I saw this on Rachel Maddow’s show Friday night - An Etymologist's View Of The World. It’s a map anyone can recognize, but the names of cities and countries have been translated to their literal meaning in ancestral languages. Hang on a minute! I’m trying to tell you that this is as much fun as a mayonnaise jar full of critters. If you do nothing else today, click the etymology link.
WTF is an etymology? Merriam-Webster says:
1. The history of a linguistic form (as a word) shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found, by tracing its transmission from one language to another, by analyzing it into its component parts, by identifying its cognates in other languages, or by tracing it and its cognates to a common ancestral form in an ancestral language.
On the etymologist’s map, I found out that Chicago means Stink Onion, and Cancun looks like I Don’t Understand You. New York is fun - New Wild Boar Village. Stop playing! I love it.
Posts
1 comment:
That's way cool. I see we live in the Land of the Home Ruler, which sounds about right. Hah.
Post a Comment