Omniglot News (30/03/25)

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Omniglot News

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

New writing system: Hurûf-ı munfasıla, a script based on the Ottoman Turkish alphabet with the letters written separately and all the vowels written devised by Enver Pasha in 1914.

Sample text in the Hurûf-ı munfasıla

New adapted script: Hengul (헨규얘 아얘푸벹), an alternative way to write English with the Korean Hangeul alphabet devised by Evan Wenning.

곧ㅉ 얘우ㄸ 푤 혀유마니터 이ㅉ 쇼 이멘ㅅ, 빹 허 개ㄸ 히ㅉ 요냬어 순 ㅌ유 탴 앆ㄹ ㅸ이앳 쇼 빹 꺼 칸 버 ㅍ러 우ㄸ 앆ㄹ 신 안ㄷ 버 컈언 ㅍ룸 오얘 운랴예엣닛.

New language pages:

  • Ivbiosakon (émáì), an Edoid language spoken in the north Edo State in southern Nigeria.
  • Ososo (Ósósọ̀), an Edoid language spoken in Edo and Kogi states in southern Nigeria.
  • Moro, a Talodi language spoken in Southern Kordofan state in southern Sudan.

New numbers pages:

  • Narragansett (Nãikanset), an Eastern Algonquian language that was spoken in Rhode Island in the USA until the 19th century, and that is being revived.
  • Konkomba (Likpakpaln), a Gur language spoken in northern Ghana and northern Togo.

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Squally Showers about the Spanish word chubasco (shower, downpour) and there’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Audio Player

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in western Brazil.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Budukh (Будад мез), a Lezgian language spoken mainly in northeastern Azerbaijan.

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast, Windy Braying, we uncover the flatulent Celtic roots of words for to bray and related things in English, French and other languages.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog, there are new posts entitled Night and Breaking the Wind.

New article: How to Transition from Modern Standard Arabic to Real-Life Lebanese Arabic

Improved pages: Herero and Bashkir language pages.

New song: What Are You Waiting For?, which I started writing back in November 2024, and finally finished this week.

For more Omniglot News, see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/Omniglot-100430558332117

JapanesePod101.com

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

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

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo

Celtic Pathways – Windy Braying

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode we discover the flatulent Celtic roots of words for to bray and related things in English, French and other languages.

Cacahuète braying

The Proto-Celtic word *bragyeti means to fart or flatulate and comes from Proto-Celtic *braxsman (fart), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreHg- (to stink, smell, have a strong odour) [source].

Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:

  • broim [bˠɾˠiːmʲ] = fart in Irish
  • braim [brãũm] = fart, breaking of wind in Scottish Gaelic
  • breim = fart in Manx
  • bram [bram] = fart, gentle puff in Welsh
  • bramm = fart in Cornish
  • bramm [brãmː ] = fart in Breton

For more about words for fart and related things in Celtic languages, see the Celtiadur post: Breaking the Wind.

Words from the same Proto-Celtic root, Gaulish *bragiū (fart) and Latin bragiō (to bray, cry, weep), include (to) bray in English, braire (to bray, shout, cry, weep) and brailler (to shout, yell, speak very loudly) in French, and sbraitare (to shout, scream, yell, rant) in Italian [source].

Words from the same PIE root possibly include braña (mire, bog, fen, march, moorland) in Galician, flair, fragrant in English, flairer (to smell, sniff, scent, sense) in French, fragare (to smell) in Italian, and cheirar (to smell) in Portuguese [source].

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com

Omniglot News (23/03/25)

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Omniglot News

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

Tai Noi scriptNew writing system: Tai Noi, a script used to write Lao and Isan in Laos and northern Thailand.

Sample text in Tai Noi

New constructed system: Aramikatavah (ארמיכתבה), an alternative way to write Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic created by Mina McVinnie.

Sample text in Tai Noi

New language pages:

  • Degema (Dẹgẹma), an Edoid language spoken in Degema LGA in Rivers states in southern Nigeria.
  • Egene (Ẹgẹnẹ), an Edoid language spoken in Rivers and Bayelsa states in southern Nigeria.
  • Esan (Ẹ̀sán), an Edoid language spoken in Edo State in southern Nigeria.

New numbers page:

  • Esan (Ẹ̀sán), an Edoid language spoken in Edo State in southern Nigeria.
  • Baniwa (Tapuya), an Arawakan language spoken in Brazil and Venezuela.
  • Bantayanon, a Central Bisayan language spoken in Cebu Province in the Philippines.

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Breeze-Stoppers about the Spanish word limpiaparabrisas (windscreen / windshield wiper) and other compound words, and there’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Audio Player

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken mainly in Azerbaijan.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Cia-Cia (Bahasa Ciacia / 바하사 찌아찌아), a Celebic language spoken on Buton Island in Southeast Sulawesi Province in Indonesia.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology we find out how wire used to bind hay bales, Haywire, came to be associated with chaos.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog, there are new posts about words for Night

For more Omniglot News, see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/Omniglot-100430558332117

JapanesePod101.com

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

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

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo

Adventures in Etymology – Haywire

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Haywire is wire used to bind bales of hay, and can also refer to something that’s roughly-made, erratic or uncontrollable. How are these meanings related? Let’s find out in this Adventure in Etymology.

Baling twine repair

As a noun, haywire [ˈheɪ.waɪ.ə(ɹ) / ˈheɪ.waɪɚ] means wire used for binding bales of hay, straw or grass, and is also known as bale wire, baling wire, farm wire or soft wire.

As an adjective, haywire means roughly-made, unsophisticated, decrepit, or behaviorally erratic or uncontrollable, especially when referring to machines and mechanical processes.

As a verb, to haywire means to attach or fix with haywire, and to go haywire means to become wildly confused, out of control, or mentally unbalanced. [source].

Originally haywire meant likely to become tangled unpredictably or unusably, or fall apart, as if bound by the soft springy wire used to bind hay bales. This usage comes from lumber camps in New England in 1905, when a haywire outfit was a company that patched up machinery temporarily using haywire rather than fixed it properly [source].

The expression to go haywire, which first appeared in writing in the 1920s, represents something held together or repaired with haywire falling apart or behaving unpredicatbly, or something that has gone wrong or is no good. As haywire tends to whip itself into wild and unruly tangles when cut, this meaning makes sense [source].

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

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

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com

I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog.

Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo

Omniglot News (16/03/25)

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

  • Saxwe (saxwɛgbe), a Gbe language spoken in the Atlantique, Couffo and Mono departments in the southwest of Benin.
  • Ekpeye (Ẹkpeye), an Igboid language spoken in Rivers and Bayelsa states in southern Nigeria.
  • Gun (Gungbe), an Eastern Gbe language spoken in southeastern Benin and southwestern Nigeria.

New numbers page:

  • Romani (romani ćhib), an Indo-Aryan language spoken by Roma people throughtout Europe and the USA.

New adapted script: Aksara Kémara Jawa-Bali-Indhonésia (អក្សរខេមរជវ-ពលិ-ឥណ្ឌោនេស្យ), a way to write Javanese, Balinese, Indonesian, etc with the Khmer script devised by Tom Mai.

Sample text in Aksara Kémara Jawa-Bali-Indhonésia in Javanese

New adapted script: Hrvatsku Glagoljicu (ⱈⱃⰲⰰⱅⱄⰽⱆ ⰳⰾⰰⰳⱁⰾⱐⰻⱌⱆ), a way to write Croatian with the Glagolitic script devised by Aahan Kotian.

Ⱄⰲⰰ ⰾⱓⰴⱄⰽⰰ ⰱⰻћⰰ ⱃⰰђⰰⱓ ⱄⰵ ⱄⰾⱁⰱⱁⰴⱀⰰ ⰻ ⱔⰴⱀⰰⰽⰰ ⱆ ⰴⱁⱄⱅⱁⱑⱀⱄⱅⰲⱆ ⰻ ⱂⱃⰰⰲⰻⱞⰰ. Ⱁⱀⰰ ⱄⱆ ⱁⰱⰴⰰⱃⰵⱀⰰ ⱃⰰⰸⱆⱞⱁⱞ ⰻ ⱄⰲⰻⱔⱎћⱆ ⰻ ⱅⱃⰵⰱⰰ ⱔⰴⱀⰻ ⱂⱃⰵⱞⰰ ⰴⱃⱆⰳⰻⱞⰰ ⰴⰰ ⱂⱁⱄⱅⱆⱂⰰⱓ ⱆ ⰴⱆⱈⱆ ⰱⱃⰰⱅⱄⱅⰲⰰ.

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Strong Strings in which we find out whether the the words string, strong, strength, strait, stretch and strict related, and there’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Audio Player

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in the Southeast Sulawesi Province in Indonesia.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Arikara (Sáhniš), a Northern Caddoan language spoken in Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota, USA.

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast, we discover the possible Celtic roots of words for Soot in French and other languages..

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog, there are new posts about words for Soot and Benches and related things in Celtic languages, and I made improvements to the post about Hedgehogs

Improved page: Tulu language page.

For more Omniglot News, see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/Omniglot-100430558332117

JapanesePod101.com

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

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

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo

Celtic Pathways – Sooty Soot

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode we discover the possible Celtic roots of words for soot in English, French and various other languages.

Anybody else smell smoke??

The Proto-Celtic word *sūdyā means soot and comes from Proto-Indo-European *suh₃d- (soot [?]), or from sed- (to sit) [source].

Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:

  • súiche [ˈsˠuːçɪ] = soot in Irish
  • sùith [suːj] = soot in Scottish Gaelic
  • sooie = smut, soot in Manx
  • huddygl [ˈhɨ̞ðɨ̞ɡl / ˈhɪðɪɡl] = soot in Welsh
  • hudhygel = soot in Cornish
  • huzil [ˈhyː(z)il] = soot in Breton

For more about words for soot and related things in Celtic languages, see the Celtiadur post: Soot.

Words from the same Proto-Celtic root, via Gaulish *sūdiā (soot [?]), include sutge (soot) in Catalan, suie (soot) in French, and maybe soot in English, sot (soot) in Swedish, sadza (soot) in Polish, сажа (saža – soot) in Russian, and saze (soot) in Czech [source].

Incidentally, another Welsh word for soot is fflacs, which refers specifically to soot blown down a chimney on a windy day [source].

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com

Omniglot News (09/03/25)

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

  • Mpiemo (Mbimu), a Bantu language spoken in the Central African Republic, Cameroon and the Republic of the Congo.
  • Ebira (èbìrà), a Volta-Niger language spoken mainly in Kogi State in central Nigeria.
  • Gun (Gungbe), an Eastern Gbe language spoken in southeastern Benin and southwestern Nigeria.

New adapted script: Shavian for Esperanto (Ŝava alfabeto), a way to write Esperanto with the Shavian (Shaw) Alphabet.

𐑗𐑦𐑪𐑢 𐑣𐑩𐑫𐑩𐑢 𐑧𐑕𐑑𐑨𐑕 𐑛𐑧𐑵𐑨𐑕𐑒𐑧 𐑤𐑦𐑚𐑧𐑮𐑨𐑢 𐑒𐑨𐑢 𐑧𐑜𐑨𐑤𐑨𐑢 𐑤𐑨𐑘 𐑛𐑦𐑜𐑵𐑩 𐑒𐑨𐑢 𐑮𐑨𐑢𐑑𐑩𐑢. 𐑦𐑤𐑦 𐑐𐑩𐑕𐑧𐑛𐑨𐑕 𐑮𐑨𐑔𐑦𐑩𐑵 𐑒𐑨𐑢 𐑒𐑩𐑵𐑕𐑔𐑦𐑧𐑵𐑔𐑩𐑵, 𐑒𐑨𐑢 𐑛𐑧𐑝𐑪𐑕 𐑒𐑩𐑵𐑛𐑪𐑑𐑦 𐑪𐑵𐑪 𐑨𐑤 𐑨𐑤𐑦𐑨 𐑧𐑵 𐑕𐑐𐑦𐑮𐑦𐑑𐑩 𐑛𐑧 𐑓𐑮𐑨𐑑𐑧𐑔𐑩.

New numbers page:

  • Ebira, a Volta-Niger language spoken in central Nigeria.

New Tower of Babel translation: Ebira, a Volta-Niger language spoken in central Nigeria.

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Swallowing Camels about some interesting Danish idioms, and there’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Audio Player

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in North Dakota in the USA.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Kurukh (कुड़ुख़), a northern Dravidian language spoken mainly in northern India, and also in Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, we’re grasping the Cash box as we look into the origins of the word cash.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

A bonus Adventure in Etymology is avalable on my Patreon page.

On the Celtiadur blog, there’s a new post entitled Satisfying Pleasure about words for satisfaction, pleasure, gratitude and related things in Celtic languages.

For more Omniglot News, see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/Omniglot-100430558332117

JapanesePod101.com

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

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

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo

Adventures in Etymology – Cash

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this Adventure in Etymology, we are grasping the cash box as we look into the origins of the word cash.

Cash - part of my collection of coins and banknotes

Cash [kæʃ] is:

  • Money in the form of notes or bills and coins
  • Liquid assets, money that can be traded quickly, as distinct from assets that are invested and cannot be easily exchanged.
  • Money.
  • A place where money is kept, or where it is deposited and paid out; a money box. (archaic)

It comes from Middle French caisse (money box, chest), from Occitan caissa from Latin capsa (box, case, holder, repository, bookcase), from capiō (to take, capture, seize), from Old Latin kapio, from Proto-Italic *kapjō (to take, seize), from Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti (to be grasping), from *kap- (to seize, grab, hold) [source].

Words from the same roots include case, chase, have, haven, heave, heft and disciple in English, caja (box, case, bank) in Spanish, caisse (box, crate, cash register) in French, hebben (to have, possess, own, hold) in Dutch, and cuach (bowl, goblet) in Irish [source].

Hang on, how is disciple related to cash? Well, it comes from Middle English disciple (disciple), from Old English discipul (disciple, scholar), from Latin discipulus (student, pupil, disciple, scholar), from dis- (asunder, apart) and Proto-Italic *kapelos (one who takes), from *kapiō (to take), from Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti, etc. So a disciple or scholar could be one said to be who ‘takes apart’ ideas, knowledge, etc. [source].

There are many other words for cash and money in English, including brass, bread, dosh, dough, funds, moolah, readies, spondoolicks and wonga – do you know any others? [source].

By the way, this week there is a bonus Adventure in Etymology on my Patreon page.

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

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

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com

I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog.

Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo

Omniglot News (02/03/25)

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Omniglot News

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

New language pages:

  • Mbuun (kiMbuun), a western Bantu language spoken in Kwilu Province in the west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • Aka, a Bantu language spoken the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • Komo (Kikomo), a Bantu language spoken in Tshopo Province in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

New constructed script: Θũʘṵʢṳ / Old Speech, a script and language developed by Kitsune Sobo and Charlie Chey for ‘The Song of Eternavis’, a multimedia project detailing the fictional world of Eternavis.

Sample text in Θũʘṵʢṳ / Old Speech

New constructed script: Saturnian, an alternative alphabet for English and Italian designed by Murray Callahan, which is partly based on Tolkien’s Tengwar script.

Sample text in Saturnian

New adapted script: Neo-Tifinagh for Arabic (ⴻⴰⵍⴽⵉⵜⴰⴰⴱⴰⵜ ⴻⴰⵏⵄⴰⵎⴰⴰⵣⵉⵖⵉⵢⵢⴰ), a way to write Arabic with the Neo-Tifinagh script devised by Aahan Kotian.

ⵢⵓⵓⵍⴰⴷⵓ ⴵⴰⵎⵉⵉⵄⵓ ⴰⵏ ⵏⴰⴰⵙⵉ ⴻⴰⵃⵔⴰⴰⵔⴰⵏ ⵎⵓⵜⴰⵙⴰⴰⵡⵉⵉⵏⴰ ⴼⵉⵉ ⴰⵍ ⴽⴰⵔⴰⴰⵎⴰⵜⵉ ⵡⴰ ⴰⵍ ⵃⵓⵇⵓⵓⵇ. ⵡⴰ ⵇⴰⴷ ⵡⵓⵀⵉⴱⵓⵓ ⵄⴰⵇⵍⴰⵏ ⵡⴰ ⴹⴰⵎⵉⵉⵔⴰⵏ ⵡⴰ ⵄⴰⵍⴰⵢⵀⵉⵎ ⵄⴰⵏ ⵢⵓⵄⴰⴰⵎⵉⵍⴰ ⴱⴰⵄⴹⵓⵀⵓⵎ ⴱⴰⵄⴹⴰⵏ ⴱⵉⵔⵓⵓⵃⵉ ⴰⵍ ⵉⵅⴰⴰⴻ.

New numbers pages:

  • Jirel (जिरेल), a Southern Tibetic language spoken mainly in Bagmati Province in eastern Nepal.
  • Itbayat (Itbayatan), a Batanic language spoken mainly on Itbayat Island in the Batanes Islands in the Philippines.
  • Palauan (a tekoi er a Belau), a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in Palau, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Improved numbers page: Sundanese

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Swallowing Camels about some interesting Danish idioms, and there’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Audio Player

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken mainly in northern India, and also in Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was: Ikwerre, an Igboid language spoken mainly in River State in southern Nigeria.

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast, Quays, we uncover the Celtic roots of words for quay, jetty, pier, etc. in English, French and other languages.

It’s also available on Instagram and TikTok.

On the Celtiadur blog, there’s a new post about words for Bishop and related things in Celtic languages.

For more Omniglot News, see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/Omniglot-100430558332117

JapanesePod101.com

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

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

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo

Celtic Pathways – Quays

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode we discover the Celtic roots of words for quay, jetty, pier, etc. in English, French and other languages.

Bangor Pier
Bangor Pier. Photo by Simon Ager

The Proto-Celtic word *kagyom means pen or enclosure, and comes from the Proto-Indo-European *kagʰyóm (enclosure, hedge), from *kagʰ- (to keep, hold, close, enclose, fence, hedge, barrier, field, pasture) [source].

Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:

  • cae [kaːɨ̯ / kai̯] = hedge, fence, field, enclosure, circle, sphere, barrier, obstruction in Welsh
  • ke = hedge, fence in Cornish
  • kae [kɛː] = hedge, quay in Breton

For more about words for field and related things in Celtic languages, see the Celtiadur post: Fields, Meadows and Pastures.

Words from the same Proto-Celtic root, via Gaulish *kagyom (enclosure) and Latin caium (storehouse, shop, workshop, quay, wharf) include quai (quay, wharf, platform) in French, quay in English, caes (quay, pier, wharf, breakwater) in Galician, cais (quay, pier, wharf, platform) in Portuguese, кей (kej – quay, pier, wharf, jetty) in Bulgarian, and cé (quay, wharf, pier) in Irish [source].

Words from the same PIE roots include hedge and inchoate (chaotic, disordered, confused) in English, haie (hedge, obstacle, line, row) and age (beam, shaft) in French, cael (to get, receive, have) and caer (fort[ress], castle, citadel) in Welsh, and häck (hedge, hurdle) in Swedish [source].

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com