A to Z of Words You Will Never Hear Again

A few will be aware I have been known to speak on various subjects over the years. Fundamentally these all revolve around my favourite subject of etymology. Have always enjoyed bringing this fascinating subject to others. It’s not for me to say whether the audiences have, although many have asked me to return.

Thought it might be worthwhile sharing a snippet or two from these etymological presentations, continuing with A to Z of Words You Will Never Hear Again. With over a million words in the full version of the Oxford English Dictionary and more being added all the time, you would think there are many we never use or ever even hear. You would be right but I wonder if you know how right? Of those million words the average person uses perhaps 20,000 when writing and only about 5,000 in everyday speech. So what happened to the others? Well here are a selection and these are not even among the more obscure. There is a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this talk if required.

Azygous - generally only used in an organic sense where the meaning is 'single, not existing in pairs'. It is taken from the Greek azugos meaning ‘unmarried’ and takes a ‘without’ and zygon ‘yoke’ ie that used to tether two draught animals together.

Adnyamathanhan, although we have no tips on how to bring this native language of southern Australia into general conversation.

C is for celeripedean, surely one of the easiest words in this list to use as it simply means ‘fleet of foot’. Parts of the body are always good to learn, but how many of you will have heard of the coracoid, while few will know it is a short projection from the shoulder blade which has no useful function today. To complete the threesome of easy-to-use words beginning with C, the easiest of all to fit in – at least for him. So when she asks “Does my ass look big in this?”, the reply should be “You are positively callipygian” which refers to ‘a person with a shapely ass”.

V is for verjuice, a less useful word than in times past as it describes the acidic juice of crab apples. Of far more use if verbivore, particularly for those reading this, as it means ‘someone who devours words’, and also vesthibitionism, describing a woman who delights in showing off her undergarments.

Z is for znees - a synonym for 'frost'. And despite it being known in several places there seems to be no clear etymology.

If you think you know someone who would like to hear me speak on this subject, drop me a line.

Forgotten Holidays

A few will be aware I have been known to speak on various subjects over the years. Fundamentally these all revolve around my favourite subject of etymology. Have always enjoyed bringing this fascinating subject to others. It’s not for me to say whether the audiences have, although many have asked me to return.

Thought it might be worthwhile sharing a snippet or two from these etymological presentations, continuing with Forgotten Holidays. Once upon a time the Christian calendar dominated the celebrations. Not that everyone had a day off work but you'll be amazed at the many days we no longer celebrate and the reasons they were created in the first place.

Examples include Royal Oak Day – May 29th - This is the date of birth of Charles II and chosen as a holiday to commemorate the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. Its name refers to the events of 1649, when Charles II escaped from the site of his defeat at the Battle of Worcester. He fled to Boscobel House at Shifnal in Shropshire where, aided by the Peverell brothers, he and his aide Colonel Carless hid in the branches of a huge oak tree – the famed Boscobel Oak – until the Parliamentarians had gone. This was the start of an arduous and circuitous six-month long trek around England disguised as a woodsman – his hair cut short and skin stained to appear as if he was used to working out of doors – until escaping to the Continent. This is the reason for the many public houses named the Royal Oak – indeed this is the second most common name in the country. Ten years later, at the restoration, he returned in triumph and thereafter the date of May 29th was Oak Apple Day and a national holiday until 1859. Those who would like to see this day reinstated may like to think again, especially if they are still at school. On this day children would be expected to adorn themselves with garlands of oak leaves. Not to do so was seen as being anti-Royalist (back to Cromwell again!) and these children would be thrashed by their peers, thrashed using bunches of nettles and/or pelted with birds eggs. Hence the alternative name of Oak and Nettle Day. Other names include Arbour Tree Day and Shick Shack Day or, in Sussex where the locals use any excuse to grope the neighbours, Pinch-bum Day and in Essex Bumping Day. Other celebrations are still staged annually, most of which use flowers to spruce things up a bit: Castleton, Derbyshire has the Garland King riding through the streets disguised by a huge garland of flowers later hung high on the church spire; other celebrations held at Upton-upon-Severn (Shropshire); Aston on Clun (Shropshire); Marsh Gibbon (Buckinghamshire); Great Wishford (Wiltshire); Membury (Devon); and Moseley Old Hall (West Midlands); Fownhope (Herefordshire); Northampton (Northamptonshire); Oxford (Oxfordshire); Cambridge (Cambridgeshire); St Neot (Cornwall) where the vicar leads a procession through the village to remove last year’s oak branch from the church tower and replaced by a new, this the job of the Tower Captain, and everyone heads off to the vicarage gardens for a barbecue – in the morning villagers wear a sprig of red oak and in the afternoon a sprig of Boys Love (Artemisia arbotanum).

February 29th - Celebrated every four years because this is Leap Year Day. Those born on this date generally celebrate their birth on February 28th slightly more often than March 1st, although the split is close to 50/50. However legally those in the UK have March 1st, whilst New Zealanders and Taiwanese can move it forward to February 28th. The only thing I knew about February 29th was it was when women can propose marriage to men, although I was not aware that a refusal means he is obliged to give her money or buy her a dress (but I shall never tell). In Europe the noble males, having spurned her advances, must purchase 12 pairs of gloves for her and thus hide the fact she isn’t wearing an engagement ring. In Aurora, Illinois single women are deputized for the day and allowed to arrest single men and levy a four-dollar fine. Oddly Greeks consider marriage on February 29th to be very unlucky (as unlucky as every other day some would think).

If you think you know someone who would like to hear me speak on this subject, drop me a line.

Humorous Etymologies

A few will be aware I have been known to speak on various subjects over the years. Fundamentally these all revolve around my favourite subject of etymology. Have always enjoyed bringing this fascinating subject to others. It’s not for me to say whether the audiences have, although many have asked me to return.

Thought it might be worthwhile sharing a snippet or two from these etymological presentations, continuing with Humorous Etymologies. This talk features a look at some of the more ludicrous ways words which, coined to mean one thing, were later used in a completely different context. For example the gasket found in all engines began as meaning 'a little girl' and later used to mean 'small rope'; easel, that used by artists, began as a Dutch word meaning 'donkey'; orange, that is the colour not the fruit, was originally called 'yellow-red'; quack originally meant 'the croaking of frogs'; and inch, the measurement, began as 'thumb'. There is a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this talk if required, but as a taster let’s look at a couple of words and their origins.

Sycophant – defined as ‘a person who acts obsequiously toward another in order to gain advantage’, it comes to English from Greek and originally meant ‘fig smuggler’. During the days of the Greek city states, Athens was keen to ensure its own success instead of its rivals and banned the export of foodstuffs outside the city walls. They had no problem exporting their own products, what they didn’t want was the food brought in being purchased and then taken away. Figs, having a comparatively long life and rather good for you, were a favourite to try and smuggle out as they were easy to secrete around the body. In order to get others to point the finger of accusation, Athenian law actively encouraged blackmailing for profit as the authorities often failed to bring the smugglers to justice. Those who most often faced charges were fig smugglers.

Punch – the drink, not the assault – comes from a Sanskrit word meaning ‘five’, as the traditional punch contained five ingredients. Indeed, the other use of ‘punch’ comes from the drink, it alluding to the five ingredients (four fingers and a thumb).

One more?

Penguin, those famously flightless birds are named from the Welsh meaning ‘white head’. Now, look at every picture of every species of penguin and they all have black heads. The error comes from the black and white bird resembling the great auk, another black and white sea bird but one with a white top to its head. Now the great auk is said to be extinct, however perhaps they have fooled everyone and have simply disguised themselves as penguins by wearing a close-fitting hat.

If you think you know someone who would like to hear me speak on this subject, drop me a line.

Crow

Why are there so many idioms and phrases including 'crow'? While crows, indeed all the corvid family, are known for their intelligence, it would seem more likely that these creatures are associated with all manner of myths and superstitions which has resulted in them being found in so many idioms.

Eat crow is an American phrase used to suggest one should put up with it. This is born of the idea that the flesh of the bird is edible, albeit probably not desirable. The phrase is found from the 1870s, and in the early years as often seen as ‘eat boiled crow’.

Crow’s feet, the lines at corner of the eye, have been described as such since 1385 when they appear in the writings of no less a literary giant than Chaucer.

To crow, as in to boast, today is seen as the sound made by a rooster, but originally this referred to the sound of a crow and continued to do so until at least the 16th century.

Scarecrows, the name self-explanatory, have been known as such since the 1550s but then it was an actual human employed to do the job. The straw figure came into use around the end of the 16th century. Earlier the same figure was referred to as a ‘shewel’, also found are fray-boggard, skerel, and shoy-hoy.

Crowsnest, the look-out high on a mast of a ship, is not found until 1818 – probably used beforehand but beware history authors putting them into their works set in the 18th century and earlier.

Pilcrow is a now obsolete term, but will be found in documents used to refer to a paragraph mark or an asterisk.

Crowbars have been named as such since at least 1748, although prior to that it was simply known as a crow.

As mentioned the amount of folklore associated with the crow family is remarkable. Magpies carry a drop of the devil’s blood under their tongue; a crow over a house foretells a death within that home; three magpies seen together is seen as unlucky (or death); five crows together promises sickness; crows in a churchyard are a bad omen; two crows flying from the left is bad luck (just face the other way!); the French once believed evil priests became crows and bad nuns were turned into magpies; Go to crows was used instead of Go to hell by the Greeks; I have a bone to pick with you used to be I have a crow to pick with you; the Irish expression ‘You’ll follow the crows for it’ meant a person would miss something when it’s gone; in Somerset folk would carry an onion to ward off the ills of crows and magpies; in Wales it was unlucky to have a crow cross your path; and when crows were quiet during their summer moult, it was believed they were preparing their plumage to meet the devil.

Proto-Indo European

In many of my posts on etymology I have spoken about Proto-Indo European, the language from the end of the last Ice Age which has given rise to almost all the tongues across Europe, the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent. I thought it about time I posted an image of the language family tree with Proto-Indo-European at the hub. I say an image, because having tried to explain it in writing several times, the visual image is undoubtedly much easier to understand. Actually a number of images, because the complexity requires a number of different angles on that tree.

That covers the spoken word, but it is worthwhile mentioning the written word, especially as Proto-Indo-European had no written form. The oldest written language, with the earliest known records, is generally considered to be Sumerian, a language spoken in Mesopotamia around 3500 BC. While Sumerian is no longer spoken, its written form is the earliest evidence of a language system in existence. Other contenders for the title of oldest language, including those still spoken today, include Egyptian and Tamil, which also have documented histories dating back thousands of years.

An Etymologist's look at Greek Mythology.

After recently completing a course on ancient languages, I thought it would be interesting to examine a selection of Greek mythological figures and examine the etymologies for their names.

Ares does not come across as Mr Nice Guy in the Wonder Woman story, and neither does he get a good review from the etymologist for this name comes from the Greek are, the Ionic form of the Doric ara meaning 'bare, ruin, curse'.

Hades, while the origin is not completely certain, it is generally though this comes from the Proto-Greek awides and thus 'the unseen one'.

Hera has several explanations, with 'mistress', 'air', 'beloved', and even 'cow-eyed' being offered. Perhaps 'uncertain' would be the best offering.

Hermes is thought to come from the Greek herma and thus means 'stone heap'.

Zeus is seen in the Proto-Indo-European culture as Djeus 'the sky father'.

Hyperion quite simply means 'he who walks on high', although often given as simply 'the god above'.

Helios is from the word for 'the sun' in Proto-Indo-European seh u-el.

Perses isfrom the Ancient Greek pertho meaning 'to sack, to ravage, to destroy'.

Uranus, and I have saved the best until last, for this rather unpleasant fellow, correctly known as Ouranos, who ended up being seen as so awful he gave his name to the metal uranium which, as we all know, is a source of radiation, is linked with words such as Sanskrit varsa 'rain'; Hittite yarsa 'fog, mist' and Greek oureo 'to urinate'.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: Z

Many words have two meanings, sometimes more, which are often very different. Such words have identical spelling and pronunciation, they are known as homonyms. Here I continue an A to Z list of such words and look at how that word came to have two different meanings.

Z is for ..... well it isn't for anything as there isn't a single homonym beginning with that letter. So let's have some fun with etymologies of words beginning with Z and we will begin with....

Zero came into use from Arabic notation, for the earlier Roman numerals had no symbol representing zero. It comes from the Arabic sifr 'cipher' and is related to Sanskrit sunya-m 'empty place, desert, naught'.

Zeal is from the Latin zelus 'emulation'. They got it from the Greek zelos, a word used mainly in church to mean 'ardour, rivalry'; and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ya 'seek, request, desire'.

Zigzag is a fairly recent addition to all languages, coming to English from the French around 1670, and thought to have originated in Germany as ZickZack, used there to refer to German military siege approaches. When it first came to England it was applied solely to types of garden path. Incidentally there is a ZigZag Road in Tadworth, Surrey which is almost perfectly straight.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: X

Many words have two meanings, sometimes more, which are often very different. Such words have identical spelling and pronunciation, they are known as homonyms. Here I continue an A to Z list of such words and look at how that word came to have two different meanings.

X is for x ..... well it isn't for anything as there isn't a single homonym beginning with that letter. So let's have some fun with etymologies of words beginning with X and we will begin with....

Xenon, a gas named in 1898 by Scottish chemist Sir William Ramsay from the Greek word xenon meaning 'foreign, strange' and coming from the Proto-Indo-European root ghos-ti 'stranger, guest, host'.

Xylem is named from the German xylem and the Greek xylon 'wood'. It is the woody tissue found in the most evolved of plant life.

Xerox, the trademark name of a copying device, it held by Haloid Co, of Rochester, New York State. It comes from xerography, defined as 'photographic reproduction without liquid developers'. In 1965 the word became listed in the dictionary as a verb meaning 'to produce using a copier', and while the company strongly objected to inclusion in the dictionary, thus making it acceptable, they were ultimately unsuccessful.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: I

Many words have two meanings, sometimes more, which are often very different. Such words have identical spelling and pronunciation, they are known as homonyms. Here I continue an A to Z list of such words and look at how that word came to have two different meanings.

I is for iron and today possibly the use for the metal may be falling behind the use for the pressing of clothes. The metal is clearly the oldest of the uses, indeed there is even an Iron Age referring to a stage of technological advances where iron was smelted, an improvement on the earlier Bronze Age. The word is first seen in Old English iren, from Proto-Germanic isarn, and probably loaned from isarnon of the Celtic languages and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European eis meaning 'strong'. Hence the idea is this newly smelted metal was much stronger than bronze and appropriately named as 'the strong metal'. Related terms are seen in Sanskrit isirah 'vigorous, strong' and Greek ieros 'strong' and, through the context in which these terms were used, is thought to have been seen as 'the holy metal'.

The other sense of 'iron', that of removing creases from clothing, stems from that metal being used to produce the tool. For much of its life it has been known as a flat iron, and not until 'to iron' was seen as a verb (hence we do the ironing) was it known as an iron.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: D

Many words have two meanings, sometimes more, which are often very different. Such words have identical spelling and pronunciation, they are known as homonyms. Here I continue an A to Z list of such words and look at how that word came to have two different meanings.

D is for date, not only a part of the calendar but also a fruit. Taking the calendar term first, it came to English from French date with the modern meaning, and no surprise to find this coming from Latin data meaning 'to give', and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European do also 'to give'. Meanwhile the fruit can be traced to Old French date, Old Provencal datil, Latin dactylus, Greek daktylos, all of which are easy to recognise as being related to the words for the hand. Whether this refers to the resemblance of the fruit to fingers/thumbs, or whether the leaf of the date palm resembles the palm of the hand is still being argued.

Synonym Etymologies X

Continuing the look at synonyms through the eyes of the etymologist, this time it is the letter X and xanth. For once I am unable to offer synonyms, hence I chose 'xanth' as it has several uses. Best known would be as a colour, where it comes from the Greek xanthos 'yellow'.

Dalla xantha is a butterfly native to Colombia.

Xantha is also a girl's name, one most often given to those with blonde hair.

Caladenia xantha is native to Western Australia and has the common name primrose spider orchid.

Xantha is the home planet of Kurrgo, a character in the Marvel Comics series featuring the Fantastic Four.

Falsilunatia xantha is a species of predatory sea snail.

Xantha was a Greek and Bulgarian diesel ship designed to carry livestock, but has subsequently been renamed Solyst and later Sea Maid.

What on Earth (or Neptune)?

Or not on Earth as the case may be. I was looking at the names of our planet in languages other than English. It came as something of a disappointment to discover they were mostly translations of 'earth' in the sense of 'soil, dirt'.

So I decided to look elsewhere in the heavens and see what names other languages had given to the remaining seven planets in orbit around our sun. Below is the language, its name and, where possible, the translation. Many nations simply use the same name, albeit with the phonetic spelling reflecting local pronunciation. As these clearly come from the same source as the English names, I have concentrated on the alternatives and finally the planet Neptune

As this is one of the planets discovered in the age of astronomy and thus unknown to the ancients (it is not visible to the naked eye), many languages simply use the name 'Neptune' - these have been omitted.

Greek - Poseidon - the Greek personification of Neptune, the god of the sea.

Korean - Haewangseong - 'Star of the king of the sea'.

Mandarin Chinese - 'the ocean-king planet' and borrowed from Japanese.

Mongolia - dailain van - the same meaning and origin as Mandarin Chinese.

Note the spellings and characters used are English, so don't write to me pointing missing umlauts, accents, etc. or how I should have used a different alphabet.

What on Earth (or Mars)?

I was looking at the names of our planet in languages other than English. It came as something of a disappointment to discover they were mostly translations of 'earth' in the sense of 'soil, dirt'.

So, I decided to look elsewhere in the heavens and see what names other languages had given to the remaining seven planets in orbit around our sun. Below is the language, its name and, where possible, the translation. Many nations simply use the same name, albeit with the phonetic spelling reflecting local pronunciation. As these clearly come from the same source as the English names, I have concentrated on the alternatives and this time the planet Mars.

MARS

Arabic - Merrikh - simply a translation of 'Mars'.

Babylonian - Neberu - translates as 'crossing' or 'point of transition'. It is also the name given by some to the mysterious tenth planet.

Bengali - Mangala - a Sanskrit name (see below)

Greek - Ares - has a name derived from ara meaning 'bane, ruin, curse, imprecation'.

Hebrew - maadim - 'that which reddens'

Japan - Kasei - is another translation of 'Mars'.

Korean - Hwaseong - 'star of fire'.

Malayalam - Chouvva - is the word for 'Tuesday'.

Mandarin Chinese - 'the fire planet'

Old Czech - Smrtonos - translates as 'death'

Sanskrit - Mangala - is the god of war and is celibate. Also known as Lohit, his name is the Sanskrit word for 'red'.

Sumerian - Nergal - the god of plague, famine, war and the underworld.

Note the spellings and characters used are English, so don't write to me pointing missing umlauts, accents, etc. or how I should have used a different alphabet.

What on Earth?

Or not on Earth as the case may be. I was looking at the names of our planet in languages other than English. It came as something of a disappointment to discover they were mostly translations of 'earth' in the sense of 'soil, dirt'.

Hence, I decided to look elsewhere in the heavens and see what names other languages had given to the remaining seven planets in orbit around our sun. Below is the language, its name and, where possible, the translation. Many nations simply use the same name, albeit with the phonetic spelling reflecting local pronunciation. As these clearly come from the same source as the English names, I have concentrated on the alternatives, and we start with the planet Mercury.

Arabic - Otaared - is the same deity as Mercury, the messenger.
Aztec - Payinalcitlal - research failed to trace any details on where this name originated.
Babylonian - Nabu - the ancient Mesopotamian god of literacy, the rational arts, scribes and wisdom.
Bengali - Budha - is a Hindu deity
Cantonese - Suising - again, no further information.
Farsi - Tir - is the Persian word for 'arrow'.
Greek - Hermes - is the Greek version of Mercury and, once again, the messenger
Hebrew - kochav chama - sun star
Hawaii - Ukaliali'i - is a translation of 'mercury', the metal.
Japan - Suisei - again the translation of 'mercury' the metal.
Kazakhstan - Bolpan - no amount of research revealed where the name comes from.
Korea - Soosung - 'star of water'
Malayalam - Utarid - is the translation of 'mercury'.
Mandarin Chinese - Shuixing - the water planet
Maori - Aparangi - is also a girls name.
Mongolia - budha - again, this is a Hindu deity.
Nahuatl - Payinalcitlal - again, no further information.
Old Czech - Dobropan - is another translation of 'mercury'
Sanskrit - Budha - is a Hindu deity also known as Soumya or 'son of Moon', Rauhineya, and Tunga.
Sumerian - Nabu - a deity, the god of wisdom and writing (known as the Saviour, the Redeemer)
Swahili - Zaibaki - which translates as 'the rest', although this surely has no relevance in this context.
Tahitian - Ta'ero - translates as 'drug', another which hardly seems appropriate.
Uzbek - Utorid - is the same as the Arabic name, but with the Uzbek phonetic pronunciation.

Note the spellings and characters used are English, so don't write to me pointing missing umlauts, accents, etc. or how I should have used a different alphabet.

Etymology: Homonyms and Homographs

Whilst I am always interested in learning new words, it is the never so much the meaning as the origins which intrigue me. A couple of years ago I looked at words with different usages, despite sounding the same or having identical spellings. Were there two completely different origins and the identical spelling is pure coincidence or has the word simply been used to mean two different things?

Here are another selection and, having done A to K before, now continue with a selection of others:

Lead has one spelling and two pronunciations: rhyming with 'head' and it is a heavy metal, a word of uncertain origin but one which in Germanic languages is related to words meaning 'weight, plummet'. The latter is clearly related to the Latin word for lead, plumbum, which has also given it the chempical symbol Pb. Used to rhyme with 'heed' it means 'to guide, in front of'. Here the word is derived from Germanic and Proto-Indo-European where the meaning wa s'to go forth'.

Left can be the opposite of right or the past participle of remain. The former is from related Germanic tongues such as Old English, Frisian, Old Dutch, etc., where the original sense was 'weak, foolish'

Light as in illumination or the opposite of heavy. The noun is derived from the verb, the earliest man-mad illumination being fire, hence this comes from Proto-Indo-European leuk and meaning 'brightness'. As an adjective the source is Proto-Indo-European legwh, with early derivatives used to mean 'agile, quick'. As Proto-Indo-European words the difference in pronunciation would have been evident, it is only that modern pronunciations are identical and not deliberately so, for the two words have nothing else in common.

Long can be used to mean 'not short' and 'to yearn'. The linear ,eaning comes from Proto-Indo-European dlonghos, used to mean 'distant, remote' as well as 'long, extended'. As a verb meaning 'to grieve, yearn' it likely comes from an early loan from the idea of remoteness, as in the sense of something not near.

Lie, be it an untruth or to be horizontal, have quite different origins. The recumbent position can be traced through the Germanic tongues, where the use is more in the sense of 'to remain', back to Proto-Indo-European legh when, conversely, it did originally mean 'to lie down'. The falsehood sense is also Germanic, giving words used in Old Norse, Dutch, Danish, Old Frisian, Old High German, Old Saxon and Old English - all the earliest uses meant 'deceive' or 'betray'.

Match has no less than three different meanings. Firstly as a verb, used in the sense of 'evenly matched' it came from one the noun meaning 'equal'. Prior to the Middle English macche meaning 'equal', the wod had very different meanings: Old English maecca 'companion, mate, wife, husband'; Old High German gimah 'comfort, ease'; German gemach 'easy, leisurely'; Proto-Germanic gamakon 'fitting well together'; and right back to Proto-Indo-European mag 'toknead, fashion, fit'. In the sense of the match as a method of producing fire we find: Old French meiche referred to 'the wick of a candle'; Greek myxa 'lamp wick' and originally 'mucus'; and thus Proto-Indo-European meug 'slimy, slippery'. To see why 'wick' and 'mucus' might have a common root we need to forget the candle wick and see the wick of an oil lamp, which dangles from the spout of the lamp.

May, a verb meaning 'having the power' or 'to be able', has hardly changed at all in pronunciation throughout the evolution of the Germanic languages and back as far as Proto-Indo-European magh, all having the same meaning. When it comes to the fifth month of the year, the origin is from that other major western European language family, the Latin group. Here the French Mai comes from Latin Maius, thought to be the Roman earth goddess Maja, Maia. This wife of Vulcan, her name may (pun intended) be derived from Proto-Indo-European meg or 'great'.

Mole can be a skin blemish, in which case the name is Germanic and from Proto-Germanic mailan 'spot, mark' and Proto-Indo-European mai 'stain, defile'; and also a small burrowing insectivorous mammal. The mammal is probably from a Germanic root of mold 'loose earth', itself leading to the now obsolete term moldwarp 'earth thrower'.

All these examples have one thing in common, they are all monosyllabic. And that is the reason for the different meanings and origins. With only five vowels (six if you count 'y') and twenty-one consonants there is a finite number of sounds which can be made when the words only have one syllable.

Ukraine Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest Ukraine cities.

Kyiv is the official version of what we would most often see as Kiev, and thought to come from the name of the legendary founder of the city.

Kharkiv is another supposedly named after its legendary founder, Kharko.

Odessa was named after the Greek city of Odessos, at the suggestion of either Catherine the Great or, as his memoirs claim, her secretary of state Adrian Gribovsky.

Dnipro takes its name from the Dnieper River, the origin of which depends upon whether this comes from Sarmatian and 'the river on the far side' or Scythian for 'deep river'.

Zaporizhia took the name in 1921, it means 'beyond the rapids' but as the river has now been dammed and the river valley flooded, the rapids are no more.

Lviv was named to honour Leo (1228 - 1301), the eldest son of Daniel, King of Ruthenia.

Kryvyi Rih transaltes as 'the crooked horn' or 'the curved cape', either way describing the local topography.

Mykolaiv was named after Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of seafarers.

Sevastopol has Greek origins in sebastos polis meaning 'the venerable city'.

Vinnytsia has been in use since the 14th century andis thought to come from the Old Slavic word vino meaning 'bride price'. When captured by Duke Algirdas of Lithuania in the 14th century, he gave these lands to his nephews.

Simferopol is another Ukranian name coming from the Greek. Here the name of Sympheropoli means 'city of common good'.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.