In this post, I look at 70 words that Albanian inherited directly from Proto-Indo-European (PIE), the presumed ancestor of the Indo-European family of languages. The information comes from the IE-COR database—a database of cognates for 109 modern and 52 older Indo-European languages. I’ve written before about IE-COR. Database of Indo-European cognates – Language Miscellany IE-COR…… Continue reading Where did Albanian words come from?
Month: September 2025
The ex-Tory MP and the hyphen
A headline in today’s newspaper referred to an ‘Ex-Tory MP’. That person in question used to be an MP representing the Conservative (‘Tory’) Party. The placing of a hyphen in this phrase is unhelpful and could mislead. From the body of the article, it was clear that the person is no longer an MP, but…… Continue reading The ex-Tory MP and the hyphen
AI is making spam harder to spot
I get quite a lot of spam comments on my blogposts. Usually, the spam is easy to spot. Many of the spam comments just make generic statements, such as the following: Your blog post was exactly what I needed to read right now. It’s amazing how you always seem to know just what to say.…… Continue reading AI is making spam harder to spot
Wall chart in a Punjabi script
This Sunday, we visited Pollock’s Toy Museum, open as part of London’s annual Open House Festival. One thing catching my eye was a wall chart about letters, evidently a learning aid. The person in charge told me a visitor had recently informed her that it was in Punjabi. Checking Wikipedia when I got home, I…… Continue reading Wall chart in a Punjabi script
German in Europe
Today saw the publication of a book on the state of German in Europe. The book is Deutsch in Europa: Vielfalt, Sprachnormen und Sprachgebrauch, Vierter Bericht zur Lage der deutschen Sprache [‘German in Europe: Diversity, Language Standards and Language Use, 4th Report on the situation of the German Language’]. It is available in open access…… Continue reading German in Europe
Leipzig glossing rules
Books and papers on linguistics often contain examples in a foreign language. To aid understanding, examples typically provide both: an interlinear morpheme-by-morpheme gloss, giving information about the meanings and grammatical properties of individual words and parts of words. an idiomatic translation of the foreign language text. A useful set of standardised conventions for writing glosses…… Continue reading Leipzig glossing rules
New words on the Cam
The Cambridge Dictionary, the free online dictionary for learners produced by Cambridge University Press, says it has added 6,212 new words and phrases in the last 12 months. The following information is from an article at https://www.cambridge.org/news-and-insights/cambridge-dictionary-adds-skibidi-delulu-and-tradwife The new words and phrases include: skibidi. A word that can have different meanings such as cool or…… Continue reading New words on the Cam