In this Adventure in Etymology, we find what the word accent has to do with singing.

An accent [ˈak.sənt / ˈæk.sɛnt] is:

• The way in which people in a particular area, country, or social group pronounce words.
• A mark written or printed over a letter to show how to pronounce it.
• A special emphasis given to a particular syllable in a word, word in a sentence, or note in a set of musical notes. [source – other meanings are available]

It comes from Middle English accent (accent, modulation), from Latin accentus (a blast, signal, accent, tone), from accinō / accanō (to sing to), from ad (to[wards]), and canō (to sing, recite, sound), a calque of Ancient Greek προσῳδία (prosōidía – song sung to music; pronunciation of syllable), from πρός (prós – to) and ᾠδή (ōidḗ – song) [source].

Words for accent in many other languages come from the same roots, as do the words chant, descant, enchant, incant and hen in English, canu (to sing, intone, chant) in Welsh, can (to say) in Scottish Gaelic, cicogna (stork) in Spanish, káně (buzzard) in Czech, and خوانْدَن (xândan – to read, recite, sing, study) in Persian [source].

Incidentally, the Ancient Greek word προσῳδία (prosōidía – song sung to music; pronunciation of syllable) is the root (via Middle French and Latin) of the English word prosody, which is study of rhythm, intonation, stress, and related attributes in speech, or the study of the patterns of sounds and rhythms in poetry [source].

You might believe that you don’t have an accent, but you do. We all do. You might think that because you sound similar to most people around you, you don’t have an accent, while people from elsewhere do. From their perspective, it’s you that has an accent. I have a bit of a wandering accent that changes depending on who I’ve been listening and/or talking to.

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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: Kodava Lipi, or Muthanna Script, was created in 1970 by Dr. I M Muthanna to write Kodava, a Dravidian language spoken in Karnataka in the southwest of India. It was chosen as the official script for Kodava in 2022.

New language pages:

• Mbama (Lembáámá), a Bantu language spoken in the Republic of Congo and in Gabon.
• Mbere (Limbere), a Bantu language spoken in the Republic of Congo and in Gabon.
• Tooro (Orutooro), a Northeast Bantu language spoken in the Tooro Kingdom in southwestern Uganda.
• Nyoro (Orunyoro), a Northeast Bantu language spoken in the Bunyoro Kingdom in western Uganda.

New numbers pages:

• Adzera, a Western Oceanic language spoken in Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea.
• Aneityum (Anejom̃), a Southern Oceanic language spoken on Aneityum Island in Tafea Province in the south of Vanuatu.
• Are (Mukawa), a Western Oceanic language spoken in Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea.

New Tower of Babel translation: Nyoro (Orunyoro), a Northeast Bantu language spoken in the Bunyoro Kingdom in western Uganda.

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Villainous Sharks about the Danish word skurk (villain, baddie) and related words in other languages, 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 the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Yapese (Thin nu Waqab), an Oceanic language spoken on the island of Yap, in the Federated States of Micronesia.

On the Celtic Pathways podcast, we investigate the Celtic roots of words for Gulls in English and French.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog, there’s a new post about words Abbots and related things in Celtic languages, and I made improvements to the post about words for To Burn.

Improved pages: Kodava, Are and Adzera language pages.

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In this episode we discover the possible Celtic roots of English and French words for seagull.

The Proto-Celtic word *wailannā means seagull, and possibly comes from the Proto-Indo-European *wáy (oh! ah! woe! alas!), and maybe related to *waylos (howler, wolf) [source].

Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:

• faoileán = gull, seagull in Irish
• faoileann [fɯːlən̪ˠ] = gull, seagull, common gull in Scottish Gaelic
• foillan = gull, seagull in Manx
• gwylan [ˈɡʊɨ̯lan / ˈɡʊi̯lan] = sea-gull, fair maiden, glutton in Welsh
• golan [ˈɡoːlan / ˈɡʊlɐn] = gull, seagull in Cornish
• gouelan [ˈɡweːlãn] = seagull in Breton

For more about words for gulls and related things in Celtic languages, see the Celtiadur post: Gulls

The English word gull comes from Middle English gulle (gull, water bird), which was probably borrowed from a Brythonic language (Welsh or Cornish) [source].

The French word goéland [ɡɔ.e.lɑ̃] (gull, herring gull) was borrowed from Middle Breton goelan (gull, seagull) in the 15th century [source].

A more common French word for (sea)gull is mouette [mwɛt], which comes from Middle French mouette (seagull) from Old French moette (seagull), from maoe (seagull), from Old English mǣw (seagull) [source].

The Old Englsh word mǣw, comes from Proto-Germanic *maiwiz (seagull), from a non-Indo-European substrate, or is of imitative origin. It’s also found in Middle English as mewe (gull, seagull), in the archaic / dialectal English word mew (gull, seagull), in Dutch as meeuw (seagull), and in German as Möwe (seagull) [source].

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Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.

New language pages:

• Bafaw-Balong (lèfɔ́’, bàlòŋ), a Bantu language (or two closely-related languages) spoken in the Southwest and Littoral regions of Cameroon.
• Dciriku (Gciriku), a Central Sudanic language spoken mainly in southwestern Chad, and also in Nigeria.
• Kako (Mkako), a Bantu language spoken in Cameroon, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo.

New magical script: Alphabet of Metatron, a magical alphabet based losely on the Hebrew script.

New adapted script: Thaana for Arabic, a way to write Arabic with the Thaana (Maldivian) script devised by Aahan Kotian.

On the Omniglot blog we discover whether the word plateau is related to plate, platypus, plaza, pizza, place, flat and fold in a post called Little Dishes, 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 Micronesia.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Chaura (Sanënyö), a Nicobarese language spoken mainly on Chowra Island in the Indian union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, entitled Bottles, Boots and Butts, we find connections between words for bottle, butt, boot and other things in various languages.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog, there’s a new post entitled Cressy about words for cress, watercress and related things in Celtic languages, and I made improvements to the Lies and Deceit and Bodies posts.

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If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

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In this Adventure in Etymology, we find connections between words for bottle, boot and butt in various languages.

Meanings of bottle [ˈbɔtɫ̩ / ˈbɑ.təl] include:

• A container, typically made of glass or plastic and having a tapered neck, used primarily for holding liquids.
• The contents of such a container.

It comes from Middle English botel [ˈbutəl] (bottle, flask, wineskin), from Old French boteille [buˈteʎə] (bottle), from Late Latin butticula (bottle, flask), from buttis (cask, barrel), from Ancient Greek βοῦττῐς (boûttĭs – a type of vessel), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeHw- (to swell, puff) [source].

Words from the same roots include boot, butt (cask, barrel), and butler in English, bottiglia (bottle) in Italian, botte (boot, oppression) in French, botija (jug, vessel) in Spanish, butoi (barrel, cask) in Romanian, buta (butt, cask, stock, stocky person) in Irish, and búča (pumpkin, squash, head) in Slovenian [source].

Words for bottle in Old English included:

• flasce [ˈflɑs.ke] (bottle, flask), which comes from Proto-Germanic *flaskǭ (flask, bottle), lives on as flask in English, and is related the German word Flasche (bottle, flask, flagon), fles (bottle) in Dutch, and flaska (bottle) in Swedish [source].
• ampella [ˈɑm.pel.lɑ] (flask, bottle, flagon, vial), which comes from Proto-West Germanic *ampullā (flask), from Latin ampulla (a two-handled vessel with a swollen middle), from amphora (a large vessel, especially one made of clay with two handles used for storing and transporting wine and oil), from Ancient Greek ἀμφορεύς (amphoreús – jar with a narrow neck, amphora). It lives on as ampoule in English [source].

A related word in German is Ampel, which can refer to a traffic light, a ceiling lamp or a container which hangs from the ceiling (for a plant, etc.) [source]

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podchaser, Podbay or Podtail and other pod places.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

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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 language pages:

• Kabwa (Ekikabwa), a Northeast Bantu language spoken in the Mara Region in northern Tanzania.
• Bagirmi (tàrà ɓármà), a Central Sudanic language spoken mainly in southwestern Chad, and also in Nigeria.
• Naba (Tar Melbene), a Central Sudanic language spoken mainly in Batha-Est Prefecture in central Chad.

New numbers pages:

• Zinza (Ecizinza), a Bantu language spoken in the Mwanza Region in northern Tanzania.
• Kabwa (Ekikabwa), a Northeast Bantu language spoken in the Mara Region in northern Tanzania.

New adapated script: Tengwar for Ukrainian, a way to write Ukrainian with Tolkein’s Tengwar script devised by Murray Callahan.

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Hydraulic Plumbers, about how the word for plumber in Italian (idraulico) differs from words from plumber in other Romance languages, 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 the Indian Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: East Pomeranian (Ostpommersch), an East Low German language spoken mainly in Brazil, and also in the USA.

There’s no Adventure in Etymology this week as I was busy sorting things out at my mum’s house all weekend. That’s also why the sound quality of the recording is not up to the usual standards.

On the Celtiadur blog, there’s a new post entitled Ropes & Strings about words for rope, cord, to string and related things in Celtic languages.

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You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podchaser, PlayerFM or podtail.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

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Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.

New language pages:

• Waiwai, a Cariban language spoken mainly in northern Brazil, and also in Guyana and Suirname.
• Enawene Nawe (Enawenê-Nawê), a Southern Arawakan language spoken in State of Mato Grosso in western Brazil.
• Jah Hut, an Aslian language spoken mainly in Pahang state in the south of peninsula Malaysia.
• Brao, a Bahnaric language spoken in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.

New numbers page:

• Mazandarani, a northwestern Iranian language spoken in the northwest of Iran.

New adapated script: Saurashtra for Gujarati (ꢱꣃꢬꢵꢰ꣄ꢜ꣄ꢬ ꢭꢶꢦꢶ), a way to write Gujarati with the Saurashtra alphabet devised by Aahan Kotian.

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entilted Kinder Kinder, in which we discover whether the words Kinder (children) in German and kind(er) in English are related, as in the joke ‘No matter how kind you are … German children are Kinder’, 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 Brazil.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Tiwi, a language isolate spoken on the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory of Australia.

In this week’s episode of Celtic Pathways, Calamitous Swords, we discover the possible Celtic roots of Romance swords and Slavic hammers.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog, there’s a new post entitled Birth about words for birth, to be born, to procreate and related things in Celtic languages.

Improved pages: Hiligaynon and Mazandarani phrases pages.

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https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
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In this episode we discover the possible Celtic roots of some words for sword, hammer and related things in Romance and Slavic languages.

The Proto-Celtic word *kladiwos means sword, and comes from Proto-Celtic *kladeti (to stab, dig), from Proto-Indo-European *kl̥h₂dʰ-é-ti, from *kelh₂- (to beat, strike) [source].

Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:

• claíomh [kl̪ˠiːvˠ/kl̪ˠiːw] = sword in Irish
• claidheamh [kl̪ˠajəv] = sword in Scottish Gaelic
• cliwe = sword in Manx
• cleddyf [ˈklɛðɨ̞v/ˈkleːðɪv] = sword, blade, brace (on a door or wall) in Welsh
• kledha = sword in Cornish
• kleze [ˈkleː.ze] = sword, glaive (a light lance with a long, sharp-pointed head) in Breton

For more about words for sword and related things in Celtic languages, see the Celtiadur post: Swords & Spikes

Words directly from the same Proto-Celtic root *kladiwos (sword) include kladivo (hammer, gavel) in Croatian, kladivo (hammer, sledgehammer) in Czech, kladivo (hammer, stamp, maul, hammerhead) in Slovak, kladivo (hammer, sledgehammer) in Slovenian [source].

Words from the same Proto-Celtic root *kladiwos (sword), via Gaulish *kladyos (sword), and Latin gladius (sword, death, a gladiatorial contest), possibly include gladiator, gladiolus and glaive in English, esglai (fright) in Catalan, ghiado (sword, dagger, knife, frost, cold), and giaggiolo (iris [flower]) in Italian, gládio (sword, power, strength) in Portuguese and glaïeul (gladiolus) in French [source].

Words from the same PIE roots include calamity, clade, clergy, cleric, clerk, coup, and glaive in English, коля (kolja – to slaughter, butcher) in Bulgarian, kłoda (log, trunk, beehive, barrel) in Polish, and Holz (wood) in German [source].

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Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.

New language pages:

• Lawangan, an East Barito language spoken in Central Kalimantan Province in Indonesia.
• Belait, a North Bornean language spoken mainly in Brunei, and also in northern Sarawak in Malaysia.

I started putting together a new phrases page containing translations of the phrase ‘So long, and thanks for all the fish’, which comes from Douglas Adams’ book by the same name. I’ll be adding more translations when I have a spare moment or two.

New adapated script: Linear-Tagalog, a way to write Tagalog mainly using glyphs from the Linear A and Linear B scripts of ancient Crete divised by Chen Carson D. Callueng.

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post about Travelling Hopefully about the saying ‘it’s better to travel hopefully than to arrive’, 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 the Northern Territory of Australia.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Danwar (दनुवारी), a Bihari language spoken in eastern Nepal.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, entitled Cluttered Klutzes, we find connections between clutter, clods and klutzes.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog, there’s a new post entitled Spindly Axles about words for axle, axis, spindle and related things in Celtic languages.

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https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
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You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podchaser, PlayerFM or podtail.

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In this Adventure in Etymology, we find connections between clutter, clods and klutzes.

My cluttered kitchen part way through its current renovation

Clutter [ˈklʌtə(ɹ) / ˈklʌtɚ] is:

• A confused disordered jumble of things
• Background echoes, from clouds etc., on a radar or sonar screen.
• Clatter; confused noise. (obsolete)

It comes from Middle English cloteren (to form clots, coagulate, heap on), from clot (clot, ball of earth of clay), from Old English clot(t) (mass, lump), from Proto-West-Germanic *klott (clod, lump, ball), from Proto-Germanic *kluttaz (clod, lump, ball), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (to ball up, amass, clench) [source].

Words from the same roots include cleat, clod, clot, cloud and klutz in English, Klotz (block, log, chunk, klutz) in German, klut (rag, cloth, patch, sail) in Swedish, klode (globe) in Danish, and possibly cludair (a heap, pile) in Welsh [source].

The word klutz, which in the USA refers to a clumsy or stupud person, comes from the Yiddish word קלאָץ (klots – wooden beam, log, block, oaf, blockhead), from Middle High German kloz (stump, ball), from Old High German kloz (stump, ball), from Proto-West Germanic *klott (clod, lump, ball), etc. [source].

In the UK, one equivalent of a klutz might be a clot, which is used to refer to a silly person, and not so much a clumsy person Other words with similar meanings are available. For a clumsy person, we might say butterfingers [source].

Some related words related to clutter include:

• cluttercore – An interior design trend and aesthetic, popular in the 2020s, based on densely filling spaces with personal objects and decorative items, resulting in a vibrant and eclectic arrangement of contrasting colours and textures – a.k.a. ‘TikTok aesthetic’ [source]
• clutterblug – someone who collects lots of things that have value or personal meaning, unlike a hoarder, who collects huge amounts of stuff, often of seemingly little value to themselves or others [source].
• (to) declutter – The act or process of removing clutter; a decluttering; to remove clutter from, to tidy – a.k.a. (to) unclutter [source]. This is something I’m attempting to do at the moment in my late mother’s house, and my own house.

I am a bit of a clutterblug, and tend to hold on to things that might be useful one day. I seem to go through phases of cluttering, decluttering and recluttering. How about you?

I thought I’d just made up reclutter (the process of cluttering after a declutter), but apparently it’s a thing: “recluttering encourages us to discard our negative associations towards ‘clutter’ and create a conscious, more mindful relationship with our belongings, instead. Essentially, if something brings joy, purpose or personality to us and our homes, it’s worth holding on to, whether it’s ‘necessary’ or not.” [source].

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podchaser, Podbay or Podtail and other pod places.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

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.