Marcie Sundaram

War and wurst (as in bratwurst and liverwurst) both come from the Proto-Indo-European root *wers- meaning “to confuse, mix up”. Wurst, which means “sausage” in German, comes from the idea of “mixture”, and war comes from the sense “to bring into confusion” and thus “strife”. This root also gives us the words worse and guerrilla. The phrase Sausage War is sometimes used to refer to an odd episode during the 1939-1940 Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland in which a Soviet attack was crucially delayed when the undernourished Red Army stopped to eat sausage soup left behind by Finnish cooks allowing Finnish reinforcements to arrive.

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is WAR/WURST #wotd #war #wurst #bratwurst #liverwurst

Outcropping of rock by the lake with trees in northern Ontario

Typical northern Ontario landscape — it’s Canadian Shield country so rock everywhere #SundayPixStone

I think before we even begin to discuss AI consciousness we need to have a broader discussion of what human consciousness is, and more importantly what is it for

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I’m so sorry

Seismic/Whittle #Etymology YouTube video by Alliterative

The surprisingly connected origins of "seismic" and "whittle".
#etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #seismic #earthquake #whittle
youtube.com/shorts/K_hmb...

Kash Patel’s impromptu trip to celebrate with the US men’s hockey team at the Olympics set a poor example as Director of the FBI when an important kidnapping and ransom case should have been his primary responsibility, and etymologically that’s fitting. The word example came into English from Old French essemple “sample, model, example, precedent, cautionary tale”, with its spelling re-Latinized from the original Latin exemplum “a sample, specimen; a copy, transcript”, literally meaning “that which is taken out”, from the verb eximere “to take out, take away, remove”, made up of the prefix ex- “out” + emere “to buy, purchase” (from the Proto-Indo-European root *em- “to take”). When this Latin verb is instead combined with the prefix pro- “before, forward, for” we get promere “to take out, give out, bring forth, produce”, with its past participle promptus producing the noun promptus “readiness, facility” and the phrase in promptu “in readiness”, becoming the French and then English word impromptu in the 17th c. When this same Latin verb is combined with yet another prefix, re(d)- “back”, we get redimere “to buy back, repurchase, redeem” and its noun form redemptio “a buying back, releasing, ransoming, redemption”, which both came into English as redemption and transformed in Old French to ranson “ransom, redemption”, borrowed into English and eventually becoming ransom. But I guess that’s what happens when you have unqualified and contemptible government officials, demonstrating that famous Latin proverb caveat emptor “let the buyer beware”.

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is RANSOM/IMPROMPTU/EXAMPLE #wotd #ransom #impromptu #example #KashPatel

Looking to study the ancient world in Canada at the undergraduate or graduate level? Our list of departments in Canada is newly updated with links to information about programs of study at each school!

www.cac-scec.ca/classics-pro...

If you notice any inaccuracy about your department, let us know!

I mean who doesn’t want a little privacy at that moment

Laurentian University unions question 11% pay hikes for the president and provost | CBC News Laurentian University’s staff and faculty unions are asking why pay increases for the president and provost, approved in October, are only being made public now.

Laurentian University cried poverty when negotiating with faculty but had secretly given its president an 11% pay hike. Fuck Laurentian! Lynn Wells should resign immediately!

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

A bunch of rich people who run the Kansas government getting poor Kansans angry at transgender folks and now we have crap like this happening. What a disgrace. Vote all these transphobic scumbags out. www.erininthemorning.com/p/kansas-sen...

Instrument/Destroy #Etymology YouTube video by Alliterative

The surprisingly connected origins of "instrument" and "destroy". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #instrument #destroy

youtube.com/shorts/4O33v...

A momentary lapse in judgment when you’re in a valley in avalanche country can be a disaster, and that’s etymologically apt. The word avalanche was borrowed from French, from avalantze “descent” in the Romansch language of Switzerland, from lavantse in the Savoy dialect near the Italian border in the western Alps. The first part comes from French avaler “to descend”, from the phrase à val “to the valley”, in Latin ad vallem, from Latin vallis “valley”, which also came into English through French as valley. The second part of avalanche probably comes ultimately from Latin labi “to slip, slide”, which in its past participle form lapsus also came into English as lapse.

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is AVALANCHE/VALLEY/LAPSE #wotd #avalanche #valley #lapse

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Cow/Beef #Etymology YouTube video by Alliterative

The surprisingly connected origins of "cow" and "beef".

#etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #cow #beef #anglosaxons #normans

youtube.com/shorts/KssVg...

A luge is a kind of sled that slides down a track, and etymologically this may make sense. Sled and slide come from the Proto-Indo-European root *sleidh- “to slip, slide”, slide coming into English through Old English slidan and sled through Middle Low German sledde. Luge comes from the Savoy dialect of French, from Medieval Latin sludia, which may come from a Gaulish word from that same Proto-Indo-European root.

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is LUGE/SLIDE #wotd #luge #sled #slide #Olympics2026

Suno costs money, and working class people have always made music. Even enslaved people have made music historically. And music has always been a powerful tool for social change

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Assets/Sad/Satisfy #Etymology YouTube video by Alliterative

The surprisingly connected origins of "assets", "sad", and "satisfy".

#etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #asset #sad #satisfy

youtube.com/shorts/SlY5h...

WOMEN AND METAL HAVE 5 MINUTES? HELP A GIRL OUT AND FILL OUT MY SURVEY ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES AS FEMALE METAL FAN AND MISOGYNY ALL RESPONSES ARE ANONYMOUS Goldsmiths

Please share and/or fill this out if it applies to you: forms.gle/6TuZYUzhAznR...

"Female identifying metal fans- I need your input for my university research! I am currently gathering some stats around misogyny in metal music scenes…All reponses will be recorded as anonymous.”

What does curling have to do with grapes? Etymology! Curling gets its name from the way the stone curls on the ice, and can be traced back to the root *g(e)r- “curving, crooked”. This also produced Germanic *krappon “hook”, and from that Old French graper “catch with a hook, pick grapes”, so basically the word transferred from referring to the vine hook used for picking grapes to the grapes themselves, replacing the Old English word winberige, literally “wine berry”.

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is CURLING/GRAPE #wotd #curling #grape #grapes #Olympics #Olympics2026 🥌 🍇

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