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Linguist Answers Word Origin Questions | Tech Support | WIRED

Linguist Gareth Roberts joins WIRED to answer the internet’s burning questions about the etymologies of English words. How did the first languages first form? Was there once a single common language that all the others evolved from? When were swear words invented? Have words like “dude” and “bro” become gender neutral? Who came up with…

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Linguist Gareth Roberts joins WIRED to answer the internet’s burning questions about the etymologies of English words. How did the first languages first form? Was there once a single common language that all the others evolved from? When were swear words invented? Have words like “dude” and “bro” become gender neutral? Who came up with the word poop? Is “unalived” a real word now? Answers to all of these questions and plenty more await on Etymology Support.

0:00 Etymology Support
0:14 Etymologies rock
1:05 Gender neutral dude bros
2:50 Silent letters: Why?
3:47 “Unalived”
4:55 Grimm’s Law
5:57 %^*&*%!!!
6:47 Making up new words
8:41 How did each language form?
12:05 What was there before we had language?
14:06 Orange
14:47 💩
15:09 Fall into Autumn
15:54 Did we ruin demure?
16:35 New Slang
18:00 NO
18:34 The Great Vowel Shift
19:51 Shakespeare!
20:34 Why did we stop saying ‘thee’ and ‘thou?’
21:57 …..word?
22:21 Pregnant: Origins
23:25 Doggos

Director: Anna O’Donohue
Director of Photography: Caleb Weiss
Editor: Richard Trammell
Expert: Gareth Roberts
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Brandon White
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark
Casting Producer: Nicholas Sawyer
Camera Operator: Christopher Eustache
Sound Mixer: Sean Paulsen
Production Assistant: Sonia Butt
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Additional Editor: Paul Tael; Jason Malizia
Assistant Editor: Andy Morell

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170 Comments

170 Comments

  1. @koaya730

    October 23, 2024 at 6:53 pm

    18:39 I misheard it as “the great bowel shift” 💀💀

  2. @SomeReallyUniqueName

    October 23, 2024 at 7:01 pm

    Man also is specific in German to mean (man=) ‘someone’ and Mann = grown man

  3. @Chris-ut6eq

    October 23, 2024 at 7:03 pm

    👍 👍

  4. @jacobwaters9469

    October 23, 2024 at 7:08 pm

    0/5 Stars. Bro didn’t walk about bugs once

  5. @bensoncheung2801

    October 23, 2024 at 7:26 pm

    👋👋👋

  6. @undead_corsair

    October 23, 2024 at 7:28 pm

    Etymology is fascinating.

  7. @katherinerichardson2273

    October 23, 2024 at 7:33 pm

    I didn’t know how fascinating linguistics is I actually learned a second language for fun and it really is fun

  8. @notblondeswede

    October 23, 2024 at 7:34 pm

    He’s not the love of your life, he’s literally just a Guy

  9. @chrisjags

    October 23, 2024 at 7:43 pm

    As someone who writes a lot and hangs out with other writers, there’s always a subset who insists on “Correct English” as though there’s any such thing. English, or any language, can only be correct in the moment. Language is always going to keep evolving and changing, and there’s absolutely nothing purists can do about it.

  10. @johnathanwoods3094

    October 23, 2024 at 7:46 pm

    This dude is blowing my mind

  11. @johnnyjohns54

    October 23, 2024 at 8:01 pm

    It seems American and African native languages are not part of the study of linguists….

  12. @Sippin_Coffee

    October 23, 2024 at 8:01 pm

    What do you mean there is no modern equivalent for “Caput” in Spanish we can say “Cabeza” as in “Ponte las pillas y usa bien tu cabeza!”

  13. @extremegameplays7404

    October 23, 2024 at 8:01 pm

    Swear words aren’t just bad because people were uncomfortable talking about þem, but also because þey were unholy and unroman. Þey didn’t want people to speak in a poor, Pagan, English way.

  14. @kataseiko

    October 23, 2024 at 8:03 pm

    “We make up words” is one thing.. But if you think about it, your parents decided on a certain sound that people will make with their mouth to catch your attention. You’ll call it a “name”.

  15. @stibba4286

    October 23, 2024 at 8:03 pm

    i thought it was the cat guy at first

  16. @ered203

    October 23, 2024 at 8:03 pm

    “Filthy peasant” is also gender neutral, as is “yo”.

  17. @johnathanwoods3094

    October 23, 2024 at 8:06 pm

    I’m gonna need a part 2

  18. @kataseiko

    October 23, 2024 at 8:07 pm

    Can you explain how Turkish and Japanese have such a similar grammar?

  19. @aayaaboulnaga8983

    October 23, 2024 at 8:17 pm

    Could the embarazada/rope link have anything to do with the umbilical cord?

  20. @aeons_aries

    October 23, 2024 at 8:19 pm

    @ 15:31 German Herbst is Hervst. The B and V are the same in most character sets. So saying Herbst, is the same as saying Harvest. They are the same word, B is a V sound, not in german, but to a german scholar. I didn’t lispeln.

  21. @benl6998

    October 23, 2024 at 8:38 pm

    Am I tripping or is this guy talking simlish 6:47

  22. @peterbyrne7348

    October 23, 2024 at 8:52 pm

    Moo is cut in Old English. In Chinese Mao means cat, which works on the same principle

  23. @peterbyrne7348

    October 23, 2024 at 9:03 pm

    I love that the proto root of demure is meh.

  24. @scared1585

    October 23, 2024 at 9:20 pm

    gareth looks like if you went one spot down Vsauce Michael’s evolutionary line like a Pokemon

  25. @benn454

    October 23, 2024 at 9:27 pm

    I love how the condescending Brit whining about Fall vs. Autumn got rightfully smacked down.

  26. @jkuhl2492

    October 24, 2024 at 4:37 pm

    I need to go to the store and buy some glubglubmoo

  27. @hoofhearted4

    October 24, 2024 at 4:45 pm

    So what I got is thsr babies created language. We listened to them, assumed they were trying to say something, and made it a word.

  28. @maishahashim9939

    October 24, 2024 at 5:06 pm

    in this life i’m doing a law degree, but in another life im studying linguistics :((

  29. @cocolinabt

    October 24, 2024 at 5:08 pm

    Dude will only ever be a gender neutral word, when a guy gives a straight answer (pun intended) to “how many dudes have you slept with” without batting an eye

  30. @TheVipershark

    October 24, 2024 at 5:41 pm

    I’m never playing Scrabble with this guy

  31. @jacobstaten2366

    October 24, 2024 at 5:46 pm

    Any more, it feels like slang is a battle between the code writers and codebreakers like the enigma machine in windtalkers during world war ii. The slang doesn’t last very long and it pops up very quickly to replace whatever was before. It reaches semantic saturation so fast, and the only goal is to keep everybody that’s not in the current In crowd confused.

  32. @pobg

    October 24, 2024 at 5:55 pm

    13:41 zip!!!!!

  33. @EricaLeshea

    October 24, 2024 at 6:05 pm

    My female coworkers and I call each other “brother” 😁

  34. @daemonburns-waight2421

    October 24, 2024 at 6:30 pm

    That’s funny, in Australia we use ‘caput’ as a slang word meaning ‘done’ or ‘finished’.
    “I need new batteries, these ones are caput!”
    I wonder why we use that word in that way, if it originally meant ‘head’.. Weird

  35. @christopherneil8265

    October 24, 2024 at 6:37 pm

    Fun fact, “thou” was always pronounced to rhyme with “you”, bc the Great Vowel Shift didn’t get around to the “ou” final shift until ~100 years after thou had fallen out of use.

  36. @mitchellhish2941

    October 24, 2024 at 7:17 pm

    Loved this!

  37. @kenziesharman7652

    October 24, 2024 at 7:45 pm

    SOMEBODY GET @Brittany_Broski @BroskiReport HERE BECAUSE I KNOW SHE WOULD LOVE THIS ‼️‼️

  38. @MishKoz

    October 24, 2024 at 7:53 pm

    I wish this video never ended. I could listen to this man talk about etymology for hours.

  39. @TheGhostOf2020

    October 24, 2024 at 7:55 pm

    7:40 someone needs to clip this

  40. @MrAyrit

    October 24, 2024 at 7:56 pm

    Waaay more interesting than I thought it was going to be!

  41. @ror1gg

    October 24, 2024 at 7:58 pm

    17:35 that’s so interesting because here in spain (spain’s spanish idk about latin america) we use the word “caput” when referring to cutting someone’s head 😮

  42. @kiefdemon1979

    October 24, 2024 at 8:00 pm

    I love this guy. I learned so much and want to learn more.

  43. @MCRFerreira

    October 24, 2024 at 8:02 pm

    Part 2, please!

  44. @ubernovanis

    October 24, 2024 at 8:11 pm

    he look egg 🥚

  45. @indal6043

    October 24, 2024 at 8:18 pm

    22:45 embarazada*. He said the male version which… Is not the most common situation 😅

    Otherwise, loved the video I really love this topic, so so so interesting

  46. @different_stuff

    October 24, 2024 at 8:41 pm

    Once I was interested to find out that words band, bandit and bandana are not related. Although i thought that bandit is a member of band and bandana is the thing that bandits wear

  47. @keithle_

    October 24, 2024 at 9:02 pm

    Please do this with asian linguistics next time, we also need to know the etymology and connection between chinese (all of them) with hindi, arabic, sanskrit or even slavic

  48. @zaadbaad541

    October 24, 2024 at 9:09 pm

    FRISIA MENTIONED!!!!

  49. @markusennit9837

    October 24, 2024 at 9:17 pm

    Walter Words

  50. @prometheuszero9

    October 24, 2024 at 9:23 pm

    I remember learning about the Great Northern Vowel Shift taking place in North America and I’ve since lamented the fact that there were no smart asses around to instead name it the Great Northern Vowel Movement… such a missed opportunity.

  51. @MoonWomanStudios

    October 25, 2024 at 2:22 pm

    Having a precocious 4yo presents an excellent example of language evolution. “Thum hot choco would be weely yummy wite now.” We could lose r’s and s’s completely and I’d never notice again.

  52. @orisphera

    October 25, 2024 at 3:07 pm

    14:25 There’s also an opposite example, but that’s a whole nother story /shj

  53. @jacobjones1457

    October 25, 2024 at 3:08 pm

    Why he look like vsauce

  54. @orisphera

    October 25, 2024 at 3:09 pm

    14:46 I think that’s a joke

  55. @meepenjaap7999

    October 25, 2024 at 3:11 pm

    I personally want the word ‘kitten’ back instead of ‘ki’in’ i hate it.

  56. @iscrampad2194

    October 25, 2024 at 3:13 pm

    British vsauce that learns language for a living doesn’t exist and can’t hurt you:

  57. @AH-te5gs

    October 25, 2024 at 3:42 pm

    Surely a froghouse would be called a Kermitarium.

  58. @Pretendship

    October 25, 2024 at 3:42 pm

    we still use _’thee’_ here in Lancashire, and _’tha’_ for _’thou’_

  59. @shlongusinterruptus

    October 25, 2024 at 3:50 pm

    im probably one of the only Gen Zrs that doesn’t use Gen Z slang. my parents are boomers and my siblings are millennials so i end up using a lot of older slang.

  60. @horrovac

    October 25, 2024 at 4:06 pm

    The word “man” for “person” is still present in modern German, while the word for a male human is “Mann”. “Man” is used in the same way as “one”, for example: “one does not simply walk into Mordor” is “man kann nicht einfach nach Mordor spazieren” in German.

  61. @mamusova_

    October 25, 2024 at 4:29 pm

    Definitely this video was extremely fascinating for me who actually take English lexicology’s course and etymology can help realise some basics knowledge
    Thanks 🫣

  62. @brianbierlein4747

    October 25, 2024 at 4:38 pm

    That bombshell revelation at the end!!! :O

  63. @BlondLanfear

    October 25, 2024 at 4:46 pm

    This was amazing – bring him back please

  64. @kutloanoramochela9535

    October 25, 2024 at 4:53 pm

    we need a part two please.

  65. @vl5164

    October 25, 2024 at 5:59 pm

    if there was an entire docuseries abt linguistics by him id watch it all

  66. @truestbluu

    October 25, 2024 at 6:22 pm

    this guy looks like if vsauce had a british brother

  67. @mat6661

    October 25, 2024 at 6:55 pm

    Ki-Adi-Mundi cooked in this video

  68. @TheLittleBigL

    October 25, 2024 at 7:06 pm

    I really need this for my mothertongue now.

  69. @ericbrown1101

    October 25, 2024 at 7:34 pm

    One thing I’ve always wondered: how far back in time could we travel speaking modern English and still be understood by English people. The answer seems to be roughly the 1500s.

  70. @_Bosley

    October 25, 2024 at 7:38 pm

    I learned something in the first 2 minutes…. Nice 😃

  71. @bcook12

    October 25, 2024 at 7:48 pm

    I been a gnasci girl, I been, I been a gnasci girl 🤰🤰🏻🤰🏼🤰🏽🤰🏾🤰🏿 22:32

  72. @lawrencepsteele

    October 25, 2024 at 8:10 pm

    “very mindful” nice touch 😎

  73. @freekingfreaking246

    October 25, 2024 at 8:57 pm

    This is not linguistics, it’s etymology. No one cares about actual linguistics 😢

  74. @digofthedump

    October 25, 2024 at 9:17 pm

    why do modern terms make into history??

  75. @mitch3384

    October 25, 2024 at 9:24 pm

    I (male) haven’t used ‘bro’ to a female friend before, but definitely ‘dude’, and ‘Hey guys’.

  76. @JamesPerkins-y5n

    October 26, 2024 at 7:26 am

    I love how you explain each detail!

  77. @Consulting_Acolyte

    October 26, 2024 at 9:01 am

    i thought u r vsauce

  78. @N3x0

    October 26, 2024 at 9:19 am

    Fascinante

  79. @angelagonzalez8250

    October 26, 2024 at 9:42 am

    How come the English alphabet has several sounds for K. There is C,K, and to a lesser extent Q. It seems a bit redundant.

  80. @brittany_geneva

    October 26, 2024 at 9:47 am

    I never clicked a video so fast. I love this topic.

  81. @bobstare

    October 26, 2024 at 9:47 am

    I thought of this as beautiful knowledge!

  82. @AleksiJoensuu

    October 26, 2024 at 10:12 am

    In Finnish we’re still using separate words for “you” and “thou”, and indeed often using the plural form when referring to a single person, out of respect. Our singular is “sinä” and plural “te”, but you might often find a single person being referred to as “te” especially in courteous letters, customer service situations and so on, especially if the other person is older. The word for this practice is “teitittely”.

    If the older or otherwise more highly regarded person wishes, they can offer to stop the “teitittely” by making “sinunkaupat” with the other person. Sinunkaupat, literally translated, would mean “trading yous”, thus agreeing to forego using the plural forms.

  83. @NinaKale-i4t

    October 26, 2024 at 10:23 am

    B A B Y L O N — babble!

  84. @peterjohnvaldezamo7845

    October 26, 2024 at 11:03 am

    I love you, Mr. Linguist.

  85. @alfonzo9294

    October 26, 2024 at 11:10 am

    If a woman call you bro, you have been friend zoned

  86. @sherryramirez6329

    October 26, 2024 at 11:11 am

    but we do know . the bible says that we all spoke a common language at one time. In genesis specifically.

  87. @patchesohoulihan949

    October 26, 2024 at 2:09 pm

    I am the one who swears!!!

  88. @Assorted-Moose-Nonsense

    October 26, 2024 at 2:35 pm

    I make up new words all the time. Wanna hear one?

    Plagiarism.

    😏

  89. @arttu3232

    October 26, 2024 at 2:36 pm

    How come a dedicated word for “Day After Tomorrow” (in English) never caught on?

  90. @williammullikin2076

    October 26, 2024 at 2:37 pm

    that was very interesting, thank you

  91. @marysummers3679

    October 26, 2024 at 3:04 pm

    MORE!!!

    • @marysummers3679

      October 26, 2024 at 3:05 pm

      Please x

  92. @savannahwilliams5550

    October 26, 2024 at 3:25 pm

    I study human anatomy but this is so interesting it’s making me want to add a language minor 😂

  93. @chickennuggies906

    October 26, 2024 at 5:03 pm

    it is so beautiful that people everywhere and at all times have listened to what their baby was calling them and thought “okay that must be who i am to you” and just accepted this word it made up😭

  94. @carrieanderson3438

    October 26, 2024 at 5:26 pm

    Fascinating, impressive insights

  95. @peter.g6

    October 26, 2024 at 6:14 pm

    What an episode, I have no words.

  96. @PoliticalEconomyPK

    October 26, 2024 at 7:02 pm

    This is a 24 minute video, but I could honestly listen to this guy for hours.

  97. @jarrodhollenbeck4284

    October 26, 2024 at 7:19 pm

    I find it amazing that English people can’t seem to pronounce a word that ends with “A” properly. It’s always an “er” and i can never not hear it

  98. @laurag9337

    October 26, 2024 at 7:37 pm

    In 9th grade my Spanish teacher was trying to explain to the class basically why adding an o to the end of a word, or assuming a similar sounding word means what you think it does in Spanish vs English, was a bad idea, and used the embarrassed/pregnant example. That has stuck with me for nearly 20 years where I occasionally wonder how those words ended up so similar. And today that mystery ended. Thanks!

  99. @jamesv.7041

    October 26, 2024 at 8:05 pm

    Wait…he said H, not “haytch”…

    Mind blown…

  100. @davidmilhouscarter8198

    October 26, 2024 at 8:56 pm

    19:56 How many words has Eminem invented?

  101. @rosexesquivel

    October 26, 2024 at 10:23 pm

    Do more of these! This guy is great!

  102. @davidkuhn3970

    October 26, 2024 at 11:17 pm

    I’ve noticed that insult swear words are body parts.

  103. @atlesand6156

    October 27, 2024 at 2:51 am

    Its a bit misunderstood to blur out words you are going to explain

  104. @crystalskullsucked

    October 27, 2024 at 2:55 am

    Part 2 please 🙏 this is was so great

  105. @alcar32sharif

    October 27, 2024 at 3:40 am

    Old English – The most German English I ever heard.

  106. @kingiking110

    October 27, 2024 at 6:55 am

    Orange (English) <- Naraj (Arabic) <- Narang (Persian)

  107. @Lorenzo-pp5vj

    October 27, 2024 at 8:15 am

    funfact about italian, at 17:44 he mentions that “caput” is no longer used but you can very well refer to “head” using “Capo” which also means “Boss” 🙂

  108. @jojobean9465

    October 27, 2024 at 8:44 am

    “great question very mindful” 😭😭

  109. @slamopfpnoobneverunsub5362

    October 27, 2024 at 9:08 am

    Why do you look like vsause

  110. @lovinoia

    October 27, 2024 at 9:14 am

    13:08 I love that the reference to the origin of the word ‘meow’ is just cat 😭

  111. @synupps877

    October 27, 2024 at 12:50 pm

    Where the ____ are the cuss words?!

  112. @luisfilipe2023

    October 27, 2024 at 12:58 pm

    Historical linguistics might be the most interesting subject of them all

  113. @MsSteelphoenix

    October 27, 2024 at 3:38 pm

    Fascinating stuff!

  114. @burimsaliji23

    October 27, 2024 at 3:42 pm

    I hate the white background it’s beaming through my eyes at night while I try to watch and go to sleep, terrible decision

  115. @geofff.3343

    October 27, 2024 at 6:29 pm

    The important thing to remember about any vowel shift be it the Great Vowel Shift or the more modern Great Northern Vowel Shift is that when you shift a vowel the space in the mouth abhors a vacuum and so another sound seeks to fill that void, which is just as much a part of the shift as the initial vowel change.

  116. @Eijiken

    October 27, 2024 at 7:37 pm

    As someone who is a (former) linguistic anthropologist:

    Yes, we are all THIS excited to talk to people about language! My Wife also is the same way as a linguistic scholar

  117. @claudiamcfie1265

    October 27, 2024 at 8:01 pm

    18:14 who invented the word “no”… my guess is a 2 year old

  118. @suitedursus

    October 27, 2024 at 9:45 pm

    Fascinating look into the development of language

  119. @berhonkusbardledoo

    October 27, 2024 at 10:34 pm

    I thought that was vsauce

  120. @fadew55

    October 28, 2024 at 4:11 am

    I wonder how many languages this guy speaks. Gotta be 10+ fluently.

  121. @erldagerl9826

    October 28, 2024 at 7:03 am

    Excellent, fun video. One minor quip: although I guess technically, “embarazado” is a Spanish word, I can’t think of a context other than a science fiction story where it might be used. For obvious reasons, it takes the feminine ending: embarazada.

  122. @fortheloveofking

    October 28, 2024 at 7:51 am

    If I was an etymologist being asked about language with words like deadass, I’d turn into Kurt Douglas in Falling Down real fast.

  123. @AngelicaGraves-f1y

    October 28, 2024 at 10:04 am

    Cool

  124. @mustafabrennpaste6521

    October 28, 2024 at 10:20 am

    When you ignore all old-german or continental-germanic roots of words, you will get a video like this.

  125. @FacelessJanus

    October 28, 2024 at 10:37 am

    Answer me this. What resources are available for Old English, specifically regarding geographical terminology, of say around the era of 300 to 400 AD. (Actually required for a specific bit of study.)

  126. @halliemyers3228

    October 28, 2024 at 11:55 am

    Imagine getting executed so brutally that everyone is named after you.

  127. @TheFredBro

    October 28, 2024 at 1:07 pm

    That’s why Mew is called mew, and the card given out for the movie had hieroglyphics

  128. @Greek316

    October 28, 2024 at 2:36 pm

    I thought a house for a frog was called a “frouse”

  129. @axiss5840

    October 28, 2024 at 4:02 pm

    The fact we have to use terms like ‘unalived’ is so utterly depressing. We’re treating the entire population like children who can’t hear certain words, yet will use dumbed-down terms to still communicate the EXACT SAME CONCEPT.

  130. @Heliophobos

    October 28, 2024 at 4:12 pm

    As a native German speaker who is also fluent in English and conversational in Spanish, I always found the similarity between “embarrassed / embarazada” amusing. I didn’t know they were actually related until seeing this video.
    Then I remembered that the German word for “maternity clothing” is “Umstandskleidung” which consists of the words “Kleidung”, meaning “clothing” and “Umstand”, meaning “circumstance”. However, the word “Umstand” has the related adjective “umständlich” , which means “cumbersome”. Now it all makes sense!

  131. @christianpipes2110

    October 28, 2024 at 5:05 pm

    Right off the bat, he talks about old English! As an english speaker who speaks German, that made me geek out big time!

  132. @robertpetre9378

    October 28, 2024 at 7:14 pm

    Magical sky Daddy 😅

  133. @dusty4502

    October 28, 2024 at 8:57 pm

    So weird the great vowel shift came up because that’s initially what I thought of when I first started watching this

  134. @dimmingstar

    October 28, 2024 at 9:14 pm

    i was surprised to see so many other appreciators of linguistics and etymology here — hello my people! <3 it's such an underrated field still, when it shouldn't be because it's so fascinating. i hope this Q&A piques more interest in it :')

  135. @VirtualRedbarnRadio-dz7fi

    October 28, 2024 at 9:43 pm

    You are boring to listen to.

  136. @shiraleeana

    October 28, 2024 at 10:30 pm

    How very dare you!

  137. @paulomartins1008

    October 28, 2024 at 10:37 pm

    Only gigachads enunciate questions as quest-eons.

  138. @masterpage69420

    October 28, 2024 at 11:47 pm

    I’ve noticed a lot of linguists and etymologists have speech impediments, including Dr Roberts here. I’m not making fun of them, I just see it quite a lot which is ironic considering that phonetics and speech are such an intrinsic part of their field. Makes me wonder if they notice it in their own speech or not? Again, not trying to throw shade, I’m just making an observation.

  139. @docteryn3345

    October 29, 2024 at 3:34 am

    Dog was given to us by the gods

  140. @arwenwestrop5404

    October 29, 2024 at 4:28 am

    Oh how fascinating! Butan=buiten=outside in Dutch! And that become ‘but’ in English which means ‘setting something apart’ as in outside of the rest! Language is so totally fascinating, I love it!

  141. @erminiaseverino7974

    October 29, 2024 at 5:59 am

    as a uni lingustics student, this is exactly what we learn. i love it!

  142. @johndododoe1411

    October 29, 2024 at 6:43 am

    The English word “bear” isn’t that unique. it’s very similar to the Norse word “bjorn” for this strongest humanoid (shape) animal, and hence a name given to very strong people like Bjorn Ironside , Not sure if this was the episode claiming the word “bear” had no known origin .

  143. @zelllers

    October 29, 2024 at 10:08 am

    Ohhhh so finally so many pokemon names are making sense to me now

  144. @BeefIntoCake

    October 29, 2024 at 1:01 pm

    Explain the word”HONEYMOON”

  145. @nourkhaled2337

    October 29, 2024 at 1:35 pm

    13:09🤍🤍🤍🤍🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🇪🇬🇪🇬

  146. @insert_moniker

    October 29, 2024 at 4:13 pm

    Ngl…when he started discussing the word “but” I thought he meant “butt” so I had no idea what he was talking about until the end of the explanation.

  147. @liladanhernandez

    October 29, 2024 at 4:18 pm

    Bro said “what is YNs” 😭

  148. @mehtabullahanan8672

    October 29, 2024 at 6:36 pm

    Should’ve asked him about his opinion on skibidi, rizz and all other brainrot words.

  149. @jed2227

    October 29, 2024 at 8:23 pm

    Ok, the comment about how we don’t usually make up words out of thin air makes sense, but please explain “skibbidi” then.

  150. @aurora3655

    October 30, 2024 at 1:31 am

    Demure , “of maturity” ?

  151. @Jesterjones9073

    October 30, 2024 at 3:44 am

    Bro or Bruh were used liberally by my 13 year old daughter when she attended high school to speak to me! I found out that other mums kids were doing this too! 😂 thankfully it didn’t last too long…

  152. @umbraemilitos

    October 30, 2024 at 8:24 am

    What about Sakabambaspis?

  153. @c_danzu3186

    October 30, 2024 at 1:05 pm

    I love how in latin “caput” is “head” and in german “kaputt” is “broken”. Because yes, I am very kaputt in my caput.

  154. @hippetyhop8084

    October 30, 2024 at 5:01 pm

    Professor Snape explained “were-wulf” in the third Potter film, too, when he was a substitute teacher for Professor *Lupin* (!).
    Expecto like-button.

  155. @Jerry-p3v

    October 30, 2024 at 5:17 pm

    Before language there was heavy grunting and wild gesticulation 😂😂

  156. @jeryth057

    October 30, 2024 at 5:26 pm

    Did he say et sept instead of except?

  157. @scottabernethy100

    October 30, 2024 at 5:54 pm

    As a native Welsh (Celtic language) speaker, I’ve just had my mind blown 🤯. Nadder – n became adder, aka the common viper, which is the only native venomous snake in Britain. The word for snake/serpent in Welsh is neidr. I’m a bit of a language nerd and know how P-I-E works, but I didn’t see that one coming.

  158. @littledeathmark8991

    October 31, 2024 at 12:37 am

    The best part of him being a great linguist is the fact that he reads all the questions perfectly, with feelings regarding how they have been written.

    • @user-kb5py3hm2e

      October 31, 2024 at 4:51 pm

      Actually, he doesn’t appear to be up-to-date because the way he explained the origin of Proto-Indo-European has been debunked by a recent paper

  159. @soldierside365

    October 31, 2024 at 6:27 am

    Don’t some parts of the north of England like deepest darkest Yorkshire still use thee and thou?

  160. @robertelessar

    October 31, 2024 at 6:46 am

    Since “vater” means “father”, why were we surprised when it turned out Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker’s father?

  161. @omarrp14

    October 31, 2024 at 12:27 pm

    I wonder if through the advent of social media and media in general, if languages evolving more today than I did in the past.
    Either way I don’t like it. I’m kinda long for a 1984 style vocabulary minus the whole repression of certain ideas. Like we don’t need both the words, gigantic and humongous they mean the same thing.

  162. @AnymMusic

    October 31, 2024 at 1:37 pm

    8:25 ooooowh….. BUT….. I thought he talked about Butt the whole time. Like yeah I suppose “not connected” would apply to cheeks

    • @grasstastesbad

      October 31, 2024 at 2:30 pm

      i just left that exact comment lol

  163. @grasstastesbad

    October 31, 2024 at 2:30 pm

    8:36 i thought he was talking about butts all that time

  164. @brunolopes7311

    October 31, 2024 at 4:55 pm

    I wonder what is the origin of the word “OK”…

  165. @smartsmartie7142

    October 31, 2024 at 6:56 pm

    It’s funny how in so many languages people tried to avoid saying bear, in German it’s exactly the same as in English and in russian at some point people forgot the old word for bear because they used another one to refer to it

  166. @minoena

    October 31, 2024 at 8:12 pm

    13:18 what really fascinates me is the fact that animal noises are different in different languages. In English, we say ribbit when we talk about a frog. But in Japanese, they say kero kero.

  167. @Kundebeats

    October 31, 2024 at 9:13 pm

    In dutch ‘beer’ is the word for bear, so I always assumed relations between both words as being part of the germanic language family.

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Historian Angus Konstam joins WIRED to answer the internet’s burning questions about pirates. Where did the stereotypical pirate accent come from? What did pirates do for fun? Why do we associate parrots and eyepatches with pirates? Who’s the most famous non-fictional pirate in history? Is Jack Sparrow real? Did pirates use sunscreen? Answers to these questions and many more await on Pirate Support.

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