Podcast Episodes
Back to Search
Britain After Rome Withdraws: How Latin Loss Shaped Early English
Episode 80
Explore the collapse of Roman administration in Britain, the decline of Latin literacy, and how Celtic, Germanic, and monastic forces set the stage f…
6 days, 20 hours ago
School Etymology: From Scholē to Modern Classroom
Episode 79
In this episode we trace the word ‘school’ from its Greek root scholē meaning leisure and intellectual space, through Latin schola, Old English scōl,…
6 days, 20 hours ago
Silent K and GH: How 'Knight' Keeps Its Old English Ghost
Episode 78
Explore how the medieval word "knight" still bears silent letters that echo its Old English pronunciation. We trace the phonological shifts, orthogra…
6 days, 21 hours ago
From Hiccough to Holiday: Tracing English Through Orthography, Antiquarianism, and Culture
Episode 77
This episode follows the quirky spelling history of hiccough, explores William Camden’s antiquarian work that revived Anglo‑Saxon place names, and un…
6 days, 21 hours ago
From Foolish to Fond: The Curious Journey of an English Adjective
Episode 76
In this episode, Josh Linsk explores the semantic shift of the adjective 'fond' from its 12th‑century sense of foolish or doting to the affectionate …
6 days, 21 hours ago
French Loanwords and the Rhythm of English: How Stress Shifted Through History
Episode 75
We trace how French loanwords reshaped the stress system of English—from Norman conquest through Middle English to today—examining why certain syllab…
6 days, 21 hours ago
From Dice Roll to High Card: The Linguistic Journey of "Ace"
Episode 74
Explore how the Latin word for ‘one’ evolved from a dice roll in medieval England, through French card games and 18th‑century gambling, to become the…
6 days, 22 hours ago
Brummie Accents: Birmingham’s Dialectal Evolution From Saxon Roots to TikTok
Episode 73
Explore the Brummie accent—its non‑rhotic vowels, bottle shift and double negatives—and how industrial migration, Irish and German influence, and soc…
6 days, 22 hours ago
Kenning Kompounders: How Anglo‑Saxon Metaphors Shape Modern English
Episode 72
Explore the world of kennings—compact Old English metaphors that still live in our modern compounds—and discover how this ancient compounding logic h…
6 days, 22 hours ago
Medieval Wool and the Birth of English Vocabulary
Episode 71
Explore how thirteenth‑century England’s booming wool industry seeded a rich branch of vocabulary—from ‘staple’ to ‘levy’—that still echoes in modern…
6 days, 22 hours ago