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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 · 9h
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.
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Thanks, I’m glad you’re enjoying it! 🥰
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
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Aven @avensarah.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The surprisingly connected origins of "swarm" and "absurd". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #swarm #absurd youtube.com/shorts/l6iae...
youtube.com
Swarm/Absurd #Etymology
YouTube video by Alliterative
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The surprisingly connected origins of "swarm" and "absurd". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #swarm #absurd youtube.com/shorts/l6iae...
youtube.com
Swarm/Absurd #Etymology
YouTube video by Alliterative
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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.
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Check it out! @wordfamilyfriday.bsky.social has made up a diagram of today’s etymology AUTUMN/FALL!
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
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Aven @avensarah.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The surprisingly connected origins of "hippopotamus" and "appetite". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #hippo #hippopotamus #appetite youtube.com/shorts/1S6B5...
youtube.com
Hippopotamus/Appetite #Etymology
YouTube video by Alliterative
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The surprisingly connected origins of "hippopotamus" and "appetite". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #hippo #hippopotamus #appetite youtube.com/shorts/1S6B5...
youtube.com
Hippopotamus/Appetite #Etymology
YouTube video by Alliterative
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I wonder if by Olde English they mean 16th century pronunciations. There’s been a bit of a vogue for doing original pronunciation theatrical productions in the last little while, particularly at the Globe Theatre. The puns work much better that way
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Check out used options, there’s some great gear out there for reasonable prices. I’ve picked up some good stuff on reverb.com
reverb.com
Musical Instruments For Sale - New & Used Music Gear
Join millions of music makers all over the world on Reverb. Find your next favorite new, used, or vintage instrument—or sell one of your own.
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Check it out! @wordfamilyfriday.bsky.social has made up a diagram of today’s etymology AUTUMN/FALL!
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Word Family Friday @wordfamilyfriday.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I had to graph these connections out to follow along!
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Yeah it took me a minute to wrap my head around this one!
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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-).
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
The surprisingly connected origins of "robot" and "orphan". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #robot #orphan youtube.com/shorts/gBbdR...
youtube.com
Robot/Orphan #Etymology
YouTube video by Alliterative
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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.
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
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Aven @avensarah.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The surprisingly connected origins of "bank" and "bench". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #bank #riverbank #bench youtube.com/shorts/5X6S4...
youtube.com
Bank/Bench #Etymology
YouTube video by Alliterative
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The surprisingly connected origins of "bank" and "bench". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #bank #riverbank #bench youtube.com/shorts/5X6S4...
youtube.com
Bank/Bench #Etymology
YouTube video by Alliterative
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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!
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
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Aven @avensarah.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
The surprisingly connected origins of "satire", "hadron" & "satisfy". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #satire #hadron #satisfy youtube.com/shorts/IvzhV...
youtube.com
Satire/Hadron/Satisfy #Etymology
YouTube video by Alliterative
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
The surprisingly connected origins of "satire", "hadron" & "satisfy". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #satire #hadron #satisfy youtube.com/shorts/IvzhV...
youtube.com
Satire/Hadron/Satisfy #Etymology
YouTube video by Alliterative
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Happy birthday! 🥳
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Aven @avensarah.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
New podcast episode! We’re jumping into the Odyssey movie discourse, finally! We discuss our reactions to the Nolan movie and then chat with some podcasters who’ve just released relevant books. Oh, and Marcie has a song about Odysseus. www.alliterative.net/podcast/2026... #podcast #nolan #odyssey
alliterative.net
Episode 127: The Odyssey, the movie -- and more! — The Endless Knot
We’re jumping into the Odyssey movie discourse, finally! We discuss our reactions to the Nolan movie and what we found interesting about it, and then chat with some podcasters who’ve just released r...
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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”.
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
We’re jumping into the Odyssey movie discourse, finally! We discuss our reactions to the Nolan movie and then chat with some podcasters who’ve just released relevant books. Oh, and I have a song about Odysseus. www.alliterative.net/podcast/2026...
alliterative.net
Episode 127: The Odyssey, the movie -- and more! — The Endless Knot
We’re jumping into the Odyssey movie discourse, finally! We discuss our reactions to the Nolan movie and what we found interesting about it, and then chat with some podcasters who’ve just released r...
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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
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Oh , and Ontario, California was named after the province because it was founded by a Canadian
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Just ignore Trump’s blustering stupidity. The province of Ontario is named after the lake, not the other way round. It comes from the Mohawk language meaning “beautiful lake”
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Oh , and Ontario, California was named after the province because it was founded by a Canadian
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
That sounds like good advice. Scary that it’s necessary
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Just ignore Trump’s blustering stupidity. The province of Ontario is named after the lake, not the other way round. It comes from the Mohawk language meaning “beautiful lake”
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Aven @avensarah.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The surprisingly connected origins of "astronaut" and "noise". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #astronaut #navy #nausea #noise youtube.com/shorts/7UkDV...
youtube.com
Astronaut/Noise #Etymology
YouTube video by Alliterative
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The surprisingly connected origins of "astronaut" and "noise". #etymology #wordnerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #astronaut #navy #nausea #noise youtube.com/shorts/7UkDV...
youtube.com
Astronaut/Noise #Etymology
YouTube video by Alliterative
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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.
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Today is World Goat Day so here’s a song about goats by one of my favourite indie artists @petejohns.bsky.social youtu.be/sEQH6MCECC4?...
youtu.be
Fear Cut - Goats (Lyric Video)
YouTube video by Pete Johns - Studio Live Today
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