Sign in

Katuwestākos Göransson

@seadogdriftwood.bsky.social
159 followers 120 following 721 posts
PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 27/09/2026
If you enjoy posts like this, you’ll love the Linguistic Discovery newsletter! Topics include: ⚙️ how language works 🌍 grammatical diversity in the world’s languages ℹ️ explainers of concepts in linguistics 🗣️ language profiles 🗞️ latest news and research Sign up at the link in bio ⬆️
033
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 27/09/2026
Other languages with vowel harmony include Korean, Hungarian, Finnish, Sumerian, Igbo, Andalusian Spanish, Telugu, and many Turkic and Bantu languages. #linguistics #language #Turkish #vowels
483
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 27/09/2026
Upper Mid Vowels: ó-mò-twé ‘head’ ó-gò-sèk-èr-à ‘to laugh at’ Lower Mid Vowels: ɔ́-mɔ̀-kɔ́ ‘sibling-in-law’ ɔ́-kɔ̀-ŋɛ́s-ɛ́r-à ‘to hit to/at’
143
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 27/09/2026
In the Gusii language, for example, mid vowels harmonize according to height. /o, e/ are upper mid vowels and /ɔ, ɛ/ are lower mid vowels. If a lower mid vowel occurs anywhere in the root (in bold), all the mid vowels in the word also have to be lower mid vowels:
143
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 27/09/2026
In Turkish, the vowel right before the suffix is the one that determines the vowel of the suffix. But most languages have *long-distance vowel harmony* where a vowel affects other vowels several syllables away. The result is often that all the vowels in a word have to match in terms of some feature.
153
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 27/09/2026
In the first set above, the vowels in the stem are front vowels, so the vowel of the suffix must be a front vowel too. In the second set, the stem vowels are back vowels, causing the suffix to be a back vowel as well.
143
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 27/09/2026
More Turkish examples: abla ‘sister’ → ablalar ‘sisters’ pantalon ‘pants’ (sg.) → pantalonlar ‘pants’ (pl.) koyun ‘sheep’ (sg.) → koyunlar ‘sheep’ (pl.)
143
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 27/09/2026
In Turkish, for example, the plural suffix is either “‑ler” or “‑lar” depending on the vowels of the stem: ev ‘house’ → evler ‘houses’ köprü ‘bridge’ → köprüler ‘bridges’ kedi ‘cat’ → kediler ‘cats’
163
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 27/09/2026
In some languages, the vowels in prefixes or suffixes have to be similar to the vowels of the root or stem, a phenomenon called *vowel harmony* 🎶
1225
Katuwestākos Göransson @seadogdriftwood.bsky.social · 10h
O Muse, you trickster, holy blessèd scamp! You bare your bounty tactically seld, And when my might is meak or time is dear, You fill my flagging spirit full of fire — Yea, right when I'm least able to create!
021
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 16h
There are up to 8,000 species of katydids in family Tettigoniidae, 255 in North America alone. But this hot pink katydid isn't some exotic species, it's a 'morph', a normal genetic color variant. Here's the weird part: this is the DOMINANT color gene in katydids. (📷: Audubon Zoo)
From Audubon Insectarium article (it's behind a paywall), a vibrantly pink katydid, probably fresh from molting, sitting on broad green leaves.
420944
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Alex F. @multiphasic.bsky.social · 14h
Under some circumstances, they actually color-shift, though I don't know if that's limited to certain species. defector.com/this-pink-bu...
defector.com
This Pink Bug Is Not A "Rare Freak Mutant" After All | Defector
On March 27, 2025, somewhere in the Panamanian rainforest, the evolutionary biologist Zeke Rowe was looking for a snack. While walking outside the research station’s cafeteria, Rowe noticed a strange ...
041
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Yoïn van Spijk @yvanspijk.bsky.social · 14h
Daar was geen woord aan gelogen. Hieronder zie je voorbeelden uit die vaderlandsche letterkunde, van niemand minder dan de gevierde schrijvers Constantijn Huygens en Joost van den Vondel: ‘meer als’ en ‘schuldiger als’.
111
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Yoïn van Spijk @yvanspijk.bsky.social · 14h
Het antwoord van Van Ginneken: ‘Na een comparatief van een bijwoord of bijvoeglijk naamwoord mogen zeker zoowel ‘als’ als ‘dan’ gebruikt worden; onze heele vaderlandsche letterkunde getuigt dit (...)’.
131
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Yoïn van Spijk @yvanspijk.bsky.social · 14h
Met andere woorden: ‘als’ was verdacht omdat het aan het Duits deed denken. Noch de opgevoerde lezer, noch het bestuur van Onze Taal bestempelt ‘als’ hier überhaupt (en dat is een germanisme) als fout.
231
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Yoïn van Spijk @yvanspijk.bsky.social · 14h
De vraag uit 1933: ‘Gevoelt U iets voor de opvatting van een lezer, dat het voor ons Nederlanders, zaak is het gebruik van het woordje “als” in vergelijkingen maar zooveel mogelijk te vermijden, om zoodoende uit de buurt van het Duitsch te blijven?’
121
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Yoïn van Spijk @yvanspijk.bsky.social · 14h
Onze Taal is nu hét taaladviesorgaan, maar in deze brief aan het taalkundeblad Onze Taaltuin vraagt het genootschap advies aan prof. dr. Jac. van Ginneken. Onze Taal was in 1931 opgericht door taalpuristen in hun strijd tegen germanismen in het Nederlands: Duitse woorden en constructies.
121
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Yoïn van Spijk @yvanspijk.bsky.social · 14h
De afgelopen generaties hebben elkaar flink zitten opjutten tegen ‘groter als’. Hoe goed je ook met woorden bent, je hoeft maar één keer het gehate ‘als’ in plaats van het heilige ‘dan’ op papier te zetten en je krijgt een brevet van onvermogen. In 1933 was het nog niet zo zwart-wit. Draadje:
681
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Dan Shive @danshive.bsky.social · 12h
I decided to see what my Smithsonian “Animal” book had on rabbits, and have consequently learned that rabbits ovulate not on a cycle, but in response to “the act.” Thus explaining rabbit population nonsense in spite of the ridiculous number of predators who consider them lunch (humans included).
1252
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
afuyeas @afuyeas.bsky.social · 22h
Very funny but Dutch's "eikel" meaning both "acorn" and "dickhead, jerkass" is consistent with what happened in English and French ("gland", acorn, also moron, and "dugland", dumbass, dickhead)
011
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Word Family Friday @wordfamilyfriday.bsky.social · 21h
(She has an MA in Classics, if you didn't know)
011
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Word Family Friday @wordfamilyfriday.bsky.social · 21h
(oh, and 38 Cherryh books—not locked into any particular e-reader walled garden—for $18, some of it to charity, on humble bundle for another 9 days still www.humblebundle.com/books/best-c...)
humblebundle.com
Humble Book Bundle: The Best of C.J. Cherryh by Daw Books
Enter new universes of adventure and mystery with this bundle of ebooks by C.J. Cherryh! Pay what you want and support BINC!
101
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Word Family Friday @wordfamilyfriday.bsky.social · 21h
In either case, there is no reasonable comparisons outside the Northwest Fringe of Indo-European, so likely a very late innovation and/or substrate borrowing in Northern Europe.
111
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Word Family Friday @wordfamilyfriday.bsky.social · 21h
*g or *gʰ which are merged to *g in both Celtic and Slavic, so even if Slavic *grǫbъ is cognate, that doesn't tell us which it might have come from, and whether we should be looking at Germanic *grubaz or *krumpaz.
111
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Word Family Friday @wordfamilyfriday.bsky.social · 21h
Irish "grua(i)g" is much less clear. As far as I know it is not attested before the 1600s, though it must have been in Middle Irish, because it's in all of MI's descendants (Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx, plus a borrowing in Faroese).
111
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Word Family Friday @wordfamilyfriday.bsky.social · 21h
(The image of the wolf-warrior is, of course, of immense importance in the inherited Indo-European tradition)
111
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Word Family Friday @wordfamilyfriday.bsky.social · 21h
Welsh "Gwrgi" is straight-up Gwr-Ci: "Man-Dog". Equivalent to PIE *wiHro-ḱwṓ English were-hound Latin vir-canis Irish fear-cú Sanskrit vīrá-śvā́ Lithuanian výra-šuo Tocharian A wir-ku
111
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Word Family Friday @wordfamilyfriday.bsky.social · 21h
But of course Alexander is using Welsh (and while Cherryh is using Welsh, Irish, and Old English variously in The Dreaming Tree, "gruagach" is Irish); and I eventually learned of Gurgi's namedsake from Welsh legend, Gwrgi the Werewolf Champion (not to be confused with Melion the Werewolf Knight)
111
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Word Family Friday @wordfamilyfriday.bsky.social · 21h
Keeping in mind that Irish "gruagach" is pronounced broadly as [gruəgə], which gets anglicized as "gruga" or even—because of English rules of checked vowels—as "grugi" (and also that they are both little hairy men); I assumed Gurgi was also named "hairy" and never questioned it.
111
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Word Family Friday @wordfamilyfriday.bsky.social · 21h
Speaking of werewolves, I'm reading CJ Cherryh's _The Dreaming Tree_ for the first time since I got partway through it as a teen, and I was reminded of my confusion over Gruagach and Gurgi
The Gruagach (a hairy little wild man), sitting at Arafel's feet, with her cloak behind him.
Cover of The Tree of Swords and Jewels, illustration by Michael WhelanGurgi (a hairy little wild man), sitting at Taran's feet, with his cloak behind him.
Cover of Taran Wanderer, illustration by Jody Lee
112
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
blauwbaard ✨ @blauwbaard.sparkle.blue · 29/09/2026
I'd go with connard. It has all letters of 'acorn' plus a few extra, as is customary in French.
031
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Dan Shive @danshive.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“Tremble before the tyranny of sensitivity!” No. I’m sure plenty of straight white male writers are doing fine. Also, if people don’t like “sensitive” books, and if those are truly overcrowding bookshelves, then there should be a hungry market just CRAVING insensitive nonsense. Assuming they read.
2282
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Dan Shive @danshive.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
A video on books that annoyed the reviewer which includes books I’ve seen promoted on store shelves? Sure, I’ll watch that. YouTube: “Ah, so you like videos on being angry about books, eh?” Not in general, but— “BEHOLD! Videos which lament the silencing of the straight white male!” Oh ye gods no
3371
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
David Stifter 🍵📄🦊 @davidstifter.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The @irishexaminer.bsky.social had an article by me about the new edition of Nauigatio St Brendani on the weekend.
0239
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
... it may have just been a matter of some new brewer making it too thick, producing a beer you could CHEW after cooking a 2nd time. Bread *could* have been inspired by a bad batch of beer & that feels =very human= to me. So cheers to home-brewers, practicing the world's 3rd? oldest profession.
sci.news
13,000-Year-Old Brewery Found in Israel | Sci.News
An international team of researchers from Stanford University and the University of Haifa has found the oldest archaeological evidence of cereal-based beer brewing. The discovery is described in the J...
610015
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This evidence of brewing may slightly precede the earliest evidence of bread-baking in the Levant. Meaning the Natufians may have begun cultivating & baking grains into bread AFTER, and maybe BECAUSE, they were using it in brewing beer for ritual feasts. The "beer" would have been porridge-like...
news.stanford.edu
Did crafting beer lead to cereal cultivation?
Stanford researchers have found the oldest archaeological evidence of beer brewing, a discovery that supports the hypothesis that in some regions, beer may have been an underlying motivation to cultiv...
1765
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Given that this site was associated with repeated funerary rituals, it suggests that the brewing was related to the mourning of the dead. Probably a ritual feast. A wake? 13,000 years ago. "Our friend is dead, let's get schnockered in their honor." But there's another intriguing detail...
academia.edu
Fermented beverage and food storage in 13,000 y-old stone mortars at Raqefet Cave, Israel: Investigating Natufian ritual feasting
Fermented and alcoholic beverages played a pivotal role in feastings and social events in past agricultural and urban societies across the globe, but the origins of the sophisticated relevant technolo...
1565
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Together, these tell the story of a process: Someone gathered seeds by hand, stored them in fiber bags, placed them in a bedrock mortar & smashed them up, then transferred them to a hole where they soaked, germinated & malted. The mash was heated & left to ferment with windborne yeast.
A team of Stanford University and Israeli archaeologists stand in the entrance to Raqefet Cave, where they found evidence for the oldest man-made alcohol in the world.
2522
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The evidence of brewing comes from "boulder mortars": a stick can gouge out a hole in limestone, widening or exploiting existing water-formed low places. Inside these holes were found 'phytoliths': microscopic fragments of silica from inside plant cells & starch granules with evidence of malting.
What looks like dusty limestone cave floor, but with lots of small pits, some of which are bedrock mortars, others are holes for boulder mortars.  Like if a groundhog got bigger and bored.
1472
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Raqefet Cave in Israel was a sacred burial site for the hunter-gatherer culture known as the 'Natufians' around 13,000 years ago. More recently, we've also discovered here the earliest evidence of BEER BREWING from grains. Even more remarkable because these people HADN'T INVENTED AGRICULTURE YET.
smithsonianmag.com
Traces of 13,000-Year-Old Beer Found in Israel
According to the authors of a new study, the discovery marks the earliest-known evidence of beer production among ancient peoples
1028966
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
... reduced the risk of catastrophic leaks. And the final irony? These fast-breeder reactors that produce more nuclear fuel than they consume were invented by... Leó Szilárd.
The image shows physicist Leo Szilard reading a newspaper headline about the Soviet Union's first atomic bomb test in September 1949.  He holds the handset of a telephone up to the ear away from the camera.
0501
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
A variant of the idea also devised by Einstein-Szilárd using an electromagnetic pump to move liquid metals (Na, NaK) & pentane as the working gas would, ironically, be used to cool fast-breeder nuclear reactors. It 'howled like a jackal' during operation, but the lack of seals or moving shafts...
This photograph shows a 1946 re-enactment of Albert Einstein and physicist Leo Szilard reviewing the historic letter they drafted for the U.S. president.
1411
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The US patent for this design was granted in 1930, but it was never commercialized. The design was less energy efficient than pump-based systems & safer chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) coolants would obviate the /need/ for the Einstein-Szilárd design in the 1930's. But the idea had merit!
aps.org
This Month in Physics History
APS Archives
2321
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It required no inputs except HEAT, which is used to boil ammonia out of water, sending it to a condenser where it lowered the partial pressure over the butane, which boiled & evaporated at temps below freezing, cooling the refrigerator. TL;DR: The boiling ammonia replaces a mechanical compressor.
2351
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
... the atomic neutron chain reaction, the electron microscope & the cyclotron. He was the 'doer' to Einstein the 'thinker'. They set out to build a refrigerator where seals wouldn't rupture because it would have NO MOVING PARTS. The coolant system involved three fluids: Water Ammonia Butane
wired.com
Einstein’s Little-Known Passion Project? A Refrigerator
Humanity might have saved itself a lot of trouble in the long run by investing in the Einstein-Szilard approach to cooling water with fire.
1323
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Traditional iceboxes were being replaced in Europe with electric refrigerators that used pressurized methyl chloride, ammonia, & sulfur dioxide as coolants. Einstein was already a famous physicist by this point & his collaborator was a young postdoc scientist, Leó Szilárd, who went on to invent...
Fourth-generation refrigerant: HFO 1234yf
Pinklesh Arora, Geetha Seshadri and Ajay Kumar Tyagi*
Material Science Division, Shriram Institute for Industrial Research, 19, University Road, Delhi 110 007, India
"Refrigeration is a process to transfer heat from the objects for cooling and freezing for maintaining the temperature of surroundings for preservation purposes and comfort. Refrigerants are the materials to use in air-conditioning and refrigeration system. This article describes the developments and history of the first-, second-, third- and fourth-generation refrigerants. Moreover, the focus is on a fourth-generation refrigerant, viz. HFO-1234yf having zero ozone depletion potential and very low global warming potential. Synthesis procedure, chemistry, applications and consumption norms of HFO-1234yf are explained."
1311
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
In 1926, an entire family in Berlin were killed when a seal ruptured in their refrigerator, releasing toxic gas in the enclosed space. Two local men decided to use their considerable powers of intellect to make refrigerators safer. Let's talk about the time Albert Einstein invented a refrigerator.
A man in a suit demonstrates a modern electrical refrigerator to a woman in a 1930's dress and hat, in what appears to be a showcase of an appliance store.
210121
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Yoïn van Spijk @yvanspijk.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The more than 550 infographics I've made have always been a hobby for me as a linguist and writer. However, since 2023, people have been able to support my work by giving me the equivalent of a coffee or a sandwich per month. I'd be thrilled if you became my patron too! patreon.com/yvanspijk
Since I started on Twitter in 2021, I’ve created two etymological infographics a week – more than 550 in total. Each one takes me between three and six hours.

I base them on scientifically reliable etymological dictionaries on my pc, the internet and my bookshelves, along with other linguistic literature. The only tool I use – and need – is PowerPoint. No form of AI is ever involved.

The infographics have always been a hobby for me as a professional linguist and writer. However, in 2023 I started a Patreon account because people were telling me they wanted to support my work.

On patreon.com/yvanspijk, you can become a member at two levels. The other image tells you all about the
perks you get by becoming my patron.Tier 1 · $ 2.50 / € 2 a month
75 articles (and counting) that delve into fascinating aspects of the infographics they go with; 300 to 1300 words each, 600 on average.
Tier 2 · $ 6.50 / € 5 a month
The tier 1 bonus
An audio file containing the reconstructed pronunciation of all historical words featured in the infographic, such as Latin and Old English, and the Proto-Germanic reconstructions, included with every infographic since March 2024; 193 files (and counting).
0308
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Jabroni Mike Clips @jabronimikeclip.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Streamer ends it all live Clipped by: Cognozzle
1158
Reposted by Katuwestākos Göransson
Kaylyn Saucedo - MarzGurl @marzgurl.com · 27/09/2026
Hey, y'all. "Innocent until proven guilty" is a term intended for the court system, where a defendant isn't guilty 'til a trial finds them to be so. It doesn't mean that you don't use your own fucking common sense & good judgment to stay away from bad people. You're not imprisoning them. Thanks.
17992309