In this episode we’re sweeping French floors with Celtic shrubs.
The Proto-Celtic word *banatlo- means broom, as in the shrub Cytisus scoparius (a.k.a. common broom / Scotch broom) or similar plants. It comes from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenH-tlom (way, path) in the sense of “cleared path (in a wood)” [source].
Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:
bealaidh [bɛl̪ˠɪ] = broom in Scottish Gaelic
banadl [ˈbanadl] = broom in Welsh
banadhel = broom in Cornish
balan [ˈbɑːlãn] = broom in Breton
They all mean broom, as in the shrub, although the exact species of broom plant they refer to may vary from language to language.
According to An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language by Alexander MacBain (1982), there is a cognate in Irish: beally/i, however it doesn’t appear in any of the Irish dictionaries I’ve checked.
The French word balai (broom, broomstick, brush) ultimately comes from the same Proto-Celtic root, via Old French balain (bundle of broom), Middle Breton balain, balazn, Old Breton balan (broom) and Gaulish *balano- (broom, broom plant), as does bálago (straw, Spanish broom) in Spanish and balea (broom) in Galician, possibly via Celtiberian *bálago-, *bálaco- [source].
Words same PIE roots possibly include bana (course, path, trajectory) in Swedish, baan (road, path, track, job, orbit) in Dutch, and Bahn (route, trail, railway) in German [source].
More about words for Brushes and Broom and related things in Celtic languages.
Incidentally, the tune at the beginning of this episode is one of my own compositions called Apple Blossom / Blodau Afal. Here’s a longer recording of it:
You can find more connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog. I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog.
Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.
Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot for the past three weeks – I was away on holiday in Scotland for a week, and didn’t have time to record newscasts during that time. (More on that later).
There are new language pages about:
Niuatoputapu-Tafahi, an extinct Polynesian language or dialect cluster which was spoken on the islands Niuatoputapu and Tafahi in what is now Tonga.
Isinai, a Central Cordilleran language spoken in the Province of Nueva Vizcaya in Luzon in the Philippines.
Owa, a Southern Solomonic language spoken in Makira-Ulawa Province in the Solomon Iands.
Desano, Carapana (Mõxtã), Tuyuca (Docapúaraye), and Yurutí, which are all Eastern Tucanoan language spoken in Colombia and in Brazil.
New constructed script: Marubhasha, an alternative way to write Telugu invented by K. Kiran Kumar.
New constructed script: Erm, an alternative way to write English invented by Jeffy Huang and based mainly on the classical Mongolian script.
New constructed script: Ayxanər, which was created by Ayxan Eyvazov as an alternative way to write the Azerbaijani language.
New phrases and numbers pages: Dogri (डोगरी), a Western Pahari language spoken in northern India.
New numbers pages:
Saurashtra (ꢱꣃꢬꢵꢰ꣄ꢜ꣄ꢬꢵ), a Western Indo-Aryan language spoken in Tamil Nadu in southern India.
Chorti (Ch’orti’), a Mayan language spoken in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
Midland Mixe (Ayüük), a Mixe-Zoque language spoken in Oaxaca in southern Mexico.
New Tower of Babel translation: Midland Mixe (Ayüük)
On the Omniglot blog there are new posts about Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (the Scottish Gaelic college on the Isle of Skye where I spent most of my holiday), Turas Fada (Long Journey) (about my journey to Skye), Giving Up (a April’s fool post), and Mr(s) Rumbling, about the Japanese word ごろごろ様 (gorogoro sama – thunder). There’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:
Here’s a clue: this language was spoken in California in the USA, and is currently being revived.
The mystery language in language quiz of 7th April was
Interslavic (Меджусловјански / Medžuslovjanski), an international auxiliary language designed to be used by speakers of different Slavic languages to communicate with one another.
The mystery languages in the language quiz of 14th April were
Assamese (অসমীয়া), an Eastern Indo-Aryan language spoken in India, Bangladesh and Bhutan, and Sylheti (ছিলটী), and Eastern Indo-Aryan language spoken in Bangladesh and India.
In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, entitled Stable Stables, we find out whether the words stable (a building for horses) and stable (steady, permanent) are related.
On the Celtiadur blog there are new posts about words for Lies and Deceit and Ploughs, and I made improvements to the posts about words for Bridges, Seals and Purple.
In other news, I had a great time in Scotland doing a course in Scottish Gaelic songs at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig on the Isle of Skye. This is the tenth time I’ve been there doing courses in Gaelic songs, and we learnt about 30 songs in 5 days in the song class. I knew some of them already, but most were new to me. I’ve been learning Scottish Gaelic on and off for many years and speak it fairly fluently, so I tried to speak it as much as possibly while I was there. I also had conversations in French, Irish, Welsh, Mandarin Chinese and even English.
Gaelic Song Class April 2024 / Clas Òrain Ghàidhlig Giblean 2024
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In this Adventure in Etymology we find out whether the words stable (a building for horses) and stable (steady, permanent) are related.
A stable is:
a building for the lodging and feeding of horses, cattle, etc.
a collection of animals housed in such a building. [other meanings are available]
It comes from Middle Englsh stable (a building for horses), from Anglo-Norman stable (a place for keeping animals), from Latin stablum (dwelling, stable, hut, tavern), from stō (to stand, stay, remain) and -bulum (instrumental suffix) [source].
In Old English, a stable was a horsern [ˈhorˠzˌerˠn] (“horse place”) [source] or a steall [stæ͜ɑll], from which we get the word stall (a compartment for a single animal in a stable or cattle shed) [source].
As an adjective stable means:
Relatively unchanging, steady, permanent; firmly fixed or established; consistent; not easily moved, altered, or destroyed
It comes from Middle English stable, from Anglo-Norman stable / stabel (stable, firm), from Latin stabilis (firm, steadfast), from stō (to stand, stay, remain) and -abilis (able). It displaced the Old English word for stable, staþolfæst [ˈstɑ.ðolˌfæst] [source].
So it seems that these two words do come from the same roots. Other words from the same roots include stage, stand, state and stamina in English, stabbio (pen, fold, pigsty) in Italian, estar (to be) in Spanish, and ystafell (room, building, house) in Welsh [source].
I forget mention on the podcast, but the reason I chose the word stable for this adventure is because it’s related to the Scottish Gaelic sabhal [sa.əl̪ˠ] (barn), which comes from Middle Irish saball, from Latin stabulum [source], and I’ve just spent a week doing a course in Scottish Gaelic songs at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (“Ostag’s Big Barn”), the Gaelic college on the Isle of Skye [more details].
Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.
I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog.
Here’s a clue: this is an International Auxiliary Language (IAL).
The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Khanty (Ханты), a Ob Ugric language spoken in the Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs in the west and north of the Russian Federation.
Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.
In this episode we uncover Celtic fortresses among the sand dunes.
A dune is a ridge or hill of sand piled up by the wind. It comes from Proto-West Germanic *dūn(ā) (sand dune, hill), via French or Dutch, from Proto-Germanic *dūnaz (accumulation, pile, heap, mound), or from Gaulish dunum (hill), from Proto-Celtic *dūnom (stronghold, rampart), all of which come from Proto-Indo-European *dʰuHnom (enclosure) [source].
Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:
dún [d̪ˠuːnˠ] (fort(ress), place of refuge, residence, house) in Irish
dùn [duːn] (fortress, heap) in Scottish Gaelic
doon [duːn] (fort, stronghold) in Manx
din [dɪn] (city, fortress, stronghold), and dinas (city) in Welsh
din [di:n] (fort) in Cornish
din [ˈdĩːn] (fortress) in Breton
Apart from dinas in Welsh, these words are mostly found in placenames, such as Dún Dealgan (Dundalk) in Ireland, Dún Dè(agh) (Dundee) in Scotland, Dinbych (Denbigh) in Wales, Dinmeur (Dunmere) in Cornwall, and Dinan in Brittany.
Words from the same Celtic roots possibly include town and down (a [chalk] hill, rolling grassland) in English, tuin (garden, yard) in Dutch, tún (hayfield) in Icelandic, and тын [tɨn] (fence [especially one made of twigs]) in Russian [source].
Words same PIE roots include dusk, dust and fume in English, dagg (dew) and dy (mud, mire, sludge) in Swedish, and fem (dung, manure) in Catalan [source].
More about words for Castles & fortresses and related things in Celtic languages.
You can find more connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog. I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog.
Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.
Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.
There are new language pages about:
Jibu, a Central Jukunoid spoken in Taraba State in eastern Nigeria.
Oroha, a Southern Solomonic language spoken in the south of Small Malaita Island in Malaita Province in the east of the Solomon Islands.
There’s a new page about Neolatin, an international auxiliary language designed to be used by speakers of different Romance languages to communicate with one another, and also Phrases, Numbers, Time, Family words and Weather pages in Neolatin
New constructed script: Script of the All-Seers (Lishan Oiad), which was invented by Kitsune Sobo as the native script of the alien All-Seers in the fictional Rhodinoverse.
New numbers pages:
Jibu, a Central Jukunoid spoken in Taraba State in eastern Nigeria.
Oroha, a Southern Solomonic language spoken on Small Malaita Island in the east of the Solomon Islands.
Kryts (цIека meз), a Northeast Caucasian language spoken in the Quba district in the northeast of Azerbaijan.
On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post about words for heart, centre and related things, and I made improvements to the posts about words for Streets and Ants.
Finally, with all this noodling about, I was inspired to write a new song called Noodling. It goes something like this:
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In this Adventure in Etymology we’re noodling around with the word noodle.
As a noun, a noodle can refer to:
A string or flat strip of pasta or other dough, usually cooked (at least initially) by boiling, and served in soup or in a dry form mixed with a sauce and other ingredients.
An object which is long and thin like a noodle.
It comes from Dutch noedel (noodle), or from German Nudel (a piece of pasta, noodle). The origin of these words is uncertain [source].
Apparently in the USA noodle can refer to Asian noodles and Italian pasta, whereas in the UK, noodle only refers to Asian noodles.
As a verb, to noodle can mean:
To play a musical instrument or to sing in an improvisatory or light-hearted manner
To ponder or think, especially in an unproductive or unsystematic manner
To attempt in an informal or uncertain manner; to fiddle.
In Shetland dialect, to noddle means to hum or sing (a tune) at a low pitch or volume. This may be a blend of the Shetland word nune (to sing softly, croon, hum) and doodle (to play the bagpipes) in Scottish English.
The English verb to noodle may come from the Shetland word, or from German nudeln (to make music or sing listlessly, at a low pitch or volume, or in an improvisatory manner). It was possibly influenced by doodle (to draw or scribble aimlessly).
In informal British English, to noodle can also mean to engage in frivolous behaviour, or to fool around or waste time, and it used to mean a person with poor judgement, a fool, or to fool or trick someone.
Other meanings of noodle are available.
Incidentally, I like to noodle on my various musical instruments, and with my voice, and wrote a little ditty about this the other day, which goes something like this:
I’m just noodling away quite happily
and nothing can get in my way
I could noodle all day down by the bay
and noodle all through the night
Will you noodle with me down by the sea?
Will you noodle along the shore?
Will you noodle and moodle and all that caboodle?
We’ll have a lot of fun you’ll see
We can noodle and doodle and eat some strudel
with oodles of custard and cream
And then noodle some more it won’t be a bore
Just noodling down on the shore
Just noodling down on the shore
Just noodling down on the shore
Just noodling down on the shore
Just noodling down on the shore
To moodle means to dawdle aimlessly, to idle time away [source], oodles means an unspecified large amount, number, or quantity; lots, tons [source], and cabdoodle means any large collection of things or people [source]
Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.
I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog.
Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.
New writing system: Ogan Script, which is used to write Ogan, a Central Malay language spoken in South Sumatra and Lampung in Indonesia.
There are new language pages about:
Ogan (Base Ugan / بهاس اوڬن), a Central Malay language spoken along the Ogan River in South Sumatra and Lampung provinces in eastern Indonesia.
Longgu, a Southeast Solomonic language spoken on the northeast coast of Guadalcanal Island in the Solomon Islands.
Lop (Ľor télé / لوپنۇر تېلې), a Karluk Turkish language spoken in the Lop Nur region in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the northwest of China.
New numbers pages:
Kongo (Kikongo), a Bantu language spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo and Angola.
Northern Ndebele (isiNdebele), a Bantu language spoken in southwestern Zimbabwe and northeastern Botswana.
Lozi (siLozi), a Bantu language spoken mainly in the southwest of Zambia, and in neighbouring countries.
On the Omniglot blog, may I ask you to read, comment on and share a new post about imperatives phrased as questions, a.k.a. Whimperatives, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:
Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in Peru and Ecuador.
The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Soninke (Sooninkanxanne), a Mande language spoken mainly in Mali, and other parts of West Africa.
In this week’s episode of the Celtic Pathways podcast, Horny Peaks we find Romance horns among Celtic peaks and mountains.
On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post about words for Thin and Slender and related things, and I made improvements to the posts about words for Mountains and Roads.
I also made improvements to the Soninke language page.
By the way, Happy St. Patrick’s Day! / Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit!
Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.
In this episode we find Romance horns among Celtic peaks and mountains.
In Proto-Celtic, the word *bandā means top, peak or horn, and *benno means peak or top. They are thought to be related, and possibly come from the PIE *bendʰ- (pin, point).
Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:
beann = horn, antler or fork prong in Irish
beann [bjaun̪ˠ] = horn, peak or top; and beinn [bein̪ʲ] = mountain or high hill in Scottish Gaelic
beinn = mountain, summit or pinnacle in Manx
ban [ban] = top, tip, summit or peak in Welsh
ban = prominence in Cornish
bann = rising, uphill, post or column in Breton
Words from the same Celtic roots include ben (mountain, hill) in Scots, as in Ben Nevis (Beinn Nibheis), etc, banya (horn) and banyut (horned, unfaithful) in Catalan, and bana (horn) in Occitan [source].
Words same PIE roots include peak and pin in English, pinne (chopstick, perch, point) in Swedish, pind (stick, perch, peg) in Danish, and pin (peg, pin) in Dutch [source].
More about words for Peaks and related things in Celtic languages.
You can find more connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog. I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog.
Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.
Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.
There are new language pages about:
Andoque (Paasi-ahá), a language isolate or a Witotoan language spoken in southern Colombia.
Berom (Cèn Bèrom), a Benue-Congo language spoken in the north of Plateau State in central Nigeria.
Hdi (xdí), a Chadic language spoken mainly in the Far North Region of Cameroon
New constructed script: Wind-and-Leaf Script, an alphabet invented by Kitsune Sobo as the native script of the Gods of Ooseyard (“God World”) in the Rhodinoverse (a fictional multiverse).
New fictional script: Neo-Chakobsa, a constructed script and language developed by American linguist David J. Peterson for the Dune film series.
New numbers pages:
Berom (Cèn Bèrom), a Benue-Congo language spoken in the north of Plateau State in central Nigeria.
Hdi (xdí), a Chadic language spoken mainly in the Far North Region of Cameroon.
There’s a new Omniglot blog post entitled Clinking Hardware about the French word quincaillerie (hardware store, hardware, junk), and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:
Here’s a clue: this language is spoken mainly in Mali, and also in other parts of West Africa.
The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Paicî, a New Caledonian language spoken in the North Province of New Caledonia. From YouTube.
Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.