Etymoleon - Word History, the etymology podcast.

This episode is all about size, tracing the origins of words related to 'bigness' such as massive, monumental, enormous and gigantic. Discover how gargantuan and Brobdingnagian have literary beginning...

18 Maj 202515min

This time we're tracing the origins of colour names and the terms and phrases linked to them. Learn how conditions like grapheme-colour synesthesia, where people associate letters or numbers with colo...

11 Maj 202516min

This episode uncovers supposed origins of well-known superstitions, along with the histories of the words tied to them. One story suggests the tradition of hanging a horseshoe above a door for good lu...

4 Maj 202515min

This time, we're taking a deep-fried dive into the origins of words tied to fish and chips, the beloved British dish dating back to the 19th century. Discover how 'fish' follows the same linguistic pa...

27 Apr 202528min

This episode reveals the etymology behind art-related terms, tracing words like draw, sketch, mural, canvas and sepia to their origins. Discover how 'canvas' shares an etymology with a drug, how 'past...

13 Apr 202523min

This episode traces the origins of names from classic novels and theatre plays, uncovering the stories behind characters and their creators. You may not recognise the name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, bu...

6 Apr 202514min

This episode traces the origins of animal names, from the orangutan, whose name has nothing to do with its fur colour, to the pangolin, named for its ability to curl into a ball. Discover the etymolog...

30 Mars 202515min

This time we're tracing the origins of money-related terms, uncovering their connections to history. Learn how the word dollar links back to a Czech town and the alternative names once considered for ...

23 Mars 202516min