Happy #LimerickDay! In lieu of a (bad) limerick of our own, we’ll point you to our video about Verse, which talks about the basics of poetic form, including the limerick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxFzgH0y9Jw

Cheval de bât (fr) > bat-horse (en, cheval portant les bagages d'un officier) > batman (en, soldat chargé de ces affaires) = ordonnance.
#etymologie #etymology #TIL
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_(military)

#Pellucid: An adjective meaning "transparent, translucent, admitting the passage of light." Originating from the 1610s, from #Latin pellucidus #etymology #ancientwords #words #light #shine

http://contentcatnip.com/2025/05/11/ancient-word-pellucid/

Just realised that #German "über" looks suspiciously close to #English "hyper" and must surely come from the same Greek original (presumably ύπερ?) It's not far from "over" either (English, Norwegian), suggesting all three might be related. #language #etymology

The origins of ‘say “uncle”’

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/57984/why-do-we-say-uncle

For #NationalTourismDay, may we direct you to our video about the Olympics, Amateurs, and – it turns out – tourism? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im0C18vcyFE

Les mini-vidéos de l'éthymothèque sont beaucoup trop mignonnes ! <3
#etymology #etymologie
https://youtu.be/lNsL7B-KWdU

Happy #NationalTeacherDay! Thank you to all the teachers whose work is so important. To mark the day, here’s our video on the etymologies and history of education: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR0YVsr8QhU #NationalTeachersDay #TeacherAppreciationDay #TeacherAppreciationWeek

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is CONCLAVE/EXVLUSIVE/CLOSE/CONCLUDE #wotd #conclave #exclusive #close #conclude

It’s #NationalCartoonistsDay! Here’s our video “Marvel” about the history of comics and cartoons, to celebrate! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_V7GSoi314

Happy #MuseumLoversDay! Did you know that ‘museum’ and ‘music’ are related words? We got into that in our video on Music, but we talked about the early history of museums in this Endnote: https://youtu.be/tbvvu2NDL-A

It’s #BirdDay! So here are some bird etymologies to celebrate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HITkoa7q5J0

Happy #StarWarsDay! Here’s the surprisingly connected origins of "protocol" and "droid" (and why blue milk is kind of the thing that glues them together)! https://youtube.com/shorts/ibFTMbTBFAI

Happy #FreeComicBookDay! So here’s our video “Marvel” about the history of comics, to celebrate! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_V7GSoi314

It’s #InternationalScurvyAwarenessDay! Do you know the connection between the classic cocktail the Gimlet, and the search for a cure for scurvy? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7jEH6E6l90

Happy #NationalLifeInsuranceDay! We actually have an appropriate video, that covers the origins of life insurance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejaOKvarqkg
It’s actually the third in a series about insurance and mathematics and coffee, if you’re looking for more!

If you were seeking an infodump on the #etymology of the term #redneck: https://youtu.be/jiJy8ah58_M

#history @histodons

TIL that the "fer" in "inferno" is totally unrelated to "fire". Inferno is from the root meaning below, as with inferior and infrastructure. The inferno is the "lower place" i.e. the underworld or hell, hence the association with fire.

It's also totally unrelated to "infer" (carry in), which comes from the root meaning to carry or to bear, as with transfer (carry across), suffer (carry under, as with a burden), aquifer (water carrier), conifer (cone carrier), and Lucifer (light carrier). Plus a bunch of words that are spelled with "pher" or "phor", like peripheral (carried around), semaphore (signal carrier), and metaphor (a "carrying over" of meaning). And a bunch of words spelled with "ber" or similar, including burden, birth, bring, wheelbarrow, and bear — the verb, but not the animal, which comes from the root for "brown". #etymology

Unexpected #etymology of the day: "epaulet" is ultimately akin to "spatula"

Happy #MayDay! Solidarity to those on strike and thank you to the unions fighting for workers’ rights. Here are some labour-related etymologies to celebrate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f2o__MMn88