Tag: language and dialect
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The High Ones
The Brigantes of northern England and the Brigantium of A Coruña share a name. A data history of the Celtic word for ‘high’, from -briga hillforts to burg, borough and Berg, and what it says about a Galicia–Yorkshire connection.
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How a cheesy joke from the 1830s became the most widely spoken word in the world.
OK is thought to be the most widely recognized word on the planet. We use it to communicate with each other, as well as our technology. But it actually started out as a language fad in the 1830’s of abbreviating words incorrectly. Young intellectuals in Boston came up with several of these abbreviations, including “KC”…
