river, mountain, or […]
Etymological Tree of Sker
I started making an image showing how “skirt” and “shirt” are from the same origin, but got a bit carried away with all the other words also related. So here are 23 English words all from the Proto-Indo-European word “*(s)ker-” (‘to cut’). As a general rule: if a PIE word started with “sk”, and it […]
British and Irish words for British and Irish nations
Infographics mapping out the various origins and etymologies of the names of seven British and Irish nations in the seven main languages of those nations. Before we get into the etymology, you may want to make sure you’re familiar with what all these words actually refer to. Here’s my post about how to use these […]
Reborrowings
Words that were borrowed, and then returned What we call “borrowed words” aren’t really borrowed. When English took the Japanese word “tsunami”, there was no intention to return it. They’re more like “stolen words”. Actually, since the original language keeps them, they might better be labelled “pirated words”. Anyway… in a few cases, the words […]
Rampant Rebracketing
Rebracketing, or as I like to call it, “reb-racketing”, is when words are split in a way that is different from the way they were built. For example, I have rebracketed my my own surname in the logo of this site. I like to think of my name as ⭐🔑, but really, “Starkey” comes from […]
Dizzying Doublets
Have you ever wondered why the word ‘language’ sounds so similar to the word ‘tongue’? Probably not, because those words sound totally different. So you may be surprised to know that both come from the same origin, a word used around 6000 years ago in a language called Proto-Indo-European (PIE). That word was something like […]
Hausos: The Original Dawn Goddess
This is number 2 in a series I’m writing about Proto-Indo-European deities. For part one, click here: Perkwunos: the Original Thunder God The Anglo-Saxon, Lithuanian, Roman, Greek and Hindu dawn goddesses are (probably) all related, and descended from an ancient goddess worshipped 6000 years ago. Hausos: The Proto-Indo-European Dawn Goddess We have no writing or records […]