A “soliton” is a special kind of wave. While it appears here and there in publications devoted to quantum physics — because it has to do with quantum or quasiparticle propagation — the word also has to do with other kinds of waves, even the traditional kind you see at the beach. “Soliton” is derived… Continue reading

Everybody knows what a “box” is, right? Yup, it’s a type of small evergreen shrub used ornamentally. The word goes back to Old English, where its first known use is from the early 900s in Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici. The citation is “Of ðere gemear~codan æfsan to ðon readan slo..of ðam treowe to ðere wican… Continue reading

“Abligurition” is an impressively obscure word, so rare that you won’t even find it in most dictionaries. Even in the dictionaries where it does appear (well, okay, the one dictionary where it seems to appear), it’s called obsolete. This is certainly unjustified; after all, even if the word itself is unfamiliar to most people, the… Continue reading

Just to show that it isn’t just obscure words that have interesting stories… Back in the 900s if you asked someone for “bread” in the British Isles, you’d either get a random piece of some kind of food or a blank stare. The word “bread” was rarely used at that time, and didn’t mean what… Continue reading

If you were to delve into ancient books and texts you might fairly often run across a stylistic quirk in the way they were laid out. Choosing artistic presentation over legibility, many old manuscripts would print alternate lines of text in opposite directions. That is, the first line might start at the left and proceed… Continue reading

What people in the US call “molasses” is called “treacle” in England; it’s the same stuff. The word “treacle”, though, has the more interesting history. The original form of the word was “triacle,” and at first it mean an antidote to a snake bite. It came from the Greek word “theriake,” which also meant an… Continue reading

If you’re anything like Shakespeare, (and come on, you know you are!) you occasionally have the need to fling an epithet at someone. And here’s a good one. Shakespeare used it in As You Like It. When you use it, you’re calling someone immoral, vile, heinous, highly criminal, very wicked. The word is somewhat obscure,… Continue reading

The song I’ve Been Working on the Railroad includes something unusual. The first two lines are: “I’ve been workin’ on the railroad,All the livelong day…” “Livelong“? As far as I can recall, that song is the only place I’ve ever seen that word appear. What does that mean, and where did it come from?  It… Continue reading

It’s easy to see that the way we use language changes over time. Dictionaries are one way to measure this, particularly over the long term. Compare a dictionary from a century ago to a modern version and you can see changes in meanings of words as well as changes in the words that are used… Continue reading