Hello and welcome to the Sounds-Write podcast. I'm the host, Laura, and today I'm here with a mini episode. This is a new format, so do let us know if you'd like to hear more episodes like this one.
Today I'm going to be sharing with you three nuggets of language nerdiness. I can't take credit for the title of this podcast as it's a phrase that Tita, our head of e-learning and innovation came up with. So here we go.
Nugget number one:
Here's nugget number one. How many words do you think contain the spelling < wr > for the sound /r/? It's actually more common than you might think. And all these words like 'wrist' 'wreck' and 'write', for example, are all linked by one theme. They come from the Indo-European root word 'wer'. That's < wer > which means to turn or bend. Over time, the < e > dropped off and we were left with the < wr > spelling of /r/. If you think about these words, they all have something to do with twisting or distortion. So here are another few examples: 'writhe', 'wrestle', 'wrap' and 'wring'. It's not entirely clear where it came from originally. And similar root words can be found across various ancient languages. In Sanskrit, for example, 'vartate' means to turn around or roll. In Avestan, an ancient Iranian language, 'varet', meant to turn. And in Latin, 'vertere', meant to turn as well. As we know, English has a semi-opaque writing system, so we have lots of these strange spellings and many of them have ancient backstories just like this one.
Nugget number two:
Okay, on to nugget number two. What do the words 'punch', 'shampoo' and 'bungalow' have in common? These are all words with origins in India. These are just three of the many words of Hindi, Urdu and Sanskrit origin that have made their way into the English language. I was really surprised to learn that the word 'punch', as in the drink, comes from Hindi and Urdu. It actually comes from the word 'panch', which means five, because the drink was made with five ingredients, alcohol, sugar, lemon, water and tea. Another word that comes from Hindi is 'shampoo', derived from the word 'champo', which means to press. The word was brought to England by a Bengali businessman called Sake Dean Mahomed, who opened a spa in Brighton and offered champi treatments. And so from there, the word came into common use in English. And finally the word 'bungalow'. This is one that I think is quite well known for being of Indian origin. It's not just by chance that it sounds similar to the word 'Bengal'. 'Bangalo' means Bengali in Gujarati, a language spoken in India. The word was adopted by British invaders to mean house in the Bengali style. And the first buildings to be built in the UK and Australia and to be classified as bungalows was in the late 19th century. They were built with similar materials and style to Bengali houses using things like corrugated iron and straw.
Nugget number three:
So, nugget number three. Just when we thought the English language couldn't get any more confusing, we come to contranyms. This is a term I had never heard of before, but it is when one word has two opposite meanings. So the word 'before', for example, can mean referring to both the future and the past. So, here are two sentences where the word 'before' means two opposite things, and I'll repeat them afterwards because I know it's sometimes hard to listen to things and keep them in your head. So, sentence number one: a period of great uncertainty lies 'before' us. So 'before' refers to the future. And sentence number two: decades of research came 'before' the discovery, where 'before' refers to the past. So, here are the sentences again. Period of great uncertainty lies 'before' us, and decades of research came 'before' the discovery. Another example of this is the verb to 'leave', which can mean both to remove or to remain. So, for example, in the first sentence: the bus 'left' the car park at 10:00 a.m. 'Left' refers to the bus's departure from the car park. Whereas in the sentence: there were three buses 'left' in the car park, 'left' means that it remained in the car park. So the first sentence, it was departure, the bus 'left' the car park at 10:00 a.m., and the second sentence, it was remaining, there were three buses 'left' in the car park. So it can be these subtle differences in sentence structure and context that mean that native English speakers can quite easily differentiate between these opposite meanings of contranyms without even thinking about them. I mean, I'm not sure about any listeners, but I had never thought about this before, really. It's something that I do without even considering it. But it can obviously be really challenging for people who are learning English.
I hope you've enjoyed these nuggets of language nerdiness. I'll put the references that I've used for this information in the show notes so you can find out more. And if you've enjoyed the episode, please let me know and maybe I can turn this into a series. Bye for now.