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Marcie Sundaram

@alliterative.bsky.social

1.8K followers 262 following 1.3K posts

Interdisciplinarian, historical linguist, philologist, medievalist; I make videos & podcasts about words, history, and literature. Married to @AvenSarah. She/her

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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is CLITORIS/CLIMAX #wotd #clitoris #climax #ladder

I hope everyone knows by now that clitoris and climax go together—and perhaps etymologically too! Clitoris comes from the Late Greek diminutive kleitoris of the same meaning but the root of this is uncertain. It might come from the verb kleiein “to sheath” in reference to its being covered by the labia minora or because the related word kleis has the secondary meaning “key”. Or it might come from Greek klitys “side of a hill” from the Proto-Indo-European root *klei- “to lean” thus meaning “little hill”. This root also leads to English ladder (from Old English hlæder) and Greek klimax, literally “ladder”, which came into English as climax with the figurative rhetorical sense of the climax of an argument. Climax gained the sense “sexual orgasm” in the 1880s and is said to have been promoted in the 20th century by birth-control pioneer Marie Stopes.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is WHORE/CHERISH #wotd #whore #cherish #caress #charity #KamaSutra

Talking about sex can sometimes be uncomfortable, but the words we use to do so are often etymologically fascinating. The word whore, for instance, comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *ka- “like, desire”, but somewhere along the way in the Germanic branch this seems to have been used euphemistically to refer to a prostitute, as in Old English hore and Modern English whore. That root comes into Latin with more of the original sense as carus “dear”, which leads to such English words as cherish, caress, and charity. The root makes into English in a third way, through Sanskrit kama “love, desire”, which forms part of the title Kama Sutra, an ancient Hindu treatise about sex and love. The word sutra, by the way, means “series of aphorisms”, literally “string, thread” from Proto-Indo-European *syu- “to bind, sew”, the root that also lies behind sew, seam, and suture, and, it turns out, also hymen.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is AUTUMN/FALL #wotd #autumn #fall

There’s often debate about the words autumn and fall, breaking along the lines of North American and British usage, but really there’s no need to abolish one term as inauthentic because etymologically they’re probably related. Autumn came into English in the 14th c. from Old French autumpne or automne, ultimately from Latin autumnus “autumn”. Its further etymology is uncertain with some etymologists giving up and positing that it was borrowed from the extinct language isolate Etruscan, but one plausible derivation is that it is from the compound *au-tomos “harvest” from the Proto-Indo-European roots *au- “off, away” (also the root of words such as negotiate and authentic) + *temə- “to cut” (also the source of words such as contemplate, epitome, and estimate), from the sense “the cutting off, the cutting away”. That root *au-, which had the earlier form *h2ew-, is almost certainly related to another PIE root *apo- “off, away”, which had the earlier form *h2po-, which is the source of words such as of, off, after, as well as the prefixes ab- and apo- which come from Latin and Greek respectively. Another word which comes from this root is abolish from Latin abolere “to destroy, abolish” made up from the prefix ab- + oleo, which either comes from the PIE root *al- (earlier form *h2el-) “to grow, nourish”, thus having the literal sense of “to retard the growth of” or from the root *olə- (earlier form *h3elh1-) “to destroy, fall”, and some etymologists suggest the word fall (from Old English feallan) has a parallel derivation to abolish, which would mean that fall also represents a compound of the roots *apo- + olə- (*h2ph3elh1-).

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is FUCK/REPUGNANT/POINT #wotd #fuck #repugnant #point

Many people find the word fuck repugnant, but etymologically it's worth talking about so let's get straight to the point. There is no consensus about where the word fuck comes from, but one idea is that it can traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root *peuk- “to prick”. If so it would be related to Latin pugnare “to fight”, which leads to repugnant, literally “to fight back”, and impugn, as well as Latin pungere “to prick, pierce”, which leads to words such as punctual, puncture, pungent, and point. But I trust you get the point of what I'm saying.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is LABOUR/LAPSE #wotd #labour #labor #lapse #collapse #labourday #laborday

What is a labour union to do when their contract has lapsed? Turn to etymology! Labour comes from Latin labor “toil, distress, trouble”. Its deeper etymology is uncertain, but one suggestion is that it’s related to labare “to totter” and/or labi “to slip”, which also gives us the word lapse, and if so this would mean the underlying sense of labour is “to stumble under a burden”. But one thing a labour union won’t do is collapse!

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is SCHOOL/SEVERE #wotd #school #severe #backtoschool

Have you ever had a severe teacher at school? Well that’s probably etymologically appropriate, if not pedagogically! School comes from Greek skhole meaning “leisure” as well as “school”, from the idea that you need leisure time away from working to be able to be educated. But literally skhole means “a holding back” and thus “a rest”, coming from Proto-Indo-European *segh- “to hold”. This root (probably) also leads to Latin severus “stern” from the suffixed abstract noun form *segh-wer- “toughness, steadfastness” and its derivative adjective form *segh-wer-o- “tough, stern”.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Nothing like a good stretch #sundaypixstretch

A car lying on her back on a carpeted floor stretching out long

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is TERF/THOROUGH/KIND #wotd #terf #thorough #kind #trans #cis #harass #jkrowling #harrypotter #wnba

TERF is an acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminists, coined around 2008 to refer to a minority of feminists who were transphobic, since expanded to refer more broadly to transphobic people who don’t necessarily identify as radical feminists. In other words, cisgendered people who harass transgender people. The prefix trans- comes from the Latin preposition trans meaning “across, over, beyond” from the Proto-Indo-European root *terə- “cross over, pass through, overcome” also the source of English through and thorough (in the sense of “through and through”), and is used in the word transgender to refer to someone whose personal gender identity does not correspond with their sexual anatomy at birth or the conventional societal notions of binary sex and gender, as opposed to cisgender which refers to people who fall within those normative categories. The prefix cis- comes from Latin cis “on this side” from the PIE root *ko- which is a demonstrative pronoun meaning “this” and is the source of English pronouns like he and she, and is probably also the source of the word harass through Frankish *hara “over here” (in other words “this place”) and Old French hare, used as a call to set the dogs on someone. Finally, gender, essentially meaning “kind, sort, class”, comes from Latin genus “family, birth, race”, also the source of miscegenation, literally the “mixing of races”, which is what US segregationists were worried about when they promoted the idea of “separate but equal”. Latin genus comes from PIE *genə- “to give birth”, which also produced Old English gecynd “kind, nature, race” and modern English kind, both in the sense “class, sort, variety” and “benign, compassionate” from the notion of “with natural feelings” or “well-disposed by nature”. So if TERFs, and indeed all cisgender people, could stop harassing transgender people and promoting thoroughly bigoted notions of segregation, that would be a much kinder thing.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

August 18th is #HeliumDiscoveryDay, so the #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is SUN/SOLAR/HELIUM #wotd #sun #solar #helium #eclipse

During a solar eclipse in 1868 astronomer Joseph N. Lockyer (among others) discovered the element helium by studying the light of the sun, and etymologically this makes sense. Sun comes from Old English sunne, from Proto-Germanic *sunnon (related to *sunthaz “sun-side” eventually giving us the word south), ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *s(u)wen- a variant form of *sawel- “sun”. The variant form *s(e)wol- led to Latin sol “sun” from which we get solar. The suffixed form *sawel-yo- led to Greek helios “sun”, and it’s from that Greek word that Lockyer coined the term helium.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is ECLIPSE/RELINQUISH #wotd #eclipse #relinquish

Don’t relinquish this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see an eclipse! Eclipse comes from Greek ek- “out” + leipein “leave”, which itself comes from Proto-Indo-European *leikw- “leave”, which also leads to Latin linquere “leave”, the root of relinquish.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

If like me you’re concerned and upset by the Alberta government’s use of the notwithstanding clause to suspend charter rights to pass their anti-trans legislation, this seems like a good chance to push back: www.queermomentum.ca/inquiry?utm_...

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is HOSPITALITY/HOST/GUEST #wotd #hospitality #host #guest #TheOdyssey #odyssey #ChristopherNolan

In his movie The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan focuses on the theme of hospitality, what he calls Zeus’s Law, known as Xenia in Ancient Greek, which sets expectations about the relationship between guests and hosts, a cultural value which is in fact much older, going back to Indo-European society. Guest comes from Old English gæst or giest “stranger; guest; enemy”, from Proto-Germanic *gastiz, traceable back to the Proto-Indo-European root *ghos-ti- “stranger, guest, host” or as explained by Calvert Watkins, properly “someone with whom one has reciprocal duties of hospitality”. This root comes into Latin as hostis “enemy” (from the sense of “stranger”), giving us words such as hostile, and also had the compound *ghos-pot- “guest-master”, one who symbolizes the relationship of reciprocal obligation (with the addition of the PIE root *poti- “powerful; lord”), becoming Latin hospes, which has the genitive form hospitis and thus the stem hospit-, which became Old French oste or hoste “guest, host, landlord” giving us English host, and also produced the Latin word hospitalitas “friendliness to guests” and Old French ospitalité “hospitality” giving us English hospitality. Furthermore, the PIE root *ghos-ti- had the suffixed zero-grade form *ghs-en-wo- which came into Greek as xenos “guest-friend, host, stranger, foreigner” and xenia referring to that important guest-host relationship, also leading to the English word xenophobia. So avoid xenophobia and always treat strangers and foreigners as guests, lest they become enemies instead.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is ODYSSEY/ANNOY #wotd #odyssey #annoy

Some people were already annoyed with Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey movie even before it was released because of its supposedly “woke” casting, and I guess that was etymologically inevitable. The English word odyssey of course comes from the Ancient Greek epic poem The Odyssey and its eponymic hero Odysseus, and though the etymology of this name is far from certain, some Ancient Greeks (including in the poem itself) connected it with the verb odussomai “to be wroth against, to hate” because Odysseus was said to be “hated by gods and men” — though many modern etymologists now say the name must be from some pre-Greek substrate language. But the word odussomai can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root *od- “to hate”, which came into Latin as the verb odisse “to hate” and the noun odium “hatred, grudge, ill-will, animosity, enmity, aversion”, with the phrase in odio literally “in hatred” becoming the Late Latin verb inodiare “to make loathsome”, becoming Old French anuier and enoier “to be troublesome or irksome to”, borrowed into English to eventually become annoy. Incidentally, the Roman form of the name Odysseus, Ulysses, has that /l/ sound instead of the /d/ sound because of the so-called Sabine -l-, a dialectal difference in Italy in the ancient Roman times, which can also be seen in the pair of Latin words odor “odour, smell, scent, stench” (giving us English odour) and olere “to emit a smell, smell of, smell” (giving us English redolent and olfactory), which themselves happen to come from a homonymous PIE root *od- meaning “to smell”, and it has been suggested that these two roots *od- are one and the same with the original sense “to sting”. But unlike what some people say, Nolan’s movie doesn’t stink.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is CLIMATE/LID #wotd #climate #lid #climatechange #wildfires #smoke

The climate change predictions are in and the message is clear: we need to put a lid on our carbon emissions if we want to survive. The word climate comes ultimately from Greek klima “region, zone”, literally “an inclination, slope” in reference to the “slope of the earth from equator to pole”, since ancient geographers divided the earth into zones based on the angle of sun on the slope of the earth’s surface and the length of daylight. Over time, as the word was borrowed into Latin as clima “region; slope of the earth”, then into Old French as climat “region, part of the earth”, and finally into English, the sense gradually shifted to “a distinct region of the earth’s surface considered with respect to weather” and “combined results of weather associated with a region, characteristic condition of a country or region with reference to the variation of heat, cold, rainfall, wind, etc.”. Greek klima can be traced back to *kli-mn- a suffixed form of the Proto-Indo-European root *klei- “to lean”, which also came into Proto-Germanic, as a result of Grimm’s Law, as *hlid- which means literally “that which bends over” and thus “cover” which became Old English hlid “cover” and eventually Modern English lid. So no matter which way you lean (also from the same root), you should be inclined (also from the same root) to do something about climate change now.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is SOCCER/PURSUIT #wotd #soccer #pursuit #association #FIFA #WorldCup #football

The FIFA World cup is soon coming to an end, and the remaining teams are in hot pursuit of soccer glory, and etymologically that makes sense. The word soccer was originally British university slang, shortened from Assoc., an abbreviation of the word association from the term Association football, so called because it was played according to the rules of the Football Association, distinguishing it from the game Rugby football (which was so named after Rugby School in Warwickshire where during a football game in 1823 a boy named William Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it). The full term Association football can still be seen in the acronym FIFA, standing for the French name Fédération Internationale de Football Association meaning “International Association Football Federation”. The -er ending on the word soccer is a common jocular speech pattern in British upper-class schoolboy and university slang, as in the parallel words footer for “football”, rugger for “rugby”, brekker or brekkers for “breakfast”, preggers for “pregnant”, and so forth. The word association comes from Medieval Latin associatio “association (of persons), enlistment, fellowship, company”, from the past participle of associare “to join or unit with”, made up from the prefix ad- “to” + sociare “to join together, combine, unite, associate, hold in common, share”, from the noun socius “companion, ally”, ultimately traceable back to *sokw-yo- the suffixed o-grade form from the root *sekw- “to follow”. This root also led to the Latin verb sequi “to follow”, which when combined with the prefix pro- “forward” led to the verb prosequi “to follow, accompany, attend, follow after, escort”, which became Old French porsivre “to chase, pursue, follow; continue, carry on” and the noun form porsuite, leading to English pursuit.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is HEAT DOME/HOT/DANGEROUS #wotd #heatdome #heat #hot #dome #dangerous #climatechange

A heat dome is caused by high pressure in the atmosphere pushing the air down and trapping the heat like a lid, and if people get too hot in these conditions it can be very dangerous. It’s probably obvious that heat and hot are related, from Old English hætu and hat respectively, from Proto-Germanic *haiti- and *haita-, from the extended form *kaid- of the Proto-Indo-European root *kai- “heat”. As for dome, it entered English in the 1650s from French dome “a town-house; a dome, a cupola", either from Italian duomo “house, house of God, high cupola, dome” (as a feature of Italian cathedrals as opposed to the arches of Gothic-style cathedrals), from Latin domus “house”, and/or from Greek doma “a house, housetop” (especially in reference to a style of roof from the east), related to domos “house”, in either case traceable ultimately to the PIE root *dem- “house, household”. From Latin domus also comes dominus “lord, master (of a household)”, which produced Vulgar Latin *dominarium “power of a lord”, then Old French dongier and dangier “power, power to harm, mastery, authority, control”, coming into English as danger in the 13th century. Heat domes are associated with climate change and that’s the real danger.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Happy Pride Month! The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is QUEER/THWART #wotd #queer #thwart #pride #pridemonth #lgbtq

The word queer in reference to homosexuality was originally used as a slur, though more recently, at least for some, the word has been reclaimed to refer to non-traditional ideas of sexuality and gender as a conscious thwarting of the bigotry with which it had been used. Queer comes into English with the original sense of “strange, peculiar, odd, eccentric” from Middle Low German dwer “oblique”, from Proto-Germanic *thwerh- “twisted, oblique”, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *terkw- “to twist”. Germanic *therh- also came into Old Norse as þverr “transverse” and the adverb þvert “across”, which was borrowed into English as both the adverb and verb thwart with the original literal sense of “to move or pass across”, soon developing the modern sense from the metaphorical notion of “crossing someone”.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

2 guitarists, a bass player, and a drummer playing music on stage with purple and pink stage lights

Me with a beer in hand with a crowd and stage with musicians in the background

A red record player with a blue vinyl record playing

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍⚧️ The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is TRANSGENDER/THRILL/KIND #wotd #trans #transgender #thrill #thorough #kind #pride #pridemonth

It’s hard to thoroughly describe the thrill transgender people feel when they finally get to live authentically as who they are, so why not show trans people some kindness and support, at least for etymology’s sake! The prefix trans- comes from the Latin preposition trans meaning “across, over, beyond” from the Proto-Indo-European root *terə- “cross over, pass through, overcome” also the source of English through and thorough (in the sense of “through and through”) via Proto-Germanic *thurx and Old English þurh “through”, and is used in the word transgender to refer to someone whose gender identity does not correspond with the gender assigned to them at birth or the conventional societal notions of binary gender. Old English þurh also produced the noun þyrel “hole” — a nasþyrl or nostril being literally a “nose-hole” — and the verb þyrlian “perforate, pierce”, becoming Middle English thirlen, and undergoing metathesis to finally become thrill. And the word gender, essentially meaning “kind, sort, class”, comes from Latin genus “family, birth, race”, ultimately traceable back to PIE *genə- “to give birth”, which also produced Old English gecynd “kind, nature, race” and Modern English kind, both in the sense “class, sort, variety” and “benign, compassionate” from the notion of “with natural feelings” or “well-disposed by nature”.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is BISEXUAL/BALANCE/SEGMENT #wotd #bi #bisexual #balance #segment #LGBTQ #pride #PrideMonth

The initialism LGBTQ+ (and its variants) reflects the different segments of a broad community of sexual and gender minorities, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer individuals (with the Q also taken to represent questioning individuals), and the + symbol representing the balance of other identities and orientations not covered in the other five letters. Bisexuality is itself an umbrella term that at its broadest could perhaps be described as “having sexual and/or romantic attraction to more than one gender”, though many different variations or identities are embraced by members of the bisexual community. The prefix bi- meaning “two, having two, twice, double, doubly, twofold, once every two” comes from Latin bi- “twice, double” the combining form of Latin bis “twice, at two times, on two occasions”, ultimately traceable back to Proto-Indo-European *dwis- the adverbial form of the root *dwo- “two”, with the consonant cluster *dw becoming Latin /b/ at the beginning of words. When this Latin prefix is combined with the word lanx “dish” it produced bilanx in the expression (libra) bilanx “scale having two pans”, which eventually became Old French and then English balance “balance, scales for weighing” also used in a figurative sense. The words sexual and sex come from Latin sexualis “of or belonging to sex, relating to categorization by sex” and sexus “a sex”, which is uncertain origin, but is usually taken as being related to the verb secare “to cut, cut off, cut up, reap, carve” in the sense of a division (thus ultimately coming from the PIE root *sek- “to cut”). Latin secare also produced the noun segmentum which was borrowed into English as segment.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈👩‍❤️‍👩👨‍❤️‍👨 The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is GAY/VAGUE/WINK #wotd #gay #vague #wink #pride #PrideMonth

Although the etymology of the word gay may be uncertain and vague, taking more than a winking glance at its history gives some insight into this sometimes-pejorative and sometimes-reclaimed word. What’s certain is that gay came into Middle English from Old French gai, meaning “joyful, happy; pleasant, agreeably charming” as well as “high-spirited; frivolous, fickle; libertine”, but its deeper etymology is debated. Some make a connection with a Germanic root meaning “sudden, impetuous”, whereas others connect it with Latin gaudium “joy”, but the etymon championed by esteemed etymologist Anatoly Liberman, Latin vagus “wandering, rambling; inconstant” and its Italian derivative vago meaning both “wandering, roaming” and “pleasant, agreeable”, is perhaps the best fit. This would make it cognate with other English derivatives of Latin vagus, such as vague, vagrant, and extravagant, that have the “wandering” sense at their core, but gay might have developed both pejorative senses “libertine; frivolous” and positive senses “merry, vivacious” from the sense of “free from restraint”, and these two senses, one becoming standard the other slang, may have played into the later development of the word, including the one now most common, “homosexual”. Beyond Latin vagus, the etymology is even less certain, but a Proto-Indo-European root *Huog-o- with connections to Old Norse vakka “to stray, hover about” and Old English wincian “to blink, wink” (giving us Modern English wink) has been suggested.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Happy Pride Month everyone! The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is PRIDE/REPRESENT #wotd #pride #represent #pridemonth 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

June is Pride Month, a time for members of the LGBTQ+ community to represent, and that makes good etymological sense. The noun pride came from the adjective proud, Old English pryto and prud respectively, borrowed from Old French prud or prouz “brave, valiant”, from Late Latin prode “advantageous, profitable, from the Latin verb prodesse “to be useful”. The sense of “having a high opinion of oneself” developed later and may have come from the English’s post-conquest views of the Norman knights who called themselves proud in the “brave, valiant” sense. Latin prodesse is made up of the prefix prod-, a variant that comes before vowels of pro “before, for, instead of”, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *per- “forward, in front of, before, toward”, and esse “to be”, from the PIE root *es- “to be”. These same two roots came into Latin, and thereby English, in another way: *per- also produced Latin prae “before, in front” to form the word praeesse “to be before, be set over, preside over, rule”, and from the present participle of this verb comes praesens “at hand, in sight, present” (from which we get English present), which was further transformed into the verb praesentare “to present”, which when combined with the prefix re- (which means “back, again” but here is likely just an intensifying prefix) produced Latin repraesentare “to make present, show, exhibit, display”, Old French representer “to present, show, portray”, and English represent.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is CANCEL/DERANGE #wotd #lateshow #colbert #cancel #cancel #derange #circumscribe #circus #incarcerate

The cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert because of his unwillingness to be circumscribed by CBS’s attempts to placate a deranged President has caused a media circus, and etymologically that’s fitting. Cancel originally meant “to cross something out”, as you might cross out a word with lines, from Latin cancellare “to make a lattice”, which is closely related to Latin carcer “prison” from which we get English incarcerate. Though its etymology is uncertain, most likely it comes from Proto-Indo-European *krkr- “circular” from the idea of “an enclosure”, which would be a reduplicated form of the PIE root *(s)ker- “to turn, bend”. This root also came into Greek as kirkos “circle, ring” and was borrowed into Latin as circus (originally referring to the circular arena used for chariot races before being borrowed into English), and also becoming Latin circum “around”, which has become a prefix in a number of words such as circumscribe, literally “to write around”, but from the idea of “drawing a circle around” has come to mean “to confine, restrain”. This same root also came into Proto-Germanic as *hringaz “circle, ring” (the direct source of Old English hring “ring” and Modern English ring), and was borrowed into Old French through Frankish as reng “line, row”, producing the Old French verb rengier “to put into line”, which was then combined with the Latin-derived prefix des- “do the opposite of” to form Old French desrengier “disarrange, throw into disorder” and Modern French déranger, and borrowed into English in 1776, with the mental sense of “disorder the mind” by around 1790. All of this could have been avoided if said President had been properly incarcerated in the first place.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is TULIP/TURBAN #wotd #tulip #turban #TulipFestival #FlowerDay

What’s the connection between a tulip and a turban? Etymology! Turban ultimately comes from the Persian word dulband “turban” which became pronounced tulbant in Turkish, and passed from there into various European languages such as Italian turbante, Spanish turbante, and Portuguese turbante. It’s unclear exactly when and where tul- became tur- (perhaps in South-West India or in Portuguese), but it was borrowed into English in the 1560s from French turbant. Turkish tulbant, which meant both “turban” and also “gauze, muslin”, was also borrowed into Dutch as tulpe and thence into English in the 1570s as tulip to refer to the tulip flower, thought to resemble a turban, which came into the Netherlands via Turkey, and in turn the Dutch became quite famous for them, creating a huge market bubble for the status-symbol flowers. After Canada hosted the Dutch royal family in exile during WWII, a grateful Netherlands began sending tulip bulbs to Canada annually for the Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa celebrating the relationship between the two countries.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is RANSOMWARE/EXAMPLE/PROMPT/PEREMPTORY #wotd #ransomware #ransom #beware #example #prompt #peremptory #canvas

Every fresh example of some large institution being hit by a ransomware attack prompts a new round of people taking peremptory measures to protect their data, and that’s etymologically appropriate. The second part of the word ransomware is formed on the model of the words software and hardware, ware meaning “manufactured goods, goods for sale”, coming from Old English waru which could mean both “article of merchandise” and also “protection, guard” (related to beware), so it probably originally had the basic sense of an “object of care, that which is kept in custody”, ultimately traceable back to the Proto-Indo-European root *wer- “perceive, watch out for”. The word ransom comes into English from Old French ranson “ransom, redemption”, from Latin redemptio “a redeeming”, formed from the verb redimere “to redeem, buy back”, made up from the prefix red- “back” + emere “to take, buy, gain, procure”, traceable back to the PIE root *em- “to take, distribute”. Latin emere can be combined with other prefixes too, such as ex- “out of” producing eximere “remove, release, make an exception of” and exemplum “a sample, pattern, a warning example” giving us English example, pro- “forward” producing promere “to bring forth” with its past participle promptus giving us English prompt, and per- “thoroughly” producing perimpere “destroy, cut off” and peremptor “destroyer” giving us English peremptory.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

But @korystamper.bsky.social I’m curious about these varieties of tulips: Yellow Parrot seems clear enough, but Apricot Parrot is pink? Is apricot pink?

Flowerbed of yellow and pink tulips with the labels Yellow Parrot and Pink Parrot

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Went to the Tulip Festival here in Ottawa (commemorating Canada hosting the Dutch royal family in exile during WWII) @avensarah.bsky.social

Three people posed in front of a flowerbed filled with tulips of various colours

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Happy #StarWarsDay! The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is PROTOCOL DROID / COLLOID #wotd #protocol #droid #colloid #MayTheFourth

Ever wondered why C-3PO is called a protocol droid? Protocol entered English with the sense “prologue or prefatory material” through Middle French and Medieval Latin from Greek protokollon “first sheet glued onto a roll of papyrus” on which was written such things as the manufacturer’s mark, date, and contents, from protos “first” + kolla “glue”. The sense of protocol later shifted to “official account or record” to “official record of a diplomatic negotiation” to “diplomatic document” and finally to “diplomatic etiquette” (part of C-3PO’s job as a translator). The only other English word that comes from Greek kolla is colloid which is used to describe a certain type of mixture meaning literally “of the nature or appearance of glue”. Milk is an example of a colloid. The suffix -oid “like, having the form of” comes from Greek eidos “form” and also appears in the word android, literally “in the form of a man”, which in Star Wars is shortened simply to droid.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

And as a bonus #sundaypixtime my song “Interesting Times” youtu.be/DrQby_xnkRY?...

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

The sundial at Thingvellir National Park in Iceland #sundaypixtime

Bronze sundial set in rock on the ground, somewhat damp from the rain

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is SOLIDARITY/SAVE #wotd #solidarity #save #safe #MayDay #LabourDay #InternationalWorkersDay

Solidarity will save the day! Solidarity (and solid) come from Latin solidus “solid, whole” which can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root *sol- “whole”. This also leads to the Latin word salvus “safe, healthy” which ultimately gives us the words safe and save.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is BLASPHEMY/BLAME/MALICIOUS/BANAL #wotd #blasphemy #blame #malicious #banal #Trump #Pope #Jesus

After Trump made a blasphemous post depicting himself as Jesus, even some of his supporters aren’t buying the official excuse that it was simply a banal misunderstanding, instead blaming him for making a malicious dig at the Pope who criticized him, and etymologically that’s appropriate. Blasphemy came into English in the early 13th c. from Old French blasfemie “blasphemy”, through Late Latin blasphemia, ultimately from Greek blasphemia “profane speech; slander”, from the verb form blasphemein “to speak profanities; to slander; to speak impiously”. The second element there, Greek pheme “utterance”, can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root *bha- “to speak”, which also came into the Germanic branch producing Proto-Germanic *bannan “to speak publicly (used of particular kinds of proclamation in feudal or prefeudal custom; ‘to proclaim under penalty, summon to the levy, declare outlaw’)”, which not only produced Old English bannan and Modern English ban, but was also borrowed into Old French as ban “feudal jurisdiction, summons to military service, proclamation” and banel “communal”, becoming Modern French banal “belonging to a manor; common, hackneyed, commonplace” and borrowed into English in the 1840s. The origin of the first element of blasphemy is uncertain, but the entire word has been plausibly reconstructed as PIE *mls-bha-mo- “speaking evil” with *ml-s- “evil” representing a suffixed zero-grade form of the root *mel- “false, bad, wrong”, which also produced the Latin adjective malus “bad” and the noun form malitia “ill-will, spite, malice”, becoming Old French and later English malice. Blaspheme and blame are in fact basically the same word, with Late Latin blasphemare “to blaspheme, to speak lightly or amiss of God or sacred things” producing the Vulgar Latin form blastemare, which became Old French blasmer “to rebuke, reprimand, condemn, criticize” (with the Modern French form blâmer), borrowed into English as blame.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is STRAIT/RESTRICT #wotd #strait #restrict #straight #StraitOfHormuz #Hormuz #IranWar‌

Everyone seems to be trying to restrict access to the Strait of Hormuz, and etymologically that makes sense. First of all strait and straight are not at all related—a strait is not called that because you go straight through it. Straight meaning “not bent or curved” comes from Old English streht, the past participle of streccan “to stretch” (possibly from the Proto-Indo-European root *strenk- “tight, narrow”). Strait meaning “narrow” as an adjective and “a narrow passage” as a noun came into English in the 14th c. from Anglo-Norman French estreit or estrait, from Old French estroit, ultimately from Latin strictus, the past participle of stringere “to draw tight, bind tight, compress, press together” (traceable back to the Proto-Indo-European root *streig- “to stroke, rub, press”). Latin stringere when combined with the prefix re- “back” produced restringere “to bind back, bind fast, tighten” and the past participle restrictus led to English restrict in the 1530s.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is LUNAR/MOONLIGHT #wotd #lunar #moonlight #Artemis #ArtemisII

Lunar and moonlight are connected but not in the way you might think. Lunar comes from Latin luna “moon”, from Proto-Indo-European *leuk-sna- a suffixed form of the root *leuk- “light, brightness”. Another suffixed form of this root *leuk-to- passed into Germanic as *leuhtam, giving us Old English leoht and Modern English light.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Six weeks to the day on spirolactone and today is day one on estradiol

Box of estradiol transdermal patches

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

We're re-launching Season 10 of our podcast! Here's a short trailer apologizing for our absence and announcing the guests coming up in the next few months: www.alliterative.net/podcast2026/...

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is FOOL/BOLLOCKS #wotd #fool #bollocks #AprilFoolsDay

Do you think April Fools Day is bollocks? Well, you're right, etymologically speaking! Fool comes from Latin follis “bellows, inflated ball”, since a fool is a kind of puffed up person (think windbag). Follis in turn comes from Proto-Indo-European *bhel- “blow, swell” which has a number of derivatives referring to, um, male swelling, hence bollocks from Old English beallucas “testicles”.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is TAX/TASK #wotd #task #tax #taxes #taxseason

At this time of year we’re all turning to that annoying and sometimes stressful task of doing our taxes, and etymologically that’s appropriate. The verb tax comes from Old French taxer “to impose a tax”, from Latin taxare meaning “to evaluate, estimate, assess, handle” and also “to censure, charge” (and is probably a frequentative form of tangere “to touch”). This verb also led to the Medieval Latin noun taxa, which not only gave us the English noun tax through Old French taxe and Anglo-Norman French tax, but also through metathesis became Vulgar Latin *tasca “a duty, assessment” and Old North French tasque “duty, tax”, entering English in the 14th century with the sense “a quantity of labour imposed as a duty”, gaining its modern sense of “any piece of work that has to be done” by the 1590s.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is IRISH/PIÑA COLADA #wotd #Irish #PinaColada #StPatricksDay #SaintPatricksDay

There’s nothing more Irish than a piña colada, right? Well, probably etymologically speaking anyway. Piña colada means “strained pineapple”, colada being related to colander, and piña referring to the pineapple. Piña and pine come from Latin pinus “pine” possibly from Proto-Indo-European *peie “to be fat, swell” in reference to the pine tree’s sap. This root also leads to Proto-Indo-European *pi-wer- “fertile”, which may then lead to Old Celtic *Iveriu, Old Irish Eriu, and ultimately Irish and Ireland. That Proto-Indo-European root, by the way, also leads to English fat, so don’t have too many piña coladas, as the other main ingredient in them, coconut cream, contains a lot of fat.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

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

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.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

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

Outcropping of rock by the lake with trees in northern Ontario

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

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

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”.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

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

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.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Day 1

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

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

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.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

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

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”.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is STRIKE/STRESS/STRAIN #wotd #strike #stress #strain

Being on strike can produce a certain amount of stress and strain, but even though this goes along with the etymological territory, ultimately it should have a very different effect. Strike used to have an almost opposite sense, “to touch softly, rub” and is related to stroke, with strike, stroke, strain, and stress all going back to *streig- “stroke, rub, press”. The more violent sense of “hit hard” didn’t appear until the 13th century, and the labour disruption sense developed in the 18th century, from the notion of downing one’s tools, particularly sailors striking the sails when they didn’t want to leave port.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is HEGEMON/SEEK/FORSAKEN #wotd #hegemon #seek #forsaken #MarkCarney #WEF #cndpoli

In his speech at the World Economic Forum, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney eloquently pointed out that the middle powers of the world can no longer rely on hegemons like the United States and must instead seek more diversified trading alliances, since America has forsaken a rules-based world order. Hegemon, meaning “a leading power; a dominant state”, is borrowed directly from Greek hegemon “leader, commander, chief” from the verb hegeisthai “to lead” with the original sense “to track down” from Proto-Indo-European *sag-eyo- a suffixed form of the root *sag- “to seek out”, with PIE /s/ regularly becoming Greek /h/. That original /s/ was preserved in the Germanic branch with the suffixed form *sag-yo- leading to Proto-Germanic *sokjan, Old English secan or seocan “to seek”, and Modern English seek. The zero-grade form of this root *səg- also came into Old English, as sacan “to disagree, quarrel; fight; lay legal claim to; blame, accuse”, which when combined with the intensifying prefix for- “completely” formed OE forsacan “refuse; give up, relinquish; deny” and Modern English forsake.

Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

I’m on strike at my university, so the #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is union/university! (For more info about the strike: linktr.ee/lufappul) #wotd #union #university #strike

Why do universities need unions? Etymology! It’s probably clear that both words come from Latin unus “one”. A union is a collection of workers. You might have thought that the word university reflects the idea of universal education or the universal coverage of subjects, but in fact it’s short for universitas magistrorum et scholarium, the union of teachers and students. The university started out as a kind of scholastic guild to protect their interests against outside, non-academic forces, reducing the financial barriers to education and protecting the livelihood of the teachers.