Monthly Archives: September 2022

The Spanish language emerged out of a dialect of Vulgar Latin once spoken in the Roman province of Hispania in the Iberian Peninsula, occupied by the Romans from the late 3rd century BC. The variety of Vulgar Latin spoken in Iberia would also give rise to Portuguese, both Spanish and Portuguese being classified as Ibero-RomanceContinue reading “Visualising the Spanish language”

The Tyrsenian languages, also called Tyrrhenian or Common Tyrrhenic, were a proposed family of languages spoken in Europe. The Tyrsenian languages, all three of which that have been identified, are all now long extinct. They are Etruscan, Rhaetian, and Lemnian. The grouping was first put forward by linguist Helmut Rix in 1998. It was namedContinue reading “The Tyrsenian languages”

The Ancient Romans (Latin: Rōmanī / Ancient Greek: Ῥωμαῖοι, Rhōmaîoi) famous for their culture, intellect, literature, militarism, empire, politics, and more, were #obsessed with circles 🔴🟠🟡🟢🔵🟣⚫️⚪️🟤 The Roman Empire (unified 27BC-AD395; Western AD395-476/80; Eastern AD395-1453) spanned a considerable proportion of Europe and surrounding regions at its height, although the Romans first and foremost boasted aContinue reading “THEY were obsessed with circles”

The English word “school” is derived, through Middle English scole, from the Old English scōl, scolu (“place of education”) – which was reinforced in medieval England under Norman rule by the Old French escole (école in modern French). Old English may have carried this term through from Proto-Germanic *skōla (“school”); regardless, in Late Latin itContinue reading “Back to School: well, looking back to the etymology of the word “school” (and more)…”

ARABIC يمين yamīn ‘right’ يسار yasār ‘left’ Arabic yamīn, also meaning ‘oath’, is a cognate with yumn ‘auspiciousness’ and al-Yaman ‘Yemen’; yasār, also meaning ‘wealth’, is a cognate with yusr ‘ease, facility’. PERSIAN AND KURDISH راست rāst ‘right’ (Kurdish spelling rast) چپ chap ‘left’ (Kurdish spelling çep) The Persian rāst ‘right (direction); straight; true’ alsoContinue reading “Left & right in languages of the East (and Swahili)”