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62<style type="text/css">#header { background: url(https://languagehat.com/wp-content/themes/languagehat/images/header.jpg) no-repeat !important; }</style> 63<style>.recentcomments a{display:inline !important;padding:0 !important;margin:0 !important;}</style></head> 64<body class="wp-singular post-template-default single single-post postid-20438 single-format-standard wp-theme-genesis wp-child-theme-languagehat header-image header-full-width content-sidebar"><div id="wrap"><div id="header"><div class="wrap"><div id="title-area"><p id="title"><a href="https://languagehat.com/">languagehat.com</a></p></div></div></div><div id="inner"><div id="content-sidebar-wrap"><div id="content" class="hfeed"><div class="post-20438 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-uncategorized entry"><h1 class="entry-title">Brock, Barn.</h1> 65<div class="post-info"><span class="date published time" title="2026-09-22T15:58:20-04:00">September 22, 2026</span> by <span class="author vcard"><span class="fn"><a href="https://languagehat.com/author/languagehat/" rel="author">languagehat</a></span></span> <span class="post-comments"><a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comments">68 Comments</a></span> </div><div class="entry-content"><p>Two rural words, one common and one not, both with interesting etymologies I hadn’t known.</p> 66<p>1) <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/brock"><em>brock</em></a> ‘(male) badger’:</p> 67<blockquote><p>From Middle English <em>brok</em>, from Old English <em>broc</em> (âbadgerâ), related to Danish <em>brok</em> (âbadgerâ); both probably originally from a Celtic source akin to Irish <em>broc</em>, Welsh <em>broch</em>, Cornish <em>brogh</em> and thus ultimately from Proto-Celtic *<em>brokkos</em>. </p></blockquote> 68<p>Wiktionary says it’s a male badger, but the OED (entry from 1888) doesn’t limit it by sex; to quote its definition: “A badger: a name, in later times, associated especially with the epithet <em>stinking</em>.” Poor creature!</p> 69<p>2) <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/barn"><em>barn</em></a>; OED (entry 1885):</p> 70<blockquote><p>Old English <em>bÄre-ern</em> lit. âbarley-place,â < <em>bÄre</em> barley + <em>ærn, ern,</em> place, closet, storeroom; reduced already in Old English to <em>bÄrern, bÄren, bÄrn,</em> whence Middle English <em>bern</em>, modern <em>barn</em>.</p></blockquote> 71<p>Simple but surprising!</p> 72<!--<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" 73 xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" 74 xmlns:trackback="http://madskills.com/public/xml/rss/module/trackback/"> 75 <rdf:Description rdf:about="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/" 76 dc:identifier="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/" 77 dc:title="Brock, Barn." 78 trackback:ping="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/trackback/" /> 79</rdf:RDF>--> 80</div><div class="post-meta"></div></div><div id="comments"><h3>Comments</h3><ol class="comment-list"> 81 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755509"> 82 83 84 <div class="comment-header"> 85 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 86 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/265a0ea8617e7cc7124a9ba66d5e8763d9d0065988b657bbd6e20a1db8809ff5?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/265a0ea8617e7cc7124a9ba66d5e8763d9d0065988b657bbd6e20a1db8809ff5?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">David Eddyshaw</cite> 87 <span class="says"> 88 says </span> 89 </div> 90 91 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 92 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755509">September 22, 2026 at 4:12 pm</a> 93 </div> 94 </div> 95 96 <div class="comment-content"> 97 98 <p>“Badger” in Welsh can also be <i>mochyn daear</i> “earth pig”; i.e. aardvark.</p> 99<p>[“Aardvark” in Kusaal is <i>teÅinbÊÅ</i> “earth donkey”, which seems fair enough. They do look a bit more asinine than porcine, I reckon.]</p> 100 </div> 101 102 <div class="reply"> 103 </div> 104 105 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 106 107 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755518"> 108 109 110 <div class="comment-header"> 111 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 112 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d8544f0c150aa48757da96f999c611159de77e217a8c8f8e9fc05c541568e557?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d8544f0c150aa48757da96f999c611159de77e217a8c8f8e9fc05c541568e557?s=96&d=mm&
112r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">J.W. Brewer</cite> 113 <span class="says"> 114 says </span> 115 </div> 116 117 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 118 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755518">September 22, 2026 at 4:45 pm</a> 119 </div> 120 </div> 121 122 <div class="comment-content"> 123 124 <p>I wondered about the surname (and then given-name) “Brock” and wiktionary sez “variant of Brook, or originally a nickname for someone thought to resemble a badger.” I’m not sure if they’re saying that different bearers of the name acquired it through different pathways or just that there are two different theories and they don’t know which one is historically accurate.</p> 125 </div> 126 127 <div class="reply"> 128 </div> 129 130 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 131 132 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755520"> 133 134 135 <div class="comment-header"> 136 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 137 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b554974ca2fb0a9365c5372dc693d258f9a19efc987649d8606ec8591ec8976a?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b554974ca2fb0a9365c5372dc693d258f9a19efc987649d8606ec8591ec8976a?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">ktschwarz</cite> 138 <span class="says"> 139 says </span> 140 </div> 141 142 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 143 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755520">September 22, 2026 at 5:03 pm</a> 144 </div> 145 </div> 146 147 <div class="comment-content"> 148 149 <p>I know <i>brock</i> mainly — maybe only — from those lists of the <a href="https://languagehat.com/latino-punic/#comment-1547261" rel="ugc">puzzlingly small number of Celtic loans into Old English</a>.</p> 150<p>Why would the English throw away their inherited Germanic word and replace it with a loanword, only to replace it again with <i>badger</i> since the 1500s? What is it with Europeans and their obsession with changing the name of the badger? Much discussion of that here under <a href="https://languagehat.com/taboo-deformation-and-the-bear/#comment-2890650" rel="ugc">Taboo Deformation and the Bear</a>. There’s no agreement on what the PIE name for the badger might have been, even though, as Mallory/Adams write in frustration, it’s among the species that are “found so widely over Eurasia that they should have been familiar to the Proto-Indo-Europeans irrespective of where their homeland lay.”</p> 151 </div> 152 153 <div class="reply"> 154 </div> 155 156 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 157 158 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755526"> 159 160 161 <div class="comment-header"> 162 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 163 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/52cfc89fa8546f5db60f9a925d81865d4997bbe7bbdec9747e73eead134ff94c?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/52cfc89fa8546f5db60f9a925d81865d4997bbe7bbdec9747e73eead134ff94c?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">ulr</cite> 164 <span class="says"> 165 says </span> 166 </div> 167 168 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 169 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755526">September 22, 2026 at 6:10 pm</a> 170 </div> 171 </div> 172 173 <div class="comment-content"> 174 175 <p>“Brock” is also a surname in Germany —<a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bazon_Brock" rel="nofollow ugc">Bazon Brock</a>. I remember him on TV decades ago, he was already then an unsufferable pretentious windbag.</p> 176 </div> 177 178 <div class="reply"> 179 </div> 180 181 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 182 183 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755536"> 184 185 186 <div class="comment-header"> 187 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 188 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/0472448d29ba4f5358275dce11be3c94c01e71a2d0c84634a8d18a66b2b17d8c?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/0472448d29ba4f5358275dce11be3c94c01e71a2d0c84634a8d18a66b2b17d8c?s=96&d=mm&
188r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Lars Skovlund</cite> 189 <span class="says"> 190 says </span> 191 </div> 192 193 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 194 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755536">September 22, 2026 at 8:41 pm</a> 195 </div> 196 </div> 197 198 <div class="comment-content"> 199 200 <p>‘Brok’ for a badger is certainly not well known in Danish, even though ordnet.dk says it exists. The usual meaning is either ‘hernia’ or ‘complaining’.</p> 201 </div> 202 203 <div class="reply"> 204 </div> 205 206 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 207 208 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755559"> 209 210 211 <div class="comment-header"> 212 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 213 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/871df4f31837ed2d1ada9d48c296603fcd4028627d82160657da0350e8ed389b?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/871df4f31837ed2d1ada9d48c296603fcd4028627d82160657da0350e8ed389b?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Ryan</cite> 214 <span class="says"> 215 says </span> 216 </div> 217 218 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 219 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755559">September 23, 2026 at 12:54 am</a> 220 </div> 221 </div> 222 223 <div class="comment-content"> 224 225 <p>Hat,</p> 226<p>Hopefully this wonât seem like a stalkerâs comment. </p> 227<p>After your mention of Endeavour several weeks ago, I turned it on, and at some point I think I passed you, after Cosset and before (Tommy) Brock. </p> 228<p>Now, Iâm wondering if youâve come to âhard graftâ yet. Or when you do, it may be good for another post.</p> 229<p>Or maybe the ground is already trodden. But I found <a href="https://www.worldwidewords.org/qa-har3.html" rel="nofollow ugc">this</a> interesting.</p> 230 </div> 231 232 <div class="reply"> 233 </div> 234 235 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 236 237 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755564"> 238 239 240 <div class="comment-header"> 241 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 242 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ce6b611a98c0665545f91a1e89b47f54d2c99e0a3865f793ab2e96ba4080cb1e?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ce6b611a98c0665545f91a1e89b47f54d2c99e0a3865f793ab2e96ba4080cb1e?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Vanya</cite> 243 <span class="says"> 244 says </span> 245 </div> 246 247 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 248 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755564">September 23, 2026 at 1:44 am</a> 249 </div> 250 </div> 251 252 <div class="comment-content"> 253 254 <p>âBrockâ in America is âBrock Landersâ, the action hero memorably portrayed by Dirk Diggler in âAngels Live in My Townâ</p> 255 </div> 256 257 <div class="reply"> 258 </div> 259 260 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 261 262 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755565"> 263 264 265 <div class="comment-header"> 266 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 267 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8e5002101697a7b7e3d9a4342639a94dffddf40b52f265fe035c7c3b384efa1f?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8e5002101697a7b7e3d9a4342639a94dffddf40b52f265fe035c7c3b384efa1f?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Stu Clayton</cite> 268 <span class="says"> 269 says </span> 270 </div> 271 272 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 273 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755565">September 23, 2026 at 1:46 am</a> 274 </div> 275 </div> 276 277 <div class="comment-content"> 278 279 <p>@ulr: <i>… Bazon Brock. I remember him on TV decades ago, he was already then an unsufferable pretentious windbag.</i></p> 280<p>Many years ago Sloterdijk would insert in his books little puff passages about Brock. I could never find out much about him. I concluded Brock must live in deserved obscurity, no matter how cool Slotty thinks he is.</p> 281<p>Curious phenomenon, writers I like who claim to have been inspired by some other writer whom I then find to be mind-deadeningly unreadable. In early years Luhmann obsessed over Gotthard Günther (“multivalued Hegelian logic” ….), later over Spencer-Brown.</p> 282<p>Inspiration is not always easy to pass on. In fact I now think Sloterdijk and Luhmann didnât try very hard, because after all they had their own tattie scones to
282sell.</p> 283 </div> 284 285 <div class="reply"> 286 </div> 287 288 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 289 290 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755569"> 291 292 293 <div class="comment-header"> 294 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 295 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/682a58800b87f94be7f972e7db71b72c823ed34ffd748b1d6b921fec6aa89b09?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/682a58800b87f94be7f972e7db71b72c823ed34ffd748b1d6b921fec6aa89b09?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Andreas Johansson</cite> 296 <span class="says"> 297 says </span> 298 </div> 299 300 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 301 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755569">September 23, 2026 at 2:31 am</a> 302 </div> 303 </div> 304 305 <div class="comment-content"> 306 307 <p>In Swedish, “badger” is <i>grävling</i>, “little digger”.</p> 308<p>The older word was <i>tax</i> but today that means only “dachshund”.</p> 309 </div> 310 311 <div class="reply"> 312 </div> 313 314 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 315 316 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755573"> 317 318 319 <div class="comment-header"> 320 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 321 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/bb2aa142f554a58cb2e3036b359e6263e8b5f2d0c4b5dee263b6c60e4cce2a08?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/bb2aa142f554a58cb2e3036b359e6263e8b5f2d0c4b5dee263b6c60e4cce2a08?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn"><a href="https://www.linguistichistory.com" class="url" rel="ugc external nofollow">Nelson Goering</a></cite> 322 <span class="says"> 323 says </span> 324 </div> 325 326 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 327 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755573">September 23, 2026 at 2:54 am</a> 328 </div> 329 </div> 330 331 <div class="comment-content"> 332 333 <p>Old English <i>ærn</i> doesn’t really mean “closet” or “storeroom”, but rather “building” (but it’s not so general as “place”). This could encompass granaries and storage sheds, but probably only as freestanding constructions. Latin words it glosses or translates include <i>domus</i>, <i>tugurium</i>, <i>habitaculum</i>, and <i>casa</i>. It shouldn’t be taken as necessarily exactly equivalent to any of those: these kinds of equivalencies can be very context-specific, and sometimes very loose, but the range is suggestive. We also have the word being used in the compound <i>medo-ærn</i> to refer to Heorot in <i>Beowulf</i>.</p> 334<p>Tangential, but as an illustration of how bizarre glossing can sometimes get, I like the example of EÌpinal Glossary 1062 (this is a very early gloss-collection containing the oldest reasonably substantial English-language material we have: the glossary itself is copied in the eighth century, but probably incorporates gloss material from the late seventh), <i>suehoras</i>. We would expect this word to mean “fathers-in-law” (like German <i>SchwaÌher</i>), but the word is actually found glossing Latin <i>uitelli</i>. This is apparently due to the original gloss having been to some history like the <i>Orosius</i>, which mentioned the two brothers of the Vitellia clan who were executed by their brother-in-law Brutus. The proper clan-name was glossed with a description. Since they were actually brothers-in-law, not fathers-in-law, either the word had gained a somewhat looser sense (close male relatives by marriage?), or the glossator was a bit confused about the family dynamics.</p> 335 </div> 336 337 <div class="reply"> 338 </div> 339 340 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 341 342 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755576"> 343 344 345 <div class="comment-header"> 346 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 347 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a9595a460a63b73799dd7ccd11cb76f36b36302511875d3e7d15eb8d15c09194?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a9595a460a63b73799dd7ccd11cb76f36b36302511875d3e7d15eb8d15c09194?s=96&d=mm&
347r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">PlasticPaddy</cite> 348 <span class="says"> 349 says </span> 350 </div> 351 352 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 353 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755576">September 23, 2026 at 3:19 am</a> 354 </div> 355 </div> 356 357 <div class="comment-content"> 358 359 <p>@ng<br /> 360In modern German, Schwager / -ägerin is “brother/sister in law” (DWDS has ” Ehemann eines Geschwisters oder Bruder des einen Ehepartners”), whereas the word for father/mother in law is Schwiegervater / Mutter. Are you sure the Old English primary sense was “father in law”?</p> 361 </div> 362 363 <div class="reply"> 364 </div> 365 366 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 367 368 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755579"> 369 370 371 <div class="comment-header"> 372 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 373 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/682a58800b87f94be7f972e7db71b72c823ed34ffd748b1d6b921fec6aa89b09?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/682a58800b87f94be7f972e7db71b72c823ed34ffd748b1d6b921fec6aa89b09?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Andreas Johansson</cite> 374 <span class="says"> 375 says </span> 376 </div> 377 378 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 379 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755579">September 23, 2026 at 3:37 am</a> 380 </div> 381 </div> 382 383 <div class="comment-content"> 384 385 <p>Wiktionary says that Ge. <i>Schwäher</i> (which I don’t recall encountering before) is obsolete but covered both <i>Schwager</i> and <i>Schwiegervater</i>.</p> 386 </div> 387 388 <div class="reply"> 389 </div> 390 391 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 392 393 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755581"> 394 395 396 <div class="comment-header"> 397 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 398 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/bb2aa142f554a58cb2e3036b359e6263e8b5f2d0c4b5dee263b6c60e4cce2a08?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/bb2aa142f554a58cb2e3036b359e6263e8b5f2d0c4b5dee263b6c60e4cce2a08?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn"><a href="https://www.linguistichistory.com" class="url" rel="ugc external nofollow">Nelson Goering</a></cite> 399 <span class="says"> 400 says </span> 401 </div> 402 403 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 404 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755581">September 23, 2026 at 3:43 am</a> 405 </div> 406 </div> 407 408 <div class="comment-content"> 409 410 <p>Schwager is not the same as SchwaÌher, though they are related words. The former would have turned out as something like *<i>swæÌgor</i> or *<i>sweÌgor</i> in Old English, depending on the dialect, but it isn’t (as far as I know) attested. Schwiegervater is just the replacement of older SchwaÌher.</p> 411<p>Old English <i>sweÌor</i> (the usual form, after the very early loss of intervocalic *h) definitely usually (I think always, though I haven’t checked carefully) means “father-in-law” in non-glossary contexts.</p> 412 </div> 413 414 <div class="reply"> 415 </div> 416 417 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 418 419 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755586"> 420 421 422 <div class="comment-header"> 423 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 424 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/52cfc89fa8546f5db60f9a925d81865d4997bbe7bbdec9747e73eead134ff94c?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/52cfc89fa8546f5db60f9a925d81865d4997bbe7bbdec9747e73eead134ff94c?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">ulr</cite> 425 <span class="says"> 426 says </span> 427 </div> 428 429 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 430 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755586">September 23, 2026 at 4:23 am</a> 431 </div> 432 </div> 433 434 <div class="comment-content"> 435 436 <blockquote><p>Wiktionary says that Ge. Schwäher (which I donât recall encountering before) is obsolete but covered both Schwager and Schwiegervater</p></blockquote> 437<p>Does Wiktionary cite any evidence for the meaning “Schwager”? I couldn’t find any, and the Grimm-Wörterbuch explicitly says that “
437chwanken in der bedeutung ist bei diesem worte seltener als sonst bei verwandtschaftsnamen”. </p> 438<p><a href="http://www.zeno.org/nid/20000422878" rel="nofollow ugc">Adelung’s dictionary (1793)</a> calls the word “ein im Hochdeutschen veraltetes Wort”, but Goethe was still using it.</p> 439 </div> 440 441 <div class="reply"> 442 </div> 443 444 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 445 446 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755588"> 447 448 449 <div class="comment-header"> 450 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 451 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f3f256162b4dad87f2acab4a9c01850ab7873f28332e41cf756f8dacf00d4dc0?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f3f256162b4dad87f2acab4a9c01850ab7873f28332e41cf756f8dacf00d4dc0?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn"><a href="https://unrealisticdialogue.wordpress.com/" class="url" rel="ugc external nofollow">Brett</a></cite> 452 <span class="says"> 453 says </span> 454 </div> 455 456 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 457 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755588">September 23, 2026 at 4:28 am</a> 458 </div> 459 </div> 460 461 <div class="comment-content"> 462 463 <p>Wasn’t Sloterdijk a Rajneeshie?</p> 464 </div> 465 466 <div class="reply"> 467 </div> 468 469 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 470 471 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755592"> 472 473 474 <div class="comment-header"> 475 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 476 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/682a58800b87f94be7f972e7db71b72c823ed34ffd748b1d6b921fec6aa89b09?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/682a58800b87f94be7f972e7db71b72c823ed34ffd748b1d6b921fec6aa89b09?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Andreas Johansson</cite> 477 <span class="says"> 478 says </span> 479 </div> 480 481 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 482 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755592">September 23, 2026 at 4:48 am</a> 483 </div> 484 </div> 485 486 <div class="comment-content"> 487 488 <p>@ulr:</p> 489<p>Wiktionary cites Duden, DWDS and the Grimms, which first two simply give the same double meaning.</p> 490<p>The Grimms do say, yes, that variation in meaning is relatively rare, but they also give variant meanings like <i>levir</i> (husband’s brother) and simply “male relative by marriage”.</p> 491 </div> 492 493 <div class="reply"> 494 </div> 495 496 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 497 498 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755594"> 499 500 501 <div class="comment-header"> 502 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 503 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8e5002101697a7b7e3d9a4342639a94dffddf40b52f265fe035c7c3b384efa1f?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8e5002101697a7b7e3d9a4342639a94dffddf40b52f265fe035c7c3b384efa1f?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Stu Clayton</cite> 504 <span class="says"> 505 says </span> 506 </div> 507 508 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 509 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755594">September 23, 2026 at 5:12 am</a> 510 </div> 511 </div> 512 513 <div class="comment-content"> 514 515 <p><i>Wasnât Sloterdijk a Rajneeshie?</i></p> 516<p>Yeah, a Poonass. Years later he would from time to time fess up (depending on the interviewer) while claiming it did him good. Whatever. I got tired of his writings. He now lives rent-free in my head as the opera-going, fur-draped and bejewelled wife of an industrial philosopher.</p> 517 </div> 518 519 <div class="reply"> 520 </div> 521 522 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 523 524 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755595"> 525 526 527 <div class="comment-header"> 528 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 529 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/52cfc89fa8546f5db60f9a925d81865d4997bbe7bbdec9747e73eead134ff94c?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/52cfc89fa8546f5db60f9a925d81865d4997bbe7bbdec9747e73eead134ff94c?s=96&d=mm&
529r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">ulr</cite> 530 <span class="says"> 531 says </span> 532 </div> 533 534 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 535 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755595">September 23, 2026 at 5:26 am</a> 536 </div> 537 </div> 538 539 <div class="comment-content"> 540 541 <blockquote><p>variant meanings like levir (husbandâs brother)</p></blockquote> 542<p>That’s a quote from a completely out of date dictionary of Old High German (Graff, <i>Althochdeutscher Sprachschatz…</i>, 1834-46). Schützeichels <i>Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch</i> (7th edition, 2012) has only “Schwiegervater”.</p> 543 </div> 544 545 <div class="reply"> 546 </div> 547 548 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 549 550 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755596"> 551 552 553 <div class="comment-header"> 554 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 555 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/52cfc89fa8546f5db60f9a925d81865d4997bbe7bbdec9747e73eead134ff94c?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/52cfc89fa8546f5db60f9a925d81865d4997bbe7bbdec9747e73eead134ff94c?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">ulr</cite> 556 <span class="says"> 557 says </span> 558 </div> 559 560 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 561 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755596">September 23, 2026 at 5:30 am</a> 562 </div> 563 </div> 564 565 <div class="comment-content"> 566 567 <blockquote><p>I got tired of his writings</p></blockquote> 568<p>I remember Hoimar v. Ditfurth’s devastating review of his bestselling first book.</p> 569 </div> 570 571 <div class="reply"> 572 </div> 573 574 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 575 576 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755597"> 577 578 579 <div class="comment-header"> 580 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 581 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8e5002101697a7b7e3d9a4342639a94dffddf40b52f265fe035c7c3b384efa1f?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8e5002101697a7b7e3d9a4342639a94dffddf40b52f265fe035c7c3b384efa1f?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Stu Clayton</cite> 582 <span class="says"> 583 says </span> 584 </div> 585 586 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 587 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755597">September 23, 2026 at 5:53 am</a> 588 </div> 589 </div> 590 591 <div class="comment-content"> 592 593 <p><i>Kritik der zynischen Vernunft</i> is (or was) great fun. Struck the right note for the 80s, I thought, which were otherwise dead from the waist down (Habermasian) and on the verge of yuppiedom.</p> 594 </div> 595 596 <div class="reply"> 597 </div> 598 599 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 600 601 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755599"> 602 603 604 <div class="comment-header"> 605 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 606 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/db02f4e72f1f4f3d02d4b08ea745b34204a3ee0523405933a7249826658a5ab2?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/db02f4e72f1f4f3d02d4b08ea745b34204a3ee0523405933a7249826658a5ab2?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">David MarjanoviÄ</cite> 607 <span class="says"> 608 says </span> 609 </div> 610 611 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 612 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755599">September 23, 2026 at 5:58 am</a> 613 </div> 614 </div> 615 616 <div class="comment-content"> 617 618 <blockquote><p><i>Bazon Brock</i></p></blockquote> 619<blockquote><p>Den Spitznamen <i>Bazon</i> (griechisch für âSchwätzerâ) erhielt er von seinem Lateinlehrer aufgrund seiner ausdauernden rednerischen Fähigkeiten.[1][6]</p></blockquote> 620<p>“He received the nickname <i>Bazon</i> (Greek for ‘blatherer’) from his Latin teacher because of his abilities in rhetorical endurance.”</p> 621<blockquote><p><i>Curious phenomenon, writers I like who claim to have been inspired by some other writer whom I then find to be mind-deadeningly unreadable.</i></p></blockquote> 622<p>Maybe they’re politely saying “reading him taught me how not to do it”…?</p> 623 </div> 624 625 <div class="reply"> 626 </div> 627 628 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 629 630 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755610"> 631 632 633 <div class="comment-header"> 634 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 635 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8e5002101697a7b7e3d9a4342639a94dffddf40b52f265fe035c7c3b384efa1f?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8e5002101697a7b7e3d9a4342639a94dffddf40b52f265fe035c7c3b384efa1f?s=96&d=mm&
635r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Stu Clayton</cite> 636 <span class="says"> 637 says </span> 638 </div> 639 640 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 641 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755610">September 23, 2026 at 7:03 am</a> 642 </div> 643 </div> 644 645 <div class="comment-content"> 646 647 <p><i>Maybe theyâre politely saying âreading him taught me how not to do itââ¦?</i></p> 648<p>ha ha that would cover all the bases.</p> 649 </div> 650 651 <div class="reply"> 652 </div> 653 654 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 655 656 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755611"> 657 658 659 <div class="comment-header"> 660 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 661 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/98856569f97bb97aff007f7e9e7e87109f6653c0949bd60df0d63fba52a3d842?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/98856569f97bb97aff007f7e9e7e87109f6653c0949bd60df0d63fba52a3d842?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Jen in Edinburgh</cite> 662 <span class="says"> 663 says </span> 664 </div> 665 666 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 667 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755611">September 23, 2026 at 7:14 am</a> 668 </div> 669 </div> 670 671 <div class="comment-content"> 672 673 <p>Sloterdijk is apparently a posthumanist, to link back to some other thread.</p> 674<p>I actually expected ‘brock’ to be the common word – taking ‘common’ as ‘word you have definitely seen before’ – it’s the kind of word that probably not many people actively use, but which regularly turns up in local placenames (often, I think, in places where badgers still live).</p> 675 </div> 676 677 <div class="reply"> 678 </div> 679 680 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 681 682 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755613"> 683 684 685 <div class="comment-header"> 686 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 687 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/52cfc89fa8546f5db60f9a925d81865d4997bbe7bbdec9747e73eead134ff94c?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/52cfc89fa8546f5db60f9a925d81865d4997bbe7bbdec9747e73eead134ff94c?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">ulr</cite> 688 <span class="says"> 689 says </span> 690 </div> 691 692 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 693 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755613">September 23, 2026 at 7:20 am</a> 694 </div> 695 </div> 696 697 <div class="comment-content"> 698 699 <p>I remember some ‘TV satirist in the 1990s speaking about “der Modephilosoph Schlotterdeich”.</p> 700 </div> 701 702 <div class="reply"> 703 </div> 704 705 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 706 707 <li class="comment byuser comment-author-languagehat bypostauthor even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755617"> 708 709 710 <div class="comment-header"> 711 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 712 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e187d514c6f78db043a3ddeda96c78439e6db8202580009a136b961468668e61?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e187d514c6f78db043a3ddeda96c78439e6db8202580009a136b961468668e61?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn"><a href="https://languagehat.com" class="url" rel="ugc">languagehat</a></cite> 713 <span class="says"> 714 says </span> 715 </div> 716 717 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 718 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755617">September 23, 2026 at 8:30 am</a> 719 </div> 720 </div> 721 722 <div class="comment-content"> 723 724 <p><i>After your mention of Endeavour several weeks ago, I turned it on, and at some point I think I passed you, after Cosset and before (Tommy) Brock.</i></p> 725<p>Ha! Yes, it was Tommy Brock that started me on the path to this post, but I forgot to mention it. Thanks for bringing it up. But we’ve already watched the entire series (some seasons more than once); this is a rewatch, after which we’ll do a rewatch of <i>Morse.</i></p> 726<p><i>Now, Iâm wondering if youâve come to âhard graftâ yet. Or when you do, it may be good for another post.</i></p> 727<p>I had wondered about that phrase, and the link you provide is excellent — everybody go click on it!</p> 728 </div> 729 730 <div class="reply"> 731 </div> 732 733 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 734 735 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755619"> 736 737 738 <div class="comment-header"> 739 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 740 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8e5002101697a7b7e3d9a4342639a94dffddf40b52f265fe035c7c3b384efa1f?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8e5002101697a7b7e3d9a4342639a94dffddf40b52f265fe035c7c3b384efa1f?s=96&d=mm&
740r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Stu Clayton</cite> 741 <span class="says"> 742 says </span> 743 </div> 744 745 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 746 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755619">September 23, 2026 at 9:04 am</a> 747 </div> 748 </div> 749 750 <div class="comment-content"> 751 752 <p><i>posthumanist</i></p> 753<p>One of the buzzes some rando hotheads got into when <i>Regeln für den Menschenpark</i> came out. There is nothing of that in the essay, whatever it may be. I actually read it so had nothing to get upset about.</p> 754<p><i>âder Modephilosoph Schlotterdeichâ</i></p> 755<p>He’s philosophy’s counterpart to Vivienne Westwood. He always writes high-class. The actual subject matter is only seasonally shocking.</p> 756<p>I do not regret reading everything he wrote up until about 5 years ago. The ideas were worth it. It’s just that the whole philosophy carneval gets on my tits nowadays. Can’t blame him for that.</p> 757<p>My pantheon of great guys has downsized – Luhmann, Marquard, Nietzsche… I expect only ulr knows about Odo Marquard. Y’all’s loss.</p> 758 </div> 759 760 <div class="reply"> 761 </div> 762 763 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 764 765 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755622"> 766 767 768 <div class="comment-header"> 769 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 770 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d8544f0c150aa48757da96f999c611159de77e217a8c8f8e9fc05c541568e557?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d8544f0c150aa48757da96f999c611159de77e217a8c8f8e9fc05c541568e557?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">J.W. Brewer</cite> 771 <span class="says"> 772 says </span> 773 </div> 774 775 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 776 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755622">September 23, 2026 at 9:31 am</a> 777 </div> 778 </div> 779 780 <div class="comment-content"> 781 782 <p>Speaking of such nicely rural words, I was modestly taken aback this morning to learn the (usual) etymology of “cider,” viz. “From Old French sidre, from Latin sicera, from Ancient Greek Ïá¿ÌκεÏá¾° (sÄ«ÌkerÄ), from Hebrew שֵ××ָר (Å¡ÄḵÄr), from Proto-Semitic *Å¡ikar- (âalcoholic drinkâ).”* All good semantically, but how did you get from the “c” to the “d” between Lat. & OFr.? </p> 783<p>*When it is prophesied in the first chapter of St. Luke that the about-to-be-conceived John the Baptist will refrain from both wine and “strong drink,” this Gk. word is what’s underneath the latter.</p> 784 </div> 785 786 <div class="reply"> 787 </div> 788 789 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 790 791 <li class="comment byuser comment-author-languagehat bypostauthor odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755623"> 792 793 794 <div class="comment-header"> 795 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 796 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e187d514c6f78db043a3ddeda96c78439e6db8202580009a136b961468668e61?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e187d514c6f78db043a3ddeda96c78439e6db8202580009a136b961468668e61?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn"><a href="https://languagehat.com" class="url" rel="ugc">languagehat</a></cite> 797 <span class="says"> 798 says </span> 799 </div> 800 801 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 802 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755623">September 23, 2026 at 9:46 am</a> 803 </div> 804 </div> 805 806 <div class="comment-content"> 807 808 <p><i>how did you get from the âcâ to the âdâ between Lat. & OFr.? </i></p> 809<p>OED (1889): “It is not clear where or how the phonetic change from <em>sicera</em> to <em>sidra</em> took place; but perhaps the intermediate link was sizra /sitsra/ , /sidzra/ : compare French <em>ladre</em> < <em>Lazarus</em>.”</p> 810 </div> 811 812 <div class="reply"> 813 </div> 814 815 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 816 817 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755624"> 818 819 820 <div class="comment-header"> 821 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 822 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d8544f0c150aa48757da96f999c611159de77e217a8c8f8e9fc05c541568e557?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d8544f0c150aa48757da96f999c611159de77e217a8c8f8e9fc05c541568e557?s=96&d=mm&
822r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">J.W. Brewer</cite> 823 <span class="says"> 824 says </span> 825 </div> 826 827 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 828 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755624">September 23, 2026 at 9:54 am</a> 829 </div> 830 </div> 831 832 <div class="comment-content"> 833 834 <p>That “perhaps” is doing a lot of work, given that Lazarus didn’t come from an earlier “Lacarus.”</p> 835 </div> 836 837 <div class="reply"> 838 </div> 839 840 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 841 842 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755626"> 843 844 845 <div class="comment-header"> 846 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 847 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/52cfc89fa8546f5db60f9a925d81865d4997bbe7bbdec9747e73eead134ff94c?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/52cfc89fa8546f5db60f9a925d81865d4997bbe7bbdec9747e73eead134ff94c?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">ulr</cite> 848 <span class="says"> 849 says </span> 850 </div> 851 852 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 853 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755626">September 23, 2026 at 10:05 am</a> 854 </div> 855 </div> 856 857 <div class="comment-content"> 858 859 <p>The Robert <i>Dictionnaire historique de la langue française</i> says this:</p> 860<blockquote><p>La forme <i>sicera</i> a dû être altérée en <i>°cisera</i> comme l’indique l’attestation de <i>cisera</i> en latin médiéval au XIIe siècle ; le développement du <i>d</i> est un phénomène phonétique analogue à l’évolution menant de <i>Lazarus</i> à <i>ladre</i>.</p></blockquote> 861<p>.<br /> 862Their oldest French attestation is <i>sizre</i> (v. 1120).</p> 863<p>And Meyer-Lübke’ <i>Historische Grammatik der französischen Sprache</i> has (§154)</p> 864<blockquote><p>Die älteste Umgestaltung ist die von lat. <i>ce</i>, <i>ci</i> über <i>k’e</i>, <i>k’i</i>, <i>t’e</i>, <i>t’i</i> zu <i>tse</i>, <i>tsi</i>.</p></blockquote> 865 </div> 866 867 <div class="reply"> 868 </div> 869 870 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 871 872 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755628"> 873 874 875 <div class="comment-header"> 876 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 877 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8e5002101697a7b7e3d9a4342639a94dffddf40b52f265fe035c7c3b384efa1f?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8e5002101697a7b7e3d9a4342639a94dffddf40b52f265fe035c7c3b384efa1f?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Stu Clayton</cite> 878 <span class="says"> 879 says </span> 880 </div> 881 882 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 883 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755628">September 23, 2026 at 10:13 am</a> 884 </div> 885 </div> 886 887 <div class="comment-content"> 888 889 <p>Badgers are srsly badass in real life, not just in etymology. They’ll rip your face off sooner than wish you good morning. I’ve seen vids of African honey badgers strutting along next to hungry lions, being given a wide berth by the latter.</p> 890<p>Badgers are cute and dangerous. I likes ’em like that.</p> 891 </div> 892 893 <div class="reply"> 894 </div> 895 896 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 897 898 <li class="comment byuser comment-author-languagehat bypostauthor odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755630"> 899 900 901 <div class="comment-header"> 902 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 903 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e187d514c6f78db043a3ddeda96c78439e6db8202580009a136b961468668e61?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e187d514c6f78db043a3ddeda96c78439e6db8202580009a136b961468668e61?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn"><a href="https://languagehat.com" class="url" rel="ugc">languagehat</a></cite> 904 <span class="says"> 905 says </span> 906 </div> 907 908 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 909 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755630">September 23, 2026 at 10:18 am</a> 910 </div> 911 </div> 912 913 <div class="comment-content"> 914 915 <p><i>That âperhapsâ is doing a lot of work, given that Lazarus didnât come from an earlier âLacarus.â</i></p> 916<p>You’re letting yourself be misled by spelling; <em>sicera</em> at that time and place represents /sitsera/ or (with intervocalic voicing) /sidzera/, and words with /k/ are irrelevant.</p> 917 </div> 918 919 <div class="reply"> 920 </div> 921 922 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 923 924 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755634"> 925 926 927 <div class="comment-header"> 928 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 929 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f3f256162b4dad87f2acab4a9c01850ab7873f28332e41cf756f8dacf00d4dc0?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f3f256162b4dad87f2acab4a9c01850ab7873f28332e41cf756f8dacf00d4dc0?s=96&d=mm&
929r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn"><a href="https://unrealisticdialogue.wordpress.com/" class="url" rel="ugc external nofollow">Brett</a></cite> 930 <span class="says"> 931 says </span> 932 </div> 933 934 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 935 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755634">September 23, 2026 at 10:46 am</a> 936 </div> 937 </div> 938 939 <div class="comment-content"> 940 941 <p>I must have learned <i>Tommy Brock</i> (as well as just <i>brock</i>) as a name for a badger from Beatrix Potter’s <i>The Tale of Mr. Tod</i>. I also undoubtedly picked up <i>tod</i> as a word for “fox” from Potter’s stories, although I am not sure to this day whether she invented the “Mr.” part, or if that was traditional too, like “Tommy.”</p> 942 </div> 943 944 <div class="reply"> 945 </div> 946 947 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 948 949 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755639"> 950 951 952 <div class="comment-header"> 953 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 954 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ecabc943625b66c54b404193f7912e36ec2b4bc0a0b214ffea73b8c12eef49fd?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ecabc943625b66c54b404193f7912e36ec2b4bc0a0b214ffea73b8c12eef49fd?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">David L</cite> 955 <span class="says"> 956 says </span> 957 </div> 958 959 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 960 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755639">September 23, 2026 at 10:55 am</a> 961 </div> 962 </div> 963 964 <div class="comment-content"> 965 966 <p>In English rural folklore — at least in the version I grew up with — ‘brock’ was the name frequently given to a badger, as <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/TALES-BROCK-BADGER-UTTLEY-ALISON-FABER/32029792193/bd" rel="nofollow ugc">here</a> (I don’t know that particular book, but other examples are out there).</p> 967 </div> 968 969 <div class="reply"> 970 </div> 971 972 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 973 974 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755648"> 975 976 977 <div class="comment-header"> 978 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 979 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4c9ee63d50c733f4b130137c725eb18ee879eba4dd0de9013eaba1d6ad9a6dd0?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4c9ee63d50c733f4b130137c725eb18ee879eba4dd0de9013eaba1d6ad9a6dd0?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Lars Mathiesen (he/him/his)</cite> 980 <span class="says"> 981 says </span> 982 </div> 983 984 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 985 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755648">September 23, 2026 at 12:28 pm</a> 986 </div> 987 </div> 988 989 <div class="comment-content"> 990 991 <p>Still <i>svoger</i>/<i>svigerinde</i> and <i>svigerfar</i>/<i>svigermor</i> in Danish, which <i>a veces</i> makes me use Spanish <i>suegro</i>/<i>suegra</i> for the wrong thing… (The other is <i>cuñado</i>/<i>cuñada</i>; but blood relations [Latin <i>co-gnatum</i>] is exactly what your in-laws aren’t).</p> 992 </div> 993 994 <div class="reply"> 995 </div> 996 997 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 998 999 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755651"> 1000 1001 1002 <div class="comment-header"> 1003 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1004 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/db02f4e72f1f4f3d02d4b08ea745b34204a3ee0523405933a7249826658a5ab2?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/db02f4e72f1f4f3d02d4b08ea745b34204a3ee0523405933a7249826658a5ab2?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">David MarjanoviÄ</cite> 1005 <span class="says"> 1006 says </span> 1007 </div> 1008 1009 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1010 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755651">September 23, 2026 at 12:48 pm</a> 1011 </div> 1012 </div> 1013 1014 <div class="comment-content"> 1015 1016 <p>Badgers in general don’t have that reputation to that extent, but searching YouTube for <i>honeybadger</i> leads straight to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg" rel="nofollow ugc">the classic</a>.</p> 1017<blockquote><p><i>I am not sure to this day whether she invented the âMr.â part</i></p></blockquote> 1018<p>Maybe not; closer to home the bear was consistently <i>Meister Petz</i>* and the hare was <i>Meister Lampe</i>.</p> 1019<p>* Beautifully retconned by the <i>Kasperltheater</i> on Austrian TV, where Kasperl’s best friend was (is?) a Kasperl-sized bear named /pÉdÍ¡sɪ/, the dialect nickname for <i>Peter</i>.</p> 1020 </div> 1021 1022 <div class="reply"> 1023 </div> 1024 1025 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1026 1027 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755654"> 1028 1029 1030 <div class="comment-header"> 1031 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1032 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a9595a460a63b73799dd7ccd11cb76f36b36302511875d3e7d15eb8d15c09194?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a9595a460a63b73799dd7ccd11cb76f36b36302511875d3e7d15eb8d15c09194?s=96&d=mm&
1032r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">PlasticPaddy</cite> 1033 <span class="says"> 1034 says </span> 1035 </div> 1036 1037 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1038 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755654">September 23, 2026 at 1:35 pm</a> 1039 </div> 1040 </div> 1041 1042 <div class="comment-content"> 1043 1044 <p>@dm<br /> 1045Ah, so it is funny for a big bear to be addressed as Petsi; do you find it funny when a big man is addressed as Petsi or Hansi, especially when this is done by a small child / woman?</p> 1046 </div> 1047 1048 <div class="reply"> 1049 </div> 1050 1051 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1052 1053 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755663"> 1054 1055 1056 <div class="comment-header"> 1057 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1058 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/871df4f31837ed2d1ada9d48c296603fcd4028627d82160657da0350e8ed389b?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/871df4f31837ed2d1ada9d48c296603fcd4028627d82160657da0350e8ed389b?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Ryan</cite> 1059 <span class="says"> 1060 says </span> 1061 </div> 1062 1063 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1064 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755663">September 23, 2026 at 2:03 pm</a> 1065 </div> 1066 </div> 1067 1068 <div class="comment-content"> 1069 1070 <p>I used to have a teenager who worked for me who was about 6’7″ and 250 lbs. It amused the rest of the staff (of a similar age) to call him Little Ryan. I never said it, since it would have rung differently coming from the business owner.</p> 1071 </div> 1072 1073 <div class="reply"> 1074 </div> 1075 1076 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1077 1078 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755668"> 1079 1080 1081 <div class="comment-header"> 1082 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1083 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/66e3939492d5b6145a8367cf0061dddcc034ed238f5770ce118d378ed97543d5?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/66e3939492d5b6145a8367cf0061dddcc034ed238f5770ce118d378ed97543d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">rozele</cite> 1084 <span class="says"> 1085 says </span> 1086 </div> 1087 1088 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1089 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755668">September 23, 2026 at 2:23 pm</a> 1090 </div> 1091 </div> 1092 1093 <div class="comment-content"> 1094 1095 <p>just to keep filling in the cognates, yiddish has shver [father-in-law*], shviger [mother-in-law], shvoger [brother-in-law], shvegerin [sister-in-law], shnur [daughter-in-law], eydem [son-in-law**], and farther etymologically afield*** mekhutn/mekhuteneste/mekhutonim [co-grandfather/mother/parents].</p> 1096<p>.<br /> 1097* yes, there are endless jokes about vi shver er iz.<br /> 1098** yes, there are gan-eydem jokes.<br /> 1099*** from the same ××ª× root as khosn [bridegroom] and khasene [wedding]</p> 1100 </div> 1101 1102 <div class="reply"> 1103 </div> 1104 1105 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1106 1107 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755671"> 1108 1109 1110 <div class="comment-header"> 1111 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1112 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/db02f4e72f1f4f3d02d4b08ea745b34204a3ee0523405933a7249826658a5ab2?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/db02f4e72f1f4f3d02d4b08ea745b34204a3ee0523405933a7249826658a5ab2?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">David MarjanoviÄ</cite> 1113 <span class="says"> 1114 says </span> 1115 </div> 1116 1117 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1118 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755671">September 23, 2026 at 3:00 pm</a> 1119 </div> 1120 </div> 1121 1122 <div class="comment-content"> 1123 1124 <blockquote><p>Ah, so it is funny for a big bear to be addressed as Petsi; do you find it funny when a big man is addressed as Petsi or Hansi, especially when this is done by a small child / woman?</p></blockquote> 1125<p>No idea, and he’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_0a6tQGpMM" rel="nofollow ugc">not a big bear</a>.</p> 1126<blockquote><p><i>eydem [son-in-law**]</i></p></blockquote> 1127<p>Oh yeah, <i>Eidam</i> is a thoroughly obsolete word for <i>Schwiegersohn</i>.</p> 1128 </div> 1129 1130 <div class="reply"> 1131 </div> 1132 1133 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1134 1135 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755673"> 1136 1137 1138 <div class="comment-header"> 1139 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1140 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/70f600e011d56fe5547da5332b4a8425bc41071850430a4219cc81d4d123d219?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/70f600e011d56fe5547da5332b4a8425bc41071850430a4219cc81d4d123d219?s=96&d=mm&
1140r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Y</cite> 1141 <span class="says"> 1142 says </span> 1143 </div> 1144 1145 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1146 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755673">September 23, 2026 at 3:09 pm</a> 1147 </div> 1148 </div> 1149 1150 <div class="comment-content"> 1151 1152 <p><i>âAardvarkâ in Kusaal is </i>teÅinbÊÅ<i> âearth donkeyâ</i></p> 1153<p>When did donkeys arrive in that part of the world? Is there an older widespread term for ‘aardvark’ around there?</p> 1154 </div> 1155 1156 <div class="reply"> 1157 </div> 1158 1159 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1160 1161 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755675"> 1162 1163 1164 <div class="comment-header"> 1165 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1166 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8cdb58a00757097b3c964c564d58dbbb9a22d6e3a7ed716ca1111face1e55269?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8cdb58a00757097b3c964c564d58dbbb9a22d6e3a7ed716ca1111face1e55269?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn"><a href="https://jerryfriedman.wixsite.com/my-site-2" class="url" rel="ugc external nofollow">Jerry Friedman</a></cite> 1167 <span class="says"> 1168 says </span> 1169 </div> 1170 1171 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1172 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755675">September 23, 2026 at 3:17 pm</a> 1173 </div> 1174 </div> 1175 1176 <div class="comment-content"> 1177 1178 <p>Wikipedia says the donkey “derives from the African wild ass, <i>Equus africanus</i>, and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, <i>Equus africanus asinus</i>, or as a separate species, <i>Equus asinus</i>.[1]:â1â It was domesticated in Africa some 5000â7000 years ago,[1]:â2â[2]:â3715â[3]”</p> 1179<p>ETA: Which is not to say it’s native to Ghana. Wikipedia says African Wild Asses “live in the deserts and other arid areas of the Horn of Africa, in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. It formerly had a wider range north and west into Sudan, Egypt, and Libya.” So I don’t know the answer to your question.</p> 1180 </div> 1181 1182 <div class="reply"> 1183 </div> 1184 1185 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1186 1187 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755679"> 1188 1189 1190 <div class="comment-header"> 1191 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1192 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b554974ca2fb0a9365c5372dc693d258f9a19efc987649d8606ec8591ec8976a?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b554974ca2fb0a9365c5372dc693d258f9a19efc987649d8606ec8591ec8976a?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">ktschwarz</cite> 1193 <span class="says"> 1194 says </span> 1195 </div> 1196 1197 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1198 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755679">September 23, 2026 at 3:40 pm</a> 1199 </div> 1200 </div> 1201 1202 <div class="comment-content"> 1203 1204 <p><a href="https://languagehat.com/natufian-origin-for-afroasiatic/#comment-4475752" rel="ugc">Origins of donkey domestication</a> discussed here a few years ago; David Eddyshaw: “The word for ‘donkey’ is reconstructable to Proto-Oti-Volta without any trouble, but that probably only goes back about 3000 years BP. It doesnât seem reconstructable to Proto-Volta-Congo …”</p> 1205 </div> 1206 1207 <div class="reply"> 1208 </div> 1209 1210 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1211 1212 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755682"> 1213 1214 1215 <div class="comment-header"> 1216 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1217 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f3f256162b4dad87f2acab4a9c01850ab7873f28332e41cf756f8dacf00d4dc0?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f3f256162b4dad87f2acab4a9c01850ab7873f28332e41cf756f8dacf00d4dc0?s=96&d=mm&
1217r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn"><a href="https://unrealisticdialogue.wordpress.com/" class="url" rel="ugc external nofollow">Brett</a></cite> 1218 <span class="says"> 1219 says </span> 1220 </div> 1221 1222 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1223 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755682">September 23, 2026 at 4:16 pm</a> 1224 </div> 1225 </div> 1226 1227 <div class="comment-content"> 1228 1229 <p>How can the domestic donkey be a subspecies of <i>Equus africanus</i>, when the <i>Equus asinus</i> name is (L.)?</p> 1230 </div> 1231 1232 <div class="reply"> 1233 </div> 1234 1235 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1236 1237 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755687"> 1238 1239 1240 <div class="comment-header"> 1241 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1242 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/db02f4e72f1f4f3d02d4b08ea745b34204a3ee0523405933a7249826658a5ab2?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/db02f4e72f1f4f3d02d4b08ea745b34204a3ee0523405933a7249826658a5ab2?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">David MarjanoviÄ</cite> 1243 <span class="says"> 1244 says </span> 1245 </div> 1246 1247 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1248 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755687">September 23, 2026 at 5:07 pm</a> 1249 </div> 1250 </div> 1251 1252 <div class="comment-content"> 1253 1254 <p>There is a rule that names for wild taxa automatically have precedence over those erected specifically for domesticated taxa â but I can’t find it in the Code tonight. Spent quite some time looking. The Code is not well organized.</p> 1255<p>Edit: no, it’s not a rule, it’s <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/107012#page/97/mode/1up" rel="nofollow ugc">Opinion 2027</a> that conserves a particular list of names for wild taxa over those erected for their domestic forms, so if you think these are the same taxon, you have to use the name that was erected for the wild form.</p> 1256 </div> 1257 1258 <div class="reply"> 1259 </div> 1260 1261 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1262 1263 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755690"> 1264 1265 1266 <div class="comment-header"> 1267 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1268 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/265a0ea8617e7cc7124a9ba66d5e8763d9d0065988b657bbd6e20a1db8809ff5?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/265a0ea8617e7cc7124a9ba66d5e8763d9d0065988b657bbd6e20a1db8809ff5?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">David Eddyshaw</cite> 1269 <span class="says"> 1270 says </span> 1271 </div> 1272 1273 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1274 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755690">September 23, 2026 at 5:19 pm</a> 1275 </div> 1276 </div> 1277 1278 <div class="comment-content"> 1279 1280 <p><i>Is there an older widespread term for âaardvarkâ around there?</i></p> 1281<p>No. Most Western Oti-Volta languages have “earth-donkey” formations like Kusaal, but even Mooré deviates, with <i>taÌnturi</i>, which looks like an old compound “earth-digger.” There’s no reconstructable name for the critter in proto-Oti-Volta.</p> 1282<p>Buli, which, along with Konni, forms the closest other Oti-Volta branch to Western Oti-Volta, has either an independent parallel formation to the Mooré or a calque from some WOV language. Apart from that, the various Oti-Volta branches seem to have quite unrelated words from each other.</p> 1283<p>Buli <i>tinturi</i> apparently can also refer to a kind of tiny shrew; evidently the Bulsa have anticipated modern genetic studies here.</p> 1284<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrotherian" rel="nofollow ugc">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrotherian</a></p> 1285<p>Dogon and Sirius B, nothing. (Sadly, <i>tinturi</i> does not also mean “elephant”, but one can’t have everything.)</p> 1286 </div> 1287 1288 <div class="reply"> 1289 </div> 1290 1291 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1292 1293 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755695"> 1294 1295 1296 <div class="comment-header"> 1297 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1298 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/871df4f31837ed2d1ada9d48c296603fcd4028627d82160657d
1298a0350e8ed389b?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/871df4f31837ed2d1ada9d48c296603fcd4028627d82160657da0350e8ed389b?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Ryan</cite> 1299 <span class="says"> 1300 says </span> 1301 </div> 1302 1303 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1304 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755695">September 23, 2026 at 5:28 pm</a> 1305 </div> 1306 </div> 1307 1308 <div class="comment-content"> 1309 1310 <p>>âAardvarkâ in Kusaal is teÅinbÊÅ âearth donkeyâ</p> 1311<p>The mount of a West African king is known as the Royal TeÅinbÊÅ.</p> 1312 </div> 1313 1314 <div class="reply"> 1315 </div> 1316 1317 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1318 1319 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755705"> 1320 1321 1322 <div class="comment-header"> 1323 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1324 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a9595a460a63b73799dd7ccd11cb76f36b36302511875d3e7d15eb8d15c09194?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a9595a460a63b73799dd7ccd11cb76f36b36302511875d3e7d15eb8d15c09194?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">PlasticPaddy</cite> 1325 <span class="says"> 1326 says </span> 1327 </div> 1328 1329 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1330 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755705">September 23, 2026 at 6:01 pm</a> 1331 </div> 1332 </div> 1333 1334 <div class="comment-content"> 1335 1336 <p>@dm 15.00<br /> 1337Thanks for the link; I should have known Pezi would be more Paddington and less Mischka, I just imagined Kasperl would be running away from, bzw. roughly treated by the bear who would break his stick or whatever.</p> 1338 </div> 1339 1340 <div class="reply"> 1341 </div> 1342 1343 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1344 1345 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755715"> 1346 1347 1348 <div class="comment-header"> 1349 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1350 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8e5002101697a7b7e3d9a4342639a94dffddf40b52f265fe035c7c3b384efa1f?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8e5002101697a7b7e3d9a4342639a94dffddf40b52f265fe035c7c3b384efa1f?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Stu Clayton</cite> 1351 <span class="says"> 1352 says </span> 1353 </div> 1354 1355 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1356 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755715">September 23, 2026 at 7:56 pm</a> 1357 </div> 1358 </div> 1359 1360 <div class="comment-content"> 1361 1362 <p>Calling all Eddyshaws:</p> 1363<p>“When a ripe fruit sees an honest man, it drops.” [Nigerian ?]</p> 1364 </div> 1365 1366 <div class="reply"> 1367 </div> 1368 1369 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1370 1371 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755722"> 1372 1373 1374 <div class="comment-header"> 1375 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1376 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/265a0ea8617e7cc7124a9ba66d5e8763d9d0065988b657bbd6e20a1db8809ff5?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/265a0ea8617e7cc7124a9ba66d5e8763d9d0065988b657bbd6e20a1db8809ff5?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">David Eddyshaw</cite> 1377 <span class="says"> 1378 says </span> 1379 </div> 1380 1381 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1382 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755722">September 23, 2026 at 9:35 pm</a> 1383 </div> 1384 </div> 1385 1386 <div class="comment-content"> 1387 1388 <p>Dunno. But there are hundreds of languages in Nigeria, and the only one I know any proverbs in is Hausa. </p> 1389<p>With its vaguely uplifting moral, it sounds as if it ought to come from a Muslim or Muslim-influenced milieu (which does cover quite a lot of Nigeria.)</p> 1390<p>Kusaasi proverbs tend to be more cynical. (<i>Win nyÉ ka sin</i> “God sees and says nothing.”
1390) I can imagine a more Diogenes-inclined Kusaasi proverb might go âWhen an <i>unripe</i> fruit sees an honest man, it drops.â</p> 1391<p>Moreover, although it’s easy enough to express the concept “honest” in Kusaal, there isn’t a simple adjective with quite the meaning of the English word. <i>Burikin</i> is often rendered “honest person”, but it’s more like Latin <i>honestus</i> “honourable”; it’s from the Songhay word for a member of the nobility.</p> 1392<p>Might be Akan. They go for that kind of cheery positivity thing too, I think, but I’m not well up on Akan proverbs at all.</p> 1393 </div> 1394 1395 <div class="reply"> 1396 </div> 1397 1398 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1399 1400 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755736"> 1401 1402 1403 <div class="comment-header"> 1404 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1405 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/bb2aa142f554a58cb2e3036b359e6263e8b5f2d0c4b5dee263b6c60e4cce2a08?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/bb2aa142f554a58cb2e3036b359e6263e8b5f2d0c4b5dee263b6c60e4cce2a08?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn"><a href="https://www.linguistichistory.com" class="url" rel="ugc external nofollow">Nelson Goering</a></cite> 1406 <span class="says"> 1407 says </span> 1408 </div> 1409 1410 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1411 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755736">September 24, 2026 at 3:20 am</a> 1412 </div> 1413 </div> 1414 1415 <div class="comment-content"> 1416 1417 <p><i>Eidam</i>, <i>eydem</i> also have an OE cognate, <i>aÌðum</i>, which (to judge by the citations in the <i>Middle English Dictionary</i>) seems to have died out sometime around 1300. It’s another one of these words where the generations don’t seem too important, since it seems to be securely attested in both the senses “son-in-law” and “brother-in-law”.</p> 1418 </div> 1419 1420 <div class="reply"> 1421 </div> 1422 1423 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1424 1425 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755751"> 1426 1427 1428 <div class="comment-header"> 1429 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1430 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/1d469646e98db9caeff7c0596ebbad0a340ba279cf3d6c306ef3e04b31ccd932?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/1d469646e98db9caeff7c0596ebbad0a340ba279cf3d6c306ef3e04b31ccd932?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">drasvi</cite> 1431 <span class="says"> 1432 says </span> 1433 </div> 1434 1435 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1436 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755751">September 24, 2026 at 7:19 am</a> 1437 </div> 1438 </div> 1439 1440 <div class="comment-content"> 1441 1442 <p>“<i>‘brock’ was the name frequently given to a badger</i>” (David L)</p> 1443<p>I wonder what’s the connection between Russian <i>kisa</i> “cat” (baby talk and marked adult speech) and Finnish <i>kissa</i> “cat”.</p> 1444<p>DE, “…sees a member of the nobility, it drops”.</p> 1445<p>But this scheme is universal. “When a tear sees [this, you, …], it drops”</p> 1446<p>@LH, that’s crazy. Spelling (K, C, CK) and -os aside, brokk in Proto-Celtic, brok~kh in modern Celtic, brok in English and borrowed into Danish as brok.</p> 1447 </div> 1448 1449 <div class="reply"> 1450 </div> 1451 1452 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1453 1454 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755753"> 1455 1456 1457 <div class="comment-header"> 1458 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1459 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/682a58800b87f94be7f972e7db71b72c823ed34ffd748b1d6b921fec6aa89b09?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/682a58800b87f94be7f972e7db71b72c823ed34ffd748b1d6b921fec6aa89b09?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Andreas Johansson</cite> 1460 <span class="says"> 1461 says </span> 1462 </div> 1463 1464 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1465 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755753">September 24, 2026 at 7:37 am</a> 1466 </div> 1467 </div> 1468 1469 <div class="comment-content"> 1470 1471 <p>Wiktionary, citing Häkkinen, says that Fi. <i>kissa</i> is from Sw. <i>kisse, kissa</i>, which in turn is from <i>kiss</i> as an interjection to call a cat. </p> 1472<p>(Personally, I’d only ever use <i>kisse</i> and pronounce the interjection without the vowel – [ks:] – at least in part because the other alternatives are homophonous with <i>kissa</i> “pee (v)” and <i>kiss</i> “pee (n)”.)</p> 1473 </div> 1474 1475 <div class="reply"> 1476 </div> 1477 1478 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1479 1480 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755754"> 1481 1482 1483 <div class="comment-header"> 1484 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1485 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a9595a460a63b73799dd7ccd11cb76f36b36302511875d3e7d15eb8d15c09194?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a9595a460a63b73799dd7ccd11cb76f36b36302511875d3e7d15eb8d15c09194?s=96&d=mm&
1485r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">PlasticPaddy</cite> 1486 <span class="says"> 1487 says </span> 1488 </div> 1489 1490 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1491 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755754">September 24, 2026 at 7:41 am</a> 1492 </div> 1493 </div> 1494 1495 <div class="comment-content"> 1496 1497 <p>@drasvi<br /> 1498By modern Celtic you mean Welsh. But the consonant is k, not kh in Irish. Welsh seems to be the innovator. So why couldn’t the borrowing be from before the innovation (or after, but through or mediated by Irish)?</p> 1499 </div> 1500 1501 <div class="reply"> 1502 </div> 1503 1504 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1505 1506 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755758"> 1507 1508 1509 <div class="comment-header"> 1510 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1511 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/265a0ea8617e7cc7124a9ba66d5e8763d9d0065988b657bbd6e20a1db8809ff5?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/265a0ea8617e7cc7124a9ba66d5e8763d9d0065988b657bbd6e20a1db8809ff5?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">David Eddyshaw</cite> 1512 <span class="says"> 1513 says </span> 1514 </div> 1515 1516 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1517 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755758">September 24, 2026 at 8:33 am</a> 1518 </div> 1519 </div> 1520 1521 <div class="comment-content"> 1522 1523 <p>The <i>ch</i> in Welsh <i>broch</i> is the regular outcome of *kk, just the same as the <i>c</i> in Irish.</p> 1524<p>The change has affected Latin loans too, etc <i>sych</i> “dry”, from <i>siccus</i>. But it’s pan-Brythonic, not just Welsh: cf Middle Cornish <i>sygh</i>.</p> 1525<p> Middle Irish has <i>secc</i>; if that was borrowed via Brythonic, it must have been borrowed prior to the Brythonic fricativisation of *kk *tt *pp, but some Irish loans from Brythonic do indeed seem to be very early. Conversely, I think there are some Irish loans in Welsh where Irish <i>cc</i> has ended up as Welsh <i>ch</i> too, though naturally I can’t think of any just now.</p> 1526<p>But I think the idea is indeed that the word was borrowed from Celtic into (parts of) Germanic, rather than Brythonic to English.</p> 1527 </div> 1528 1529 <div class="reply"> 1530 </div> 1531 1532 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1533 1534 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755759"> 1535 1536 1537 <div class="comment-header"> 1538 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1539 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/db02f4e72f1f4f3d02d4b08ea745b34204a3ee0523405933a7249826658a5ab2?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/db02f4e72f1f4f3d02d4b08ea745b34204a3ee0523405933a7249826658a5ab2?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">David MarjanoviÄ</cite> 1540 <span class="says"> 1541 says </span> 1542 </div> 1543 1544 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1545 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755759">September 24, 2026 at 8:45 am</a> 1546 </div> 1547 </div> 1548 1549 <div class="comment-content"> 1550 1551 <blockquote><p><i>Personally, Iâd only ever use </i>kisse<i> and pronounce the interjection without the vowel â [ks:] â</i></p></blockquote> 1552<p>I’ve met a Russian who addresses her husband as ÐºÐ¾Ñ and as [ksˤ]/[ksˤksˤ].</p> 1553<p>Contrast German, where the attempt to call a cat goes <i>miez</i> (2 or 3 times mostly), from which the cat is sometimes referred to as <i>Mieze</i> (feminine like <i>Katze</i>).</p> 1554 </div> 1555 1556 <div class="reply"> 1557 </div> 1558 1559 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1560 1561 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755760"> 1562 1563 1564 <div class="comment-header"> 1565 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1566 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/265a0ea8617e7cc7124a9ba66d5e8763d9d0065988b657bbd6e20a1db8809ff5?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/265a0ea8617e7cc7124a9ba66d5e8763d9d0065988b657bbd6e20a1db8809ff5?s=96&d=mm&
1566r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">David Eddyshaw</cite> 1567 <span class="says"> 1568 says </span> 1569 </div> 1570 1571 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1572 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755760">September 24, 2026 at 9:02 am</a> 1573 </div> 1574 </div> 1575 1576 <div class="comment-content"> 1577 1578 <p>Kenneth Jackson dates the Brythonic fricativisation of *pp *tt *kk to mid-to-late sixth century. He reckons that there are no convincing examples of English loans (e.g. in toponyms) from Brythonic which antedate that change. [That’s late enough that early <i>Irish</i> loans could antedate it, though.]</p> 1579<p>If so, the English brought “brock” with them, rather than stealing it from the natives. That goes well with there being a cognate in Danish.</p> 1580 </div> 1581 1582 <div class="reply"> 1583 </div> 1584 1585 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1586 1587 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755761"> 1588 1589 1590 <div class="comment-header"> 1591 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1592 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/db02f4e72f1f4f3d02d4b08ea745b34204a3ee0523405933a7249826658a5ab2?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/db02f4e72f1f4f3d02d4b08ea745b34204a3ee0523405933a7249826658a5ab2?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">David MarjanoviÄ</cite> 1593 <span class="says"> 1594 says </span> 1595 </div> 1596 1597 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1598 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755761">September 24, 2026 at 9:11 am</a> 1599 </div> 1600 </div> 1601 1602 <div class="comment-content"> 1603 1604 <p>FWIW, Wiktionary on ModE <i>brock</i> and OE <i>broc ~ brocc</i> only mention English, Danish and Island Celtic, and <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/brocc#Old_English" rel="nofollow ugc">the entry for OE <i>brocc</i></a> as well as the one for Danish <i>brok</i> outright claim the Danish form is a loan from English. (The Vikings did raid for words occasionally… but why “badger”?) There is no entry for MidE <i>brok</i>, even though we’re promised one, or *<i>broc</i>.</p> 1605<p>No sources are cited in the entries for English, but the one for Danish cites <i>Den Danske Ordbog</i>, which <a href="https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog/brok?tab=3" rel="nofollow ugc">says</a> “fra engelsk brock, oprindelig et keltisk ord”, and <i>Ordbog over det danske Sprog</i>, which <a href="https://ordnet.dk/ods/ordbog/brok" rel="nofollow ugc">says</a> “fra oeng. <i>brocc</i>, eng. <i>(grey) brock</i>, opr. keltisk”.</p> 1606<p>I also looked up the badger’s name in German fables (mostly the Reynard franchise really): it’s Grimbart.</p> 1607<p>The variation in OE is interesting, because that was a phonemic contrast. (…Though I have no idea when it was actually lost; could have been long before the loss of intervocalic consonant length for all I know.)</p> 1608<blockquote><p><i>If so, the English brought âbrockâ with them, rather than stealing it from the natives.</i></p></blockquote> 1609<p>Or… it got into the local Romance language and was picked up in the fifth or sixth century before contact with Celtic. The modern Romance “badger” words in Wikipedia are all from Germanic (…or, wait, wasn’t there something about Gaulish…), except French <i>blaireau</i>, Picard <i>grizà r</i> and Romanian <i>viezure</i>. Interestingly, the Frisian ones are all loans, too â West from Dutch, North from High German, Sater looks like a crossover of native and High German.</p> 1610<p>Breton <i>broc’h</i> as expected.</p> 1611 </div> 1612 1613 <div class="reply"> 1614 </div> 1615 1616 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1617 1618 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755762"> 1619 1620 1621 <div class="comment-header"> 1622 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1623 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8cdb58a00757097b3c964c564d58dbbb9a22d6e3a7ed716ca1111face1e55269?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8cdb58a00757097b3c964c564d58dbbb9a22d6e3a7ed716ca1111face1e55269?s=96&d=mm&
1623r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn"><a href="https://jerryfriedman.wixsite.com/my-site-2" class="url" rel="ugc external nofollow">Jerry Friedman</a></cite> 1624 <span class="says"> 1625 says </span> 1626 </div> 1627 1628 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1629 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755762">September 24, 2026 at 9:23 am</a> 1630 </div> 1631 </div> 1632 1633 <div class="comment-content"> 1634 1635 <p>@DM: <i>Contrast German, where the attempt to call a cat goes miez (2 or 3 times mostly), from which the cat is sometimes referred to as Mieze (feminine like Katze).</i></p> 1636<p>English “psps…” and “puss”?</p> 1637<p>Recently popular bumper stickers around here: “Tell your dog I said hi.” and “Tell your cat I said pspsps.”</p> 1638 </div> 1639 1640 <div class="reply"> 1641 </div> 1642 1643 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1644 1645 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755765"> 1646 1647 1648 <div class="comment-header"> 1649 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1650 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/265a0ea8617e7cc7124a9ba66d5e8763d9d0065988b657bbd6e20a1db8809ff5?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/265a0ea8617e7cc7124a9ba66d5e8763d9d0065988b657bbd6e20a1db8809ff5?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">David Eddyshaw</cite> 1651 <span class="says"> 1652 says </span> 1653 </div> 1654 1655 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1656 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755765">September 24, 2026 at 9:36 am</a> 1657 </div> 1658 </div> 1659 1660 <div class="comment-content"> 1661 1662 <p>Hausa has <i>mussa</i> “cat” (borrowed as <i>amus</i> in Kusaal, and <i>múdÄ</i> in Moba.)</p> 1663 </div> 1664 1665 <div class="reply"> 1666 </div> 1667 1668 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1669 1670 <li class="comment byuser comment-author-languagehat bypostauthor even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755766"> 1671 1672 1673 <div class="comment-header"> 1674 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1675 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e187d514c6f78db043a3ddeda96c78439e6db8202580009a136b961468668e61?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e187d514c6f78db043a3ddeda96c78439e6db8202580009a136b961468668e61?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn"><a href="https://languagehat.com" class="url" rel="ugc">languagehat</a></cite> 1676 <span class="says"> 1677 says </span> 1678 </div> 1679 1680 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1681 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755766">September 24, 2026 at 9:42 am</a> 1682 </div> 1683 </div> 1684 1685 <div class="comment-content"> 1686 1687 <p><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mussa#Hausa" rel="nofollow ugc">Wiktionary</a>: “An areal word, presumably of imitative origin. Compare Zarma <em>múusú</em>, Soninke <em>muus</em>, Tamahaq <em>mušš</em>.” (The regular Hausa word is <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kyanwa#Hausa" rel="nofollow ugc"><em>kyanwa</em></a>.)</p> 1688 </div> 1689 1690 <div class="reply"> 1691 </div> 1692 1693 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1694 1695 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755767"> 1696 1697 1698 <div class="comment-header"> 1699 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1700 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/52cfc89fa8546f5db60f9a925d81865d4997bbe7bbdec9747e73eead134ff94c?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/52cfc89fa8546f5db60f9a925d81865d4997bbe7bbdec9747e73eead134ff94c?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">ulr</cite> 1701 <span class="says"> 1702 says </span> 1703 </div> 1704 1705 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1706 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755767">September 24, 2026 at 9:43 am</a> 1707 </div> 1708 </div> 1709 1710 <div class="comment-content"> 1711 1712 <blockquote><p>The Vikings did raid for words occasionally⦠but why âbadgerâ?</p></blockquote> 1713<p>They also raided for slaves — and for some silly reason (i.e. fashion) the slaves’ word for “badger”
1713 became popular.</p> 1714 </div> 1715 1716 <div class="reply"> 1717 </div> 1718 1719 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1720 1721 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755768"> 1722 1723 1724 <div class="comment-header"> 1725 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1726 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8e5002101697a7b7e3d9a4342639a94dffddf40b52f265fe035c7c3b384efa1f?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8e5002101697a7b7e3d9a4342639a94dffddf40b52f265fe035c7c3b384efa1f?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Stu Clayton</cite> 1727 <span class="says"> 1728 says </span> 1729 </div> 1730 1731 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1732 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755768">September 24, 2026 at 10:06 am</a> 1733 </div> 1734 </div> 1735 1736 <div class="comment-content"> 1737 1738 <p><i>The modern Romance âbadgerâ words in Wikipedia are all from Germanic (â¦or, wait, wasnât there something about Gaulishâ¦), except French blaireau, Picard grizà r and Romanian viezure. Interestingly, the Frisian ones are all loans, too â West from Dutch, North from High German, Sater looks like a crossover of native and High German.</i></p> 1739<p>Why did all these ancient people bother to invent and steal various different names for badgers, of all animals ? Was the countryside overrun with badgers ?</p> 1740 </div> 1741 1742 <div class="reply"> 1743 </div> 1744 1745 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1746 1747 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755769"> 1748 1749 1750 <div class="comment-header"> 1751 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1752 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/265a0ea8617e7cc7124a9ba66d5e8763d9d0065988b657bbd6e20a1db8809ff5?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/265a0ea8617e7cc7124a9ba66d5e8763d9d0065988b657bbd6e20a1db8809ff5?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">David Eddyshaw</cite> 1753 <span class="says"> 1754 says </span> 1755 </div> 1756 1757 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1758 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755769">September 24, 2026 at 10:32 am</a> 1759 </div> 1760 </div> 1761 1762 <div class="comment-content"> 1763 1764 <p>It’s because it was an early internet meme:</p> 1765<p><a href="https://weebls-stuff.com/toons/badgers/" rel="nofollow ugc">https://weebls-stuff.com/toons/badgers/</a></p> 1766 </div> 1767 1768 <div class="reply"> 1769 </div> 1770 1771 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1772 1773 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755786"> 1774 1775 1776 <div class="comment-header"> 1777 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1778 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/bb2aa142f554a58cb2e3036b359e6263e8b5f2d0c4b5dee263b6c60e4cce2a08?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/bb2aa142f554a58cb2e3036b359e6263e8b5f2d0c4b5dee263b6c60e4cce2a08?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn"><a href="https://www.linguistichistory.com" class="url" rel="ugc external nofollow">Nelson Goering</a></cite> 1779 <span class="says"> 1780 says </span> 1781 </div> 1782 1783 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1784 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755786">September 24, 2026 at 1:43 pm</a> 1785 </div> 1786 </div> 1787 1788 <div class="comment-content"> 1789 1790 <p>“The variation in OE is interesting, because that was a phonemic contrast.”</p> 1791<p>Not word-finally. Or if it was, it was a contrast that is often not represented in writing: to stay with rhymes, a lock of hair is written as both <i>locc</i> and <i>loc</i>. But as soon as you add an ending, the contrast is fully represented: always plural <i>loccas</i>, never Ë£<i>locas</i>.</p> 1792<p>For badger, usually (not that the word is attested very often — unfortunately none of the saints’ lives seem to feature extensive badger-related miracles, and <i>Beowulf</i> is sadly lacking in badger-related references) it’s <i>broc</i>, but once there’s <i>brocc</i>, and a couple instances of <i>brooc</i> that are either signs of a long-vowelled variant or (much more likely) miswritten for <i>brocc</i> (these all occur in glossaries, which are often copied mechanically and not necessarily attentively). There are also a couple of instances of <i>brocc</i> in the compound <i>brocchol</i> (the meaning of that should be guessable). There are no inflected forms, but there is the adjective <i>broccen</i> “made of badger skin” (a new word for me!), also confirming the geminate.</p> 1793<p>As a curiosity, there’s one instance of a spelling <i>broch</i>. As much as I’d love for this to be a sign of Brythonic influence, I don’t think the <i>h</i> is meaningful. Plus it’s another one of these glossary forms that can’t necessarily be pressed too far.</p> 1794 </div> 1795 1796 <div class="reply"> 1797 </div> 1798 1799 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1800 1801 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755787"> 1802 1803 1804 <div class="comment-header"> 1805 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1806 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d8544f0c150aa48757da96f999c611159de77e217a8c8f8e9fc05c541568e557?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d8544f0c150aa48757da96f999c611159de77e217a8c8f8e9fc05c541568e557?s=96&d=mm&
1806r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">J.W. Brewer</cite> 1807 <span class="says"> 1808 says </span> 1809 </div> 1810 1811 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1812 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755787">September 24, 2026 at 2:02 pm</a> 1813 </div> 1814 </div> 1815 1816 <div class="comment-content"> 1817 1818 <p>Q: “Do you have any criticisms of the Church’s saints of the Anglo-Saxon era?”<br /> 1819A: “Well, for starters there’s not enough badger-related content in their vitae.” </p> 1820<p>Here’s an Orthodox vita of St. Kieran of Saighir (Ireland, 5th century), which mentions a badger although presumably a Goidelic one. <a href="https://orthochristian.com/91544.html" rel="nofollow ugc">https://orthochristian.com/91544.html</a></p> 1821 </div> 1822 1823 <div class="reply"> 1824 </div> 1825 1826 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1827 1828 <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-4755789"> 1829 1830 1831 <div class="comment-header"> 1832 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1833 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/bb2aa142f554a58cb2e3036b359e6263e8b5f2d0c4b5dee263b6c60e4cce2a08?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/bb2aa142f554a58cb2e3036b359e6263e8b5f2d0c4b5dee263b6c60e4cce2a08?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn"><a href="https://www.linguistichistory.com" class="url" rel="ugc external nofollow">Nelson Goering</a></cite> 1834 <span class="says"> 1835 says </span> 1836 </div> 1837 1838 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1839 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755789">September 24, 2026 at 2:22 pm</a> 1840 </div> 1841 </div> 1842 1843 <div class="comment-content"> 1844 1845 <p>“But as soon as you add an ending,”</p> 1846<p>To be fully precise: a vowel-initial ending.</p> 1847 </div> 1848 1849 <div class="reply"> 1850 </div> 1851 1852 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1853 1854 <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-4755793"> 1855 1856 1857 <div class="comment-header"> 1858 <div class="comment-author vcard"> 1859 <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/477206cbf912c213f4aec6b3f48e076bbe444b2c99ab0275147334879c8e532f?s=48&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/477206cbf912c213f4aec6b3f48e076bbe444b2c99ab0275147334879c8e532f?s=96&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/> <cite class="fn">Trond Engen</cite> 1860 <span class="says"> 1861 says </span> 1862 </div> 1863 1864 <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"> 1865 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755793">September 24, 2026 at 2:51 pm</a> 1866 </div> 1867 </div> 1868 1869 <div class="comment-content"> 1870 1871 <p>Another Celtic saint performing Celtic badger-related miracles can be found in <a href="https://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/macreikil" rel="nofollow ugc">the biography of the holy Mac Reithe of Kilmacrehy</a> (from the extensive biographic section of:<a href="katolsk.no" rel="nofollow ugc"> katolsk.no</a>).</p> 1872<blockquote><p>Mac Reithe ble tilkalt av Ciarraige, sin mors folk, for Ã¥ redde dem fra et <i>Brioch-Seach</i> («grevling-monster») viste seg i Loch Briocsighe («grevlingsjøen»), som i dag kalles Loch-no-Rátha (Lough Raha) og ligger i sognet Rath, tre kilometer sørvest for Corofin. </p></blockquote> 1873<p>My translation:</p> 1874<p>Mac Reithe was called upon by Clarraige, his mother’s people, to save them from et <i>Brioch-Seach</i> (“badger monster”) appearing in Loch Briocsighe (“Badger Lake), which today is called Loch-no-Rátha (Lough Raha) and is situated in the parish of Rath, 3 kilometrs south of Corofin.</p> 1875 </div> 1876 1877 <div class="reply"> 1878 </div> 1879 1880 </li><!-- #comment-## --> 1881</ol></div> <div id="respond" class="comment-respond"> 1882 <h3 id="reply-title" class="comment-reply-title">Speak Your Mind</h3><form action="https://languagehat.com/wp-comments-post.php" method="post" id="commentform" class="comment-form"><p class="comment-form-comment"><textarea id="comment" name="comment" cols="45" rows="8" tabindex="4" aria-required="true"></textarea></p><p class="comment-form-author"><input id="author" name="author" type="text" value="" size="30" tabindex="1" aria-required="true" /><label for="author">
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2126 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2007/07/'> July 2007 </option> 2127 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2007/06/'> June 2007 </option> 2128 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2007/05/'> May 2007 </option> 2129 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2007/04/'> April 2007 </option> 2130 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2007/03/'> March 2007 </option> 2131 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2007/02/'> February 2007 </option> 2132 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2007/01/'> January 2007 </option> 2133 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2006/12/'> December 2006 </option> 2134 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2006/11/'> November 2006 </option> 2135 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2006/10/'> October 2006 </option> 2136 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2006/09/'> September 2006 </option> 2137 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2006/08/'> August 2006 </option> 2138 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2006/07/'> July 2006 </option> 2139 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2006/06/'> June 2006 </option> 2140 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2006/05/'> May 2006 </option> 2141 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2006/04/'> April 2006 </option> 2142 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2006/03/'> March 2006 </option> 2143 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2006/02/'> February 2006 </option> 2144 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2006/01/'> January 2006 </option> 2145 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2005/12/'> December 2005 </option> 2146 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2005/11/'> November 2005 </option> 2147 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2005/10/'> October 2005 </option> 2148 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2005/09/'> September 2005 </option> 2149 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2005/08/'> August 2005 </option> 2150 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2005/07/'> July 2005 </option> 2151 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2005/06/'> June 2005 </option> 2152 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2005/05/'> May 2005 </option> 2153 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2005/04/'> April 2005 </option> 2154 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2005/03/'> March 2005 </option> 2155 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2005/02/'> February 2005 </option> 2156 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2005/01/'> January 2005 </option> 2157 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2004/12/'> December 2004 </option> 2158 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2004/11/'>
2158 November 2004 </option> 2159 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2004/10/'> October 2004 </option> 2160 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2004/09/'> September 2004 </option> 2161 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2004/08/'> August 2004 </option> 2162 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2004/07/'> July 2004 </option> 2163 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2004/06/'> June 2004 </option> 2164 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2004/05/'> May 2004 </option> 2165 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2004/04/'> April 2004 </option> 2166 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2004/03/'> March 2004 </option> 2167 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2004/02/'> February 2004 </option> 2168 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2004/01/'> January 2004 </option> 2169 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2003/12/'> December 2003 </option> 2170 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2003/11/'> November 2003 </option> 2171 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2003/10/'> October 2003 </option> 2172 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2003/09/'> September 2003 </option> 2173 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2003/08/'> August 2003 </option> 2174 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2003/07/'> July 2003 </option> 2175 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2003/06/'> June 2003 </option> 2176 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2003/05/'> May 2003 </option> 2177 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2003/04/'> April 2003 </option> 2178 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2003/03/'> March 2003 </option> 2179 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2003/02/'> February 2003 </option> 2180 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2003/01/'> January 2003 </option> 2181 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2002/12/'> December 2002 </option> 2182 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2002/11/'> November 2002 </option> 2183 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2002/10/'> October 2002 </option> 2184 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2002/09/'> September 2002 </option> 2185 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2002/08/'> August 2002 </option> 2186 <option value='https://languagehat.com/2002/07/'> July 2002 </option> 2187 2188 </select> 2189 2190
2190<script> 2191( ( dropdownId ) => { 2192 const dropdown = document.getElementById( dropdownId ); 2193 function onSelectChange() { 2194 setTimeout( () => { 2195 if ( 'escape' === dropdown.dataset.lastkey ) { 2196 return; 2197 } 2198 if ( dropdown.value ) { 2199 document.location.href = dropdown.value; 2200 } 2201 }, 250 ); 2202 } 2203 function onKeyUp( event ) { 2204 if ( 'Escape' === event.key ) { 2205 dropdown.dataset.lastkey = 'escape'; 2206 } else { 2207 delete dropdown.dataset.lastkey; 2208 } 2209 } 2210 function onClick() { 2211 delete dropdown.dataset.lastkey; 2212 } 2213 dropdown.addEventListener( 'keyup', onKeyUp ); 2214 dropdown.addEventListener( 'click', onClick ); 2215 dropdown.addEventListener( 'change', onSelectChange ); 2216})( "archives-dropdown-3" ); 2217 2218//# sourceURL=WP_Widget_Archives%3A%3Awidget 2219</script>
2219 2220</div></div> 2221<div id="search-3" class="widget widget_search"><div class="widget-wrap"><h4 class="widget-title widgettitle">Search</h4> 2222<form method="get" class="searchform search-form" action="https://languagehat.com/" role="search" ><input type="text" value="Search this website …" name="s" class="s search-input" onfocus="if ('Search this website …' === this.value) {this.value = '';}" onblur="if ('' === this.value) {this.value = 'Search this website …';}" /><input type="submit" class="searchsubmit search-submit" value="Search" /></form></div></div> 2223 2224 <div id="recent-posts-3" class="widget widget_recent_entries"><div class="widget-wrap"> 2225 <h4 class="widget-title widgettitle">Recent Posts</h4> 2226 2227 <ul> 2228 <li> 2229 <a href="https://languagehat.com/mother-tongue-of-secrets/">Mother Tongue of Secrets.</a> 2230 </li> 2231 <li> 2232 <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/" aria-current="page">Brock, Barn.</a> 2233 </li> 2234 <li> 2235 <a href="https://languagehat.com/collation-without-tears/">Collation Without Tears.</a> 2236 </li> 2237 <li> 2238 <a href="https://languagehat.com/segals-nightmare/">Segalâs Nightmare.</a> 2239 </li> 2240 <li> 2241 <a href="https://languagehat.com/mozeemlek/">Mozeemlek.</a> 2242 </li> 2243 <li> 2244 <a href="https://languagehat.com/zamalek/">Zamalek.</a> 2245 </li> 2246 <li> 2247 <a href="https://languagehat.com/dictionary-adds-words/">Dictionary Adds Words!</a> 2248 </li> 2249 <li> 2250 <a href="https://languagehat.com/ai-lingo/">AI Lingo!</a> 2251 </li> 2252 <li> 2253 <a href="https://languagehat.com/project-eisirean/">Project Eisirean.</a> 2254 </li> 2255 <li> 2256 <a href="https://languagehat.com/the-fonctionnaire-and-other-delights/">The Fonctionnaire and Other Delights.</a> 2257 </li> 2258 </ul> 2259 2260 </div></div> 2261<div id="recent-comments-3" class="widget widget_recent_comments"><div class="widget-wrap"><h4 class="widget-title widgettitle">Recent Comments</h4> 2262<ul id="recentcomments"><li class="recentcomments"><span class="comment-author-link">Trond Engen</span> on <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755793">Brock, Barn.</a></li><li class="recentcomments"><span class="comment-author-link">Vanya</span> on <a href="https://languagehat.com/collation-without-tears/#comment-4755792">Collation Without Tears.</a></li><li class="recentcomments"><span class="comment-author-link"><a href="https://www.linguistichistory.com" class="url" rel="ugc external nofollow">Nelson Goering</a></span> on <a href="https://languagehat.com/brock-barn/#comment-4755789">Brock, Barn.</a></li><li class="recentcomments"><span class="comment-author-link">J.W. 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You will not only get your purchases, you will get my blessings and a karmic boost!</p> 2272<p>If your comment goes into moderation (which can happen if it has too many links or if the softw
2272are just takes it into its head to be suspicious), I will usually set it free reasonably quickly… unless it happens during the night, say between 10 PM and 8 AM Eastern Time (US), in which case you’ll have to wait. And occasionally the software will decide a comment is spam and it won’t even go into moderation; if a comment disappears on you, send me an e-mail and I’ll try to rescue it. You have my apologies in advance. Also, my posts should be taken as conversation-starters; there is no expectation of “staying on topic,”and some of the best threads have gone in entirely unexpected directions. I have strong opinions and sometimes express myself more sharply than an ideal interlocutor might, but I try to avoid personal attacks, and I hope you will do the same.</p> 2273</div> 2274 </div></div> 2275<div id="text-7" class="widget widget_text"><div class="widget-wrap"> <div class="textwidget"><p><a href="http://www.songdog.net/blog/">Songdog</a><br /> 2276<a href="https://adogswords.blogspot.com/">Kaleidoscope</a><br /> 2277<a href="https://the-daily-growler.blogspot.com/">The Daily Growler</a> â <br /> 2278<a title="more great links, from Mark Woods in Perth, Canada" href="http://www.ncf.ca/~ek867/wood_s_lot.html">wood s lot</a> â <br /> 2279<a title="You're wrong. No, you're wrong!" href="http://www.metafilter.com/">MetaFilter</a><br /> 2280<a href="http://www.eudaemonist.com/">an eudæmonist</a><br /> 2281<a title="Anatoly Vorobey's blog" href="http://www.livejournal.com/~avva">Avva </a>(Russian)<br /> 2282<a title="Matt's blog" href="http://no-sword.jp/blog/">No-sword</a><br /> 2283<a href="http://www.cassandrapages.com/">The Cassandra Pages</a><br /> 2284<a title="Margaret Marks: German-English legal translation weblog" href="http://transblawg.co.uk/">Transblawg</a><br /> 2285<a title="John Emerson's site" href="https://emersonj.wordpress.com/">Epigrues</a><br /> 2286<a title="Joel's site" href="http://faroutliers.wordpress.com/">Far Outliers</a><br /> 2287<a title="Helen DeWitt's site" href="https://paperpools.blogspot.com/">paperpools</a><br /> 2288<a title="Lisa Hayden Espenschade's Russian-fiction blog" href="https://lizoksbooks.blogspot.com/">Lizok’s Bookshelf</a><br /> 2289<a title="AJP Crown's goat blog" href="http://abadguide.wordpress.com/">A Bad Guide</a> â <br /> 2290<a title="Studiolum's blog" href="https://riowang.blogspot.com/">Poemas del rÃo Wang</a><br /> 2291<a title="Jamie Olson's Russian poetry blog" href="https://flaxenwave.blogspot.com/">The Flaxen Wave</a><br /> 2292<a title="Sashura's Russian blog" href="https://european-book-review.blogspot.com/">ТÐТРÐÐÐÐ: ЧÑо о Ð½Ð°Ñ Ð´ÑмаÑÑ Ð² ÐвÑопе?</a><br /> 2293<a title="A blog mostly about Russian literature and translation issues" href="https://russiandinosaur.blogspot.com/">Russian Dinosaur</a><br /> 2294<a title="Notes on nineteenth-century Russian poetry and prose" href="http://xixvek.wordpress.com/">XIX век</a><br /> 2295<a title="Amateur Reader (Tom)'s literary blog" href="https://wutheringexpectations.blogspot.com/">Wuthering Expectations</a><br /> 2296<a title="Boris Dralyuk's blog" href="https://bdralyuk.wordpress.com/">Boris Dralyuk</a><br /> 2297<a title="Michael Gilleland's blog" href="https://laudatortemporisacti.blogspot.com/">Laudator Temporis Acti</a><br /> 2298<a title="Andrei's excellent reviews of untranslated novels" href="https://theuntranslated.wordpress.com/"><br /> 2299The Untranslated</a><br /> 2300<a title="Notes on Book Collecting, Bibliomania, and Libricide" href="https://thefateofbooks.wordpress.com/">The Fate of Books</a><br /> 2301<a title="C. Max McGee's literary site" href="http://www.themillions.com/">The Millions</a></p> 2302<p><b>Linguablogs:</b><br /> 2303<a title="a group blog by Mark Liberman, Geoff Pullum, and other linguists" href="http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/">Language Log</a><br /> 2304<a title="Claire Bowern's blog: 'Anggarrgoon is Bardi for 'on the web'. From time to time I'll rant about various linguistic things here.'" href="http://anggarrgoon.wordpress.com/">Anggarrgoon</a><br /> 2305<a title="Lameen Souag's blog, 'Mountain of Languages'" href="https://lughat.blogspot.com/">Jabal al-Lughat</a><br /> 2306<a href="https://dickandgarlick.blogspot.com/">Dick & Garlick</a><br /> 2307<a title="bulbul's blog" href="https://bulbulovo.blogspot.com/">bulbulistan</a><br /> 2308<a title="Nick Nicholas's Greek and linguistics blog" href="http://hellenisteukontos.opoudjis.net/">ἩλληνιÏÏεÏκονÏοÏ</a> (in English)<br /> 2309<a title="Ben Zimmer's word blog" href="http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/">Word Routes</a><br /> 2310<a title="An Irishman's blog about the English language" href="http://stancarey.wordpress.com/">Sentence first</a><br /> 2311<a title="Hebrew language detective" href="http://www.balashon.com/">Balashon</a><br /> 2312<a title="Lynne Murphy's blog" href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/">Separated by a common language</a><br /> 2313<a href="http://stronglang.wordpress.com/">Strong Language</a> (“a sweary blog about swearing”)</p> 2314<p><b>Language resources:</b><br /> 2315<a href="http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/blogs-and-resources/">Arnold Zwicky’s list of blogs and resources</a><br /> 2316<a href="https://www.multitran.ru/">Multitran</a><br /> 2317<a href="https://ahdictionary.com/">American Heritage Dictionary</a><br /> 2318<a href="https://greensdictofslang.com/">Green’s Dictionary of Slang</a><br /> 2319<a title="a collaborative project to produce a free multilingual dictionary in every language" href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Main_Page">Wiktionary</a><br /> 2320<a title="Online dictionary for 27 languages" href="http://bab.la/">bab.la</a><br /> 2321<a href="http://ipa.typeit.org/">TypeIt</a> (IPA keyboards, language character sets)<br /> 2322<a href="https://westonruter.github.io/ipa-chart/keyboard/">
2322Clickable IPA chart</a> (by Weston Ruter)<br /> 2323<a title="animated discussions of the origins of words and phrases" href="https://www.wordorigins.org/discussion">Wordorigins</a><br /> 2324<a title="Wikipedia editors answer language questions" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Language">Wikipedia:Reference desk/Language</a><br /> 2325<a title="Frequently asked questions about linguistics" href="http://www.zompist.com/langfaq.html">The sci.lang FAQ</a><br /> 2326<a title="This website provides a guide to over 160 different alphabets, syllabaries and other writing systems. It also contains details of many of the languages written with those writing systems and links to a wide range of language-related resources, such as fonts, online dictionaries and online language courses." href="http://www.omniglot.com/">Omniglot</a><br /> 2327<a title="writing systems of the world" href="http://scriptsource.org/cms/scripts/page.php?&id=">ScriptSource</a><br /> 2328<a title="the Bible in many languages" href="https://www.bibleonline.ru/">BibleOnline</a><br /> 2329<a title="the Wikipedia/Urban Dictionary of Jewish languages" href="https://www.jewishlanguages.org/dictionaries">Jewish Lexicon Project</a><br /> 2330<a title="with links to other searchable Cambridge dictionaries" href="http://dictionary.cambridge.org/default.asp?dict=I">Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms</a><br /> 2331<a title="Indo-European resources" href="http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/indexe.htm">TITUS: Thesaurus Indogermanischer Text- und Sprachmaterialien</a><br /> 2332<a href="https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/indoeurop.html">American Heritage Dictionary Indo-European Roots Appendix</a><br /> 2333<a href="https://archive.org/details/ArabicEtymologicalDictionary">Andras Rajki’s Etymological Dictionary of Arabic</a><br /> 2334<a title="Bosworth-Toller, Cleasby-Vigfusson, Ulfilas, and many more" href="http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/germanic/language_resources.html">Germanic Lexicon Project</a><br /> 2335<a title="The DSL comprises electronic editions of the two major historical dictionaries of the Scots language: the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue and the Scottish National Dictionary." href="http://www.dsl.ac.uk/">Dictionary of the Scots Language</a><br /> 2336<a href="http://www.dwb.uni-trier.de/">Das Deutsche Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm</a><br /> 2337<a href="http://wortschatz.uni-leipzig.de/">Wortschatz Deutsch</a><br /> 2338<a href="https://www.dwds.de/d/wb-etymwb">Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen</a><br /> 2339<a href="https://www.dwds.de/">DWDS</a> (Der deutsche Wortschatz von 1600 bis heute)<br /> 2340<a href="http://etymologiebank.nl/">etymologiebank.nl</a> (Dutch etymology)<br /> 2341<a href="https://ordnet.dk/ddo">Den Danske Ordbog</a> (Danish dictionary, with audio)<br /> 2342<a href="http://www.nd.edu/~archives/latgramm.htm">Latin Dictionary and Grammar Aid</a><br /> 2343<a href="https://www.thesaurus.badw.de/en/tll-digital/tll-open-access.html">Thesaurus Linguae Latinae</a> (Open Access PDF version of volumes A – M and O – P)<br /> 2344<a href="http://atilf.atilf.fr/tlfv3.htm">Trésor de la langue française informatisé</a><br /> 2345<a href="https://www.languefrancaise.net/Bob/Bob">Bob, dictionnaire d’argot</a><br /> 2346<a href="http://www.academie-francaise.fr/dictionnaire/index.html">Dictionnaire de lâAcadémie francaise</a><br /> 2347<a href="http://www.cnrtl.fr/">Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales</a><br /> 2348<a title="reference works involving language: family names, etymology, place names, slang, and much else" href="http://www.lexilogos.com/index.htm">Lexilogos (French)</a><br /> 2349<a title="French dictionaries of the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries" href="http://artfl-project.uchicago.edu/node/17">Dictionnaires d’autrefois</a><br /> 2350<a title="by Walther von Wartburg" href="https://lecteur-few.atilf.fr/index.php/page/view">Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch</a><br /> 2351<a title="click on Diccionario 2001 at top left" href="http://www.rae.es/">Real Academia dictionary (Spanish)</a><br /> 2352<a href="https://www.diccionari.cat/#">Diccionari català </a><br /> 2353<a href="http://www.etimo.it/">Vocabolario Etimologico della Lingua Italiana</a><br /> 2354<a href="http://www.dizy.com/">Dizy:</a> Il dizionario pratico con curiosità e informazioni utili<br /> 2355<a href="http://dexonline.ro/">DicÈionare ale limbii române</a><br /> 2356<a href="http://www.dil.ie/">electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language</a><br /> 2357<a href="http://www.dil.ie/">Cadhan Irish Dictionary</a> (bridge to eDIL)<br /> 2358<a href="http://www.ceantar.org/Dicts/MB2/index.html">MacBain’s Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language</a> (1911 edition)<br /> 2359<a href="http://www.cornishdictionary.org.uk/">Cornish dictionary online</a><br /> 2360<a href="http://www.arak29.am/index.php">Arak-29</a> (Armenian links)<br /> 2361<a title="over 100 languages!" href="http://www.verbix.com/webverbix/index.asp">
2361Verb Conjugator</a><br /> 2362<a href="http://www.worldwidewords.org/">World Wide Words</a><br /> 2363<a href="http://www.etymonline.com/">Online Etymology Dictionary</a><br /> 2364<a title="a commonly accessible database of roots, or etyma reconstructed for the World's major (and minor) linguistic stocks" href="http://starling.rinet.ru/index.htm">Tower of Babel etymological database</a><br /> 2365<a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/">Perseus Digital Library 4.0</a><br /> 2366<a href="http://logeion.uchicago.edu/">Logeion </a> (Greek-to-English and Latin-to-English dictionary search)<br /> 2367<a href="http://www.greek-language.com/">Greek language and linguistics</a><br /> 2368<a href="http://www.greek-language.gr/greekLang/modern_greek/tools/lexica/triantafyllides/">ÎÎµÎ¾Î¹ÎºÏ ÏÎ·Ï ÎºÎ¿Î¹Î½Î®Ï Î½ÎµÎ¿ÎµÎ»Î»Î·Î½Î¹ÎºÎ®Ï [Modern Greek Dictionary]</a> (comprehensive; includes etymologies)<br /> 2369<a href="http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/lbg/#eid=1&context=lsj">LBG (Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität = Lexicon of Byzantine Greek)</a><br /> 2370<a title="Dr. J. G. Th. Graesse's 1909 dictionary of Latin place names" href="http://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/Graesse/contents.html">Orbis Latinus</a><br /> 2371<a href="http://www.slovopedia.com/">Slovopedia</a> (links to Russian dictionaries; sidebar has links to comparable pages for German, Ukrainian, Belorussian, Georgian, and Kazakh)<br /> 2372<a href="http://dic.academic.ru/">dic.academic.ru</a> (Russian dictionary search)<br /> 2373<a href="http://poiskslov.com/">ÐоиÑкСлов</a> (Russian dictionary search)<br /> 2374<a href="https://etymolog.ruslang.ru/index.php?act=anikin">Ð ÑÑÑкий ÑÑимологиÑеÑкий ÑловаÑÑ</a> (A.E. Anikinâs new Russian etymological dictionary, now on letter д)<br /> 2375<a href="http://etymolog.ruslang.ru/">etymolog.ruslang.ru</a> (Russian etymology and word history links)<br /> 2376<a title="in Russian; 'Oportet etiam inter cenandum philologiam nosse'" href="http://www.philology.ru/">Philology.ru</a><br /> 2377<a title="in Russian; 'наÑÑно подгоÑовленнÑе ÑекÑÑÑ ÑÑÑÑкой клаÑÑики'" href="http://philolog.petrsu.ru/">Philolog.ru</a><br /> 2378<a href="http://slavenica.com/">Slavenitsa</a> (converts from modern Russian to pre-reform orthography)<br /> 2379<a href="http://www.peoples.org.ru/eng_index.html">Minority Languages of Russia</a><br /> 2380<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/community/ru_slang/">Ru_slang </a>(Russian)<br /> 2381<a href="https://starlingdb.org/cgi-bin/query.cgi?basename=%2fdata%2fie%2fvasmer&root=config&morpho=0">Vasmer’s etymological dictionary</a> (Russian)<br /> 2382<a href="http://www.langust.ru/links.shtml">Russian language links</a><br /> 2383<a href="http://www.rvb.ru/">Russian literature online</a><br /> 2384<a href="http://www.ruscorpora.ru/">ÐаÑионалÑнÑй коÑпÑÑ ÑÑÑÑкого ÑзÑка</a> (Corpus of the Russian Language)<br /> 2385<a title="более 11-Ñи ÑÑÑÑÑ ÑÑаÑей Ñ ÑиÑаÑами, поÑловиÑами, поговоÑками, вÑÑажениÑми и иноÑказаниÑми, вÑÑÑеÑаÑÑимиÑÑ Ð² ÑÑÑÑкой ÑÑÑной ÑеÑи и лиÑеÑаÑÑÑе" href="http://dic.academic.ru/contents.nsf/michelson_old/">ÐолÑÑой Ñолково-ÑÑазеологиÑеÑкий ÑловаÑÑ ÐÐ¸Ñ ÐµÐ»ÑÑона</a> (1896-1912)<br /> 2386<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220120040714/https://iling.spb.ru/vocabula/srng/srng.html">СловаÑÑ ÑÑÑÑÐºÐ¸Ñ Ð½Ð°ÑоднÑÑ Ð³Ð¾Ð²Ð¾Ñов</a> [Russian dialect dictionary]<br /> 2387<a href="http://macedonia.kroraina.com/cejtlin/index.htm">СÑаÑоÑлавÑнÑкий ÑловаÑÑ</a> [Old Church Slavic dictionary]<br /> 2388<a href="https://slovar-russkogo-yazyka-xviii-v.slovaronline.com/">СловаÑÑ ÑÑÑÑкого ÑзÑка XVIII в</a> [Dictionary of 18th-c. Russian]<br /> 2389<a href="http://shininghappypeople.net/rwotd/">Russian Word of the Day</a><br /> 2390<a href="https://emigrantika.imli.ru/news/7-sovremen">СовÑеменнÑе запиÑки / Annales contemporaines</a><br /> 2391<a href="https://goroh.pp.ua/%D0%95%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%96%D1%8F/">Ukrainian etymological dictionary</a><br />
2392<a href="https://archive.org/details/20210429_20210429_2251/page/40/mode/2up">РеÑник на лиÑниÑе и Ñамилни имена Ñ Ð±ÑлгаÑиÑе</a> (Bulgarian names)<br /> 2393<a href="https://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/natlang/ie/tochB.html">A Dictionary of Tocharian B</a> (with etymologies)<br /> 2394<a href="http://www.chineselanguage.org/dictionaries/">Chinese Character Dictionary</a><br /> 2395<a title="Chinese characters and culture" href="http://zhongwen.com/">Zhongwen.com</a><br /> 2396<a href="http://www.kanjisite.com/">The Kanji Site</a><br /> 2397<a href="http://www.bolor-toli.com/dictionary/">Mongolian/English dictionary</a><br /> 2398<a title="Steingass, Platts, Hobson-Jobson... it's all here!" href="http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/">Digital Dictionaries of South Asia</a><br /> 2399<a href="http://faculty.washington.edu/prem/mw/mw.html">Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary</a><br /> 2400<a href="http://www.nisanyansozluk.com/?">NiÅanyan’s Turkish Etymological Dictionary</a><br /> 2401<a href="https://www.trussel2.com/acd/">The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary</a><br /> 2402<a href="https://pollex.eva.mpg.de/">The Polynesian Lexicon Project</a> (POLLEX)<br /> 2403<a href="https://www.ankataa.com/">An ka taa</a> (resources and lessons for Bambara, Dioula, Malinké, and Mandinka)<br /> 2404<a href="http://maguzawa.dyndns.ws/">Bargery’s web site</a> (contains A Hausa-English Dictionary and English-Hausa Vocabulary)<br /> 2405<a title="link thanks to Prentiss" href="https://us.imdb.com/Sections/Languages/">Movies listed by language at IMDB</a><br /> 2406<a title="iLoveLanguages.com, formerly The Human-Languages Page" href="http://www.ilovelanguages.com/index.php?category=Languages">Languages online</a><br /> 2407<a title="edited by Jesse Sheidlower" href="https://sfdictionary.com/">Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction</a><br /> 2408<a title="the premier scholarly journal featuring research in the neglected field of satirical linguistics" href="http://www.specgram.com/">Speculative Grammarian</a><br /> 2409<a title="A Collection of Word Oddities and Trivia" href="http://jeff560.tripod.com/words.html">Word Oddities</a><br /> 2410<a title="a language columnist who actually knows what she's talking about" href="http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/freeman/">Jan Freeman’s <i>Boston Globe</i> column</a><br /> 2411<a title="convert between Unicode character numbers, characters, UTF-8 and UTF-16 code units in hex, and Numeric Character References (hex and decimal)" href="http://people.w3.org/rishida/scripts/uniview/">Character converter</a></p> 2412<p><b>Mailing list</b><br /> 2413<a title="for general Hattic chat" href="https://groups.google.com/group/hattics">Hattics mailing list</a></p> 2414<p><b>Visual pleasures</b><br /> 2415<a href="https://www.nicholasjainschigg.com/">Nick Jainschigg’s blog</a><br /> 2416<a title="gorgeous tiles and wallpaper" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220307062606/http://citrusmoon.typepad.com/">Citrus Moon</a><br /> 2417<a title="...an axis of innumerable relationships..." href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180601203609/http://ramage.typepad.com/ramage/">Ramage</a></p> 2418</div> 2419 </div></div> 2420<div id="text-8" class="widget widget_text"><div class="widget-wrap"> <div class="textwidget"><p> <b>Favorite rave review, by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teju_Cole">Teju Cole</a></b>:<br /> 2421 “Evidence that the internet is not as idiotic as it often looks. This site is called Language Hat and it deals with many issues of a linguistic flavor. It’s a beacon of attentiveness and crisp thinking, and an excellent substitute for the daily news.” </p> 2422<p title="Wednesday, October 15, 2003, 3:18 PM: the first post at the blog, which has been defunct for many years"> From “commonbeauty”</p> 2423<p> (Cole’s blog circa 2003)</p> 2424</div> 2425 </div></div> 2426<div id="custom_html-2" class="widget_text widget widget_custom_html"><div class="widget_text widget-wrap"><div class="textwidget custom-html-widget"><div id="wa179ed10389a8f48cfe124c26e7b1aac"></div>
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2426<noscript><a href="https://www.librarything.com/profile/languagehat">My Library</a> at <a href="https://www.librarything.com">LibraryThing</a></noscript></div></div></div> 2427<div id="text-2" class="widget widget_text"><div class="widget-wrap"> <div class="textwidget"><p> 2428 <small>All comments are copyright their original posters. Only messages signed “languagehat” are property of and attributable to <a href="https://languagehat.com">languagehat.com</a>. All other messages and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily state or reflect those of <a href="https://languagehat.com">languagehat.com</a>. Languagehat.com does not endorse any potential defamatory opinions of readers, and readers should post opinions regarding third parties at their own risk. Languagehat.com reserves the right to alter or delete any questionable material posted on this site.</small></p> 2429</div> 2430 </div></div> 2431</div></div></div><div id="footer" class="footer"><div class="wrap"><div class="creds"><p>Copyright © 2026 · <a href="https://languagehat.com">languagehat.com</a></p></div><div class="gototop"><p><a href="#wrap" rel="nofollow">Return to top of page</a></p></div></div></div></div>
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