It's Christmas (Vánoce) here, and that means my in-laws' nativity scene is now out, including the most chilled Infant Jesus in the world. He looks very pleased with how this whole incarnation thing is going.

How would you motivate people to study foreign languages? This German caller has the ultimate, definitive answer. [I love this so much 💙]

Working through the ALILI back catalogue at random means this is 18 months old, but: I had a jolt of recognition when Daria mentioned C18 word lists compiled by "Pallas". This is Peter Simon Pallas (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_S...), whom I knew from the fact a lot of Siberian birds carry his name.

An example of how individuals can shape spelling (that I wish I'd included in my book) is 'ache'. It was historically spelled 'ake', but because Dr Johnson and others thought (reasonably but incorrectly) that it came from Greek, its spelling shifted to a Greek CH (like 'chronic', 'school') instead.

Train reading ft. @dannybate.bsky.social

If you're looking for a last-minute gift, may I recommend the audio version of Why Q Needs U? The book is 𝑓𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 on its own, but hearing the author read the words himself--with all the pronunciation & accent nuance inherent in the story of our alphabet--makes it even better!

A podcast I love is @dannybate.bsky.social's 'A Language I Love Is' Great discussions, lovely people and such enthusiasm for language! Thank you for spreading the love!

A big part of being a historian is being a detective! Who did this? Why? Where? Why does it matter in the grand scheme of things? You have to learn how to probe, how to uncover, how to read against the grain, how to find unusual sources, how to interpret those sources. How to piece together a puzzle

Still looking for a nice Christmas gift? How about a thoroughly linguistic book for a language-loving friend? Or for a language-hating enemy? Here's a book that was named one of The Economist's books of 2025, and that was enjoyed by Stephen Fry and several members of my family. geni.us/WhyQNeedsU

Some much-needed good news, including • renewables overtake coal as source of electricity globally • new oceans protections pledged in the High Seas Treaty • landmark litigation to facilitate accountability for climate breakdown • indigenous wins at COP 🌱❣️🌊 www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

People in Oxford or thereabouts! Come see @susiedentwords.bsky.social in February, in conversation with a significantly less famous guy who's inexplicably and hilariously been given top billing!

Many English words stem from Latin. But did you know there are Latin words that ended up in English two times - in two different forms? These are called doublets. Over the next days, you'll see doublets in French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan, Galician, Dutch, and English again.

My (Czech, non-religious) wife had apparently not heard the traditional English wording of the Lord's Prayer before, what with its archaic words and meanings, because in response to "thy will be done", she innocently asked "thy what will be done?"

'Hubris' is a recent (19th-century) arrival in English, taken directly from Ancient Greek ὕβρις. That's reflected in its spelling – English has historically rendered the Greek letter upsilon with Y (e.g. 'cycle', 'gym'), but 'hubris' gets a U. 'Hybris' is also documented, but it hasn't caught on.

Still looking for investors for my medieval-themed dairy-produce stall called Ȝurt

This spooky carved relief of Ankou, the Breton personification of death, can found on the ossuary of the church of St Yves in La Roche-Maurice. He holds an arrow and a banner that reads 'JE VOUS TUE TOUS' (I kill you all). #ReliefWednesday

if there's one thing i've learnt from this book, it's that the english would literally do anything rather than introduce diacritics

There's a genus of false saber-toothed cats named after Pangur Bán en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangurban

Thinking about the demonyms for which English uses the ending '-ese' – the main factor seems to be Romance, such as for Italian places (e.g. Genoese) or East Asian and African places mediated through Italian or Portuguese (e.g. Chinese, Cantonese). But however I theorise, 'Faroese' is an exception.

Kiel, Germany, 1931

AI has actively made life worse for literally everyone - tech is now more expensive - you cannot trust most media of reality anymore - programs barely function - energy prices - literal psychosis - your voice can be literally stolen for evil - more spyware but hey, you can avoid paying an artist.

See also: www.academia.edu/33466267/Pos... as well as other articles by the same author: jagiellonian.academia.edu/KamilStachow...

LingoGuessr: One picture and one linguistic example, guess the location and/or the language

Learned today that “Galápagos” comes from a Spanish word for tortoise, meaning that “Galápagos Tortoise” is, in fact, a tortology

it's also interesting that Neapolitan, despite coming from a different Romance branch, also ended up with similar fused preposition-pronouns "cummico" amd "cuttico" (although standard Italian influenced "cu 'mme" and "cu 'tte" also exist apparently), wonder how such uncommon process happened twice

I have a fondness for the pronouns meaning 'with X' that you find in Spanish, Portuguese and Galician (like conmigo 'with me' and contigo 'with you'), because both the con- bit and the -go bit come from the Latin for 'with' – meaning that conmigo is etymologically 'with-me-with'.

A short video about the "terrifying" language Old Irish: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKmj...

@dannybate.bsky.social if you've not seen it already, thought you might find it interesting. And now I need some cheese...

'Vampire' is a word with debated origins – having tracked it to a Balkan Slavic language (likely Serbian), it gets lost in a dark forest of roots and borrowings. I'm intrigued by this paper's proposal that a local Latin word (impūrus 'unclean') might be behind it all: www.jstor.org/stable/24599...

I love words like "yes" and "no." You'd think they are these ordinary rocks of words. But crack 'em open and you discover they are etymological geodes. "Yes" could be from the Old English "gea hit is swa" (yea, it is so)? Get out! That's just the start of it: mashedradish.com/2025/12/12/y...

Have confessed to my wife that I have a new love, who I've been seeing in London recently. Her name is Elizabeth (second name: Line), and I'm totally smitten

New review: Why Q Needs U by @dannybate.bsky.social, fascinating and satisfying account of how the (English) alphabet developed and works. Out now. Great fun! 📚💙 #BookSky bluebookballoon.blogspot.com/2025/12/revi...

Had the pleasure of meeting the compelling linguist @dannybate.bsky.social at Kett’s Books in Wymondham tonight! And of course got my copy of his book signed! 😊

Nātīvus is the Latin source of English 'native', but it also gained some new meanings after Latin developed into French. From Latin onwards, we see it come to mean 'natural', then 'without artifice', 'simple' and 'credulous'. It's from a French word with the later sense that English gets 'naive'.

'Skull of St. Thomas Aquinas being transported to Fossanova Abbey.' Photograph by Daniel Ibanez

A male rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) in winter plumage. Ptarmigan is from Gaelic 'tarmachan' meaning "croaker". The p- was added when people mistakenly assumed it was a Greek word. A bird forever warning people: "A werewolf!" (just in case of werewolves).

@dannybate.bsky.social I had to delay starting your book but, having at last done so, am already delighted by the Introduction: “there is nothing unmanageable about precise, academic vocabulary, so long as it’s introduced and explained properly.” (Never a better judged contraction.)

All my life I've been told that I speak with a 'BBC accent', so I guess today my accent came home.

What better way to start the week than with a lovely Roman face pot - this one was found in York and dates from the early third century. It's features resembles those of the empress Julia Domna and it may have been made to commemorate her time spent there in 208-211 CE.

Phernḗ is the Ancient Greek word for a dowry, derived from the common verb phérein 'to bring', as it's what a wife brought with her. Parápherna were a wife's property separate from a dowry. This term was adopted into Latin, and from the Latin adjective paraphernālis, English gets 'paraphernalia'.

I listened to this one earlier today and it was a fantastic episode - really learned a lot from it! Definitely worth a listen 👍

Just listened - fascinating! We should view our alphabet the way we view the night sky: we see objects of vastly different ages and origins that converge into the pattern we see. But stargazers in 500 years may see something rather different.

Fallen down a research rabbit hole about the phrase 'manners maketh man' – why the plural subject 'manners' gets the singular verb ending '-eth'? Apparently it's not a fake archaism, nor a case of a misunderstood phrase with OVS order, but rather a product of a dialect where '-eth' could be plural.

The word ‘law’ is connected with ‘legal’, but etymologically they’re entirely unrelated. ‘Law’ is related to the verbs ‘to lie’ and ‘to lay’. It comes from a Germanic word meaning “things that are laid out”. ‘Legal’ is related to ‘loyal’. Both derive from Latin ‘lēx’ (law). Zoom in to learn more:

Well, would you look at that, two of my favorite podcasts get a crossover. That's a lovely thing to find out at the end of a very very long day :)

Listen with horror as Gone Medieval, one of the foremost English-language podcasts about medieval history, of which I've been a loyal listener for years, is now invaded by linguistics, thanks to yours truly. Apple: podcasts.apple.com/kh/podcast/m... Podlink: pod.link/1564113746/e...

These are just three of the thousands of so-called 'eye idols' that were discovered at a temple in Tell Brak in Syria. Dating to around 3600 BCE, they are probably votive offerings. They are now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. @camunivmuseums.bsky.social #FindsFriday

Some of my favourite etymologies are that of lord (hlāford) and lady (hlǣfdige).

Bread guard of the Rings