Pylimitics

Throughout the entire history of humanity, it’s been possible in many places around the world to locate water by simply digging a deep enough hole. Getting the water up out of that hole, though, there’s the problem. But it was a problem that began to be solved at least 4,000 years ago when the “shadoof”… Continue reading

At present we shall present, as a present, the puzzling past and present of “present.”  The origin of the word “present” is not presently known for sure. It might have come from French, or it might have been formed all on its own in English. There was an Old French word “present,” but there was… Continue reading

It’s perfectly acceptable today to use contractions. In fact, throughout the history of English it’s usually been fine. But there was a time… Contractions go back at least as far as Old English, which included “nis” (ne is, meaning “is not”), naes (ne waes, meaning “was not”), nat (ne wat, meaning “does not know”), and… Continue reading

If you attend a classical music concert performed on “period instruments,” which are the types that were in use when the music was composed, you might see and hear a “clavichord.” It resembles a piano, which is a more recent version of the same thing; an instrument in which strings are played via keys. The… Continue reading

We can read English, which means that we can also read Middle English, although it takes quite a bit of getting used to. Reading Old English, though, can be just about impossible without a bunch of studying. For one thing, it’s “inflected,” which is what you call a language where the words change depending on… Continue reading