Dr Danny Bate
@dannybate.bsky.social
"That etymology guy". Linguist, broadcaster (formerly on Czech Radio), writer, researcher, language fanatic. Get 'Why Q Needs U' here: https://geni.us/WhyQNeedsU. Host of ALILI podcast. Website: https://dannybate.com/. Inquiries: [email protected]
Pinned
Dr Danny Bate
@dannybate.bsky.social
· Oct 15
Why does Q always need a U? A quirky guide to the alphabet
The letter A was once an ox’s head and O was an eye — you’ll never look at a keyboard the same way after reading Danny Bate’s fascinating linguistic history
www.thetimes.com
The Times, specifically @jamesmcconnachie.bsky.social, has in this joyful review kindly bestowed on my book Britain's highest description: "lovely"
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
Reposted by Dr Danny Bate
Computer, please summarize everything PG Wodehouse ever wrote in ten seconds
rich dudes got freakier after butlers fell out of fashion, like say what you will about having domestic servants but clearly it was some sort of moderating force on old rich dudes having a fancy man follow you around saying shit like "oh dear sir, that wouldn't be very becoming"
November 29, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Computer, please summarize everything PG Wodehouse ever wrote in ten seconds
Cheapside in rainy London today – originally, nothing to do with being inexpensive. The name derives instead from the older meaning of 'cheap', being a street for markets and trade (in Old English: ċēap).
This makes it related to various European words for buying, like Dutch kopen and Czech koupit.
This makes it related to various European words for buying, like Dutch kopen and Czech koupit.
November 29, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Cheapside in rainy London today – originally, nothing to do with being inexpensive. The name derives instead from the older meaning of 'cheap', being a street for markets and trade (in Old English: ċēap).
This makes it related to various European words for buying, like Dutch kopen and Czech koupit.
This makes it related to various European words for buying, like Dutch kopen and Czech koupit.
Reposted by Dr Danny Bate
Story time! The star Betelgeuse gets its name from Arabic يد الجوزاء <Yad al-Jawzāʾ>: "Hand of Orion" (kind of, see below). In the 1200s this was misread as بد الجوزاء <Bad al-Jawzāʾ>, and was transliterated into Latin as "Bedalgeuze."
🧵 1/10
🧵 1/10
November 28, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Story time! The star Betelgeuse gets its name from Arabic يد الجوزاء <Yad al-Jawzāʾ>: "Hand of Orion" (kind of, see below). In the 1200s this was misread as بد الجوزاء <Bad al-Jawzāʾ>, and was transliterated into Latin as "Bedalgeuze."
🧵 1/10
🧵 1/10
A joyous reunion last night between a book, the person who wrote it, and the first person to read it.
November 29, 2025 at 8:53 AM
A joyous reunion last night between a book, the person who wrote it, and the first person to read it.
Reposted by Dr Danny Bate
We still have in Spanish “cordobán” to refer to a think, malleable kind of leather, usually taken from goats, and “cordobanero/a” for the artisan working with it. I love the way languages “tame” exotic words turning their formants into known elements, as in “cord-wain”… a wain made of cords? 😂
November 28, 2025 at 1:24 PM
We still have in Spanish “cordobán” to refer to a think, malleable kind of leather, usually taken from goats, and “cordobanero/a” for the artisan working with it. I love the way languages “tame” exotic words turning their formants into known elements, as in “cord-wain”… a wain made of cords? 😂
Reposted by Dr Danny Bate
Corduwener, in many different spellings, remains a fairly common family name in the Netherlands. (Not that most people would know the etymology.)
November 28, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Corduwener, in many different spellings, remains a fairly common family name in the Netherlands. (Not that most people would know the etymology.)
Spotted on this morning's walk: 'cordwainer', a shoemaker or worker with cordwain leather. You might not guess from its appearance that 'cordwain' has Mediterranean origins – the word comes from the Spanish city of Córdoba.
November 28, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Spotted on this morning's walk: 'cordwainer', a shoemaker or worker with cordwain leather. You might not guess from its appearance that 'cordwain' has Mediterranean origins – the word comes from the Spanish city of Córdoba.
Some linguistic love from Switzerland for the e-dition of 'Why Q Needs U' this morning, which, as it happens, is on offer in the UK today...
www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Needs-hi...
www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Needs-hi...
November 27, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Some linguistic love from Switzerland for the e-dition of 'Why Q Needs U' this morning, which, as it happens, is on offer in the UK today...
www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Needs-hi...
www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Needs-hi...
Reposted by Dr Danny Bate
I feel you, ancient Mongolian ceramic hedgehog. I feel you.
November 26, 2025 at 10:17 AM
I feel you, ancient Mongolian ceramic hedgehog. I feel you.
Happy World Linguistics Day from Edinburgh, UK, specifically from the University of Edinburgh's excellent and lovely linguistics department!
Happy World Linguistics Day from Montreal, Canada!
(I wonder how many different places we can get world linguistics day wishes from this year!)
(I wonder how many different places we can get world linguistics day wishes from this year!)
Happy World Linguistics Day from Melbourne, Australia!
November 26, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Happy World Linguistics Day from Edinburgh, UK, specifically from the University of Edinburgh's excellent and lovely linguistics department!
Reposted by Dr Danny Bate
Happy World Linguistics Day from Montreal, Canada!
(I wonder how many different places we can get world linguistics day wishes from this year!)
(I wonder how many different places we can get world linguistics day wishes from this year!)
Happy World Linguistics Day from Melbourne, Australia!
November 26, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Happy World Linguistics Day from Montreal, Canada!
(I wonder how many different places we can get world linguistics day wishes from this year!)
(I wonder how many different places we can get world linguistics day wishes from this year!)
Reposted by Dr Danny Bate
If our recent interview with @dannybate.bsky.social about Proto-Indo-European got you excited about reconstructing languages, there's more!
Check out this episode from the archives on more proto-languages and what we can and cannot know about ancient peoples from comparing modern languages:
Check out this episode from the archives on more proto-languages and what we can and cannot know about ancient peoples from comparing modern languages:
45: Tracing languages back before recorded history
Lingthusiasm Episode 45: Tracing languages back before recorded history
Language is much older than writing. But audio and visual cues from sounds and signs don’t leave physical traces the way writi...
lingthusiasm.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:34 PM
If our recent interview with @dannybate.bsky.social about Proto-Indo-European got you excited about reconstructing languages, there's more!
Check out this episode from the archives on more proto-languages and what we can and cannot know about ancient peoples from comparing modern languages:
Check out this episode from the archives on more proto-languages and what we can and cannot know about ancient peoples from comparing modern languages:
Just descended from the top of North Berwick Law, which gave me the chance (eagerly seized) to tell my wife about the word 'law' – no relation to the legal word, but rather from Old English hlǣw 'mound'. That makes it an English/Scots word with a 'lost H', as discussed in a recent article...
November 25, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Just descended from the top of North Berwick Law, which gave me the chance (eagerly seized) to tell my wife about the word 'law' – no relation to the legal word, but rather from Old English hlǣw 'mound'. That makes it an English/Scots word with a 'lost H', as discussed in a recent article...
Reposted by Dr Danny Bate
A real cris de couer from @dannybate.bsky.social
I reckon if @susiedent.com told us to spell realise as realize, we might listen
I reckon if @susiedent.com told us to spell realise as realize, we might listen
November 25, 2025 at 2:09 PM
A real cris de couer from @dannybate.bsky.social
I reckon if @susiedent.com told us to spell realise as realize, we might listen
I reckon if @susiedent.com told us to spell realise as realize, we might listen
Reposted by Dr Danny Bate
![R. H. Bing (October 20, 1914 – April 28, 1986)[1] was an American mathematician who worked mainly in the areas of geometric topology and continuum theory.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cyyd366g3hrxp5rynixm2mm3/bafkreid62wy3dekb2kzbisjfdlimlb35j4rlgew5iof7vi32byfszmg26a@jpeg)
![Bing's father was named Rupert Henry, but Bing's mother thought that "Rupert Henry" was too British for Texas. Thus she compromised by abbreviating it to R. H.[5] Consequently, R. H. does not stand for a first or middle name.
When Bing was applying for a visa, he was requested not to use initials. He explained that his name was really "R-only H-only Bing", and ended up receiving a visa made out to "Ronly Honly Bing".](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cyyd366g3hrxp5rynixm2mm3/bafkreigmfj53q4uy33spga2bxdkllqm3ag5sffovg5g7ddmu3vqzkb6k24@jpeg)
Reposted by Dr Danny Bate
My talk about learning Latvian as a native speaker of English - discussed: why streets have no beginnings in English, the mysteries of the letter "ķ", is Latvian very literal or is English just weird, and much else...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XQi...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XQi...
Learning Latvian as a native English-speaker - Will Mawhood
YouTube video by Valodu māja - House of Languages
www.youtube.com
November 21, 2025 at 9:11 PM
My talk about learning Latvian as a native speaker of English - discussed: why streets have no beginnings in English, the mysteries of the letter "ķ", is Latvian very literal or is English just weird, and much else...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XQi...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XQi...
Episode 42 of ALILI is a return to the Germanic languages, but with a new guest: Old Norse specialist Jackson Crawford (@norsebysw.bsky.social) of YouTube fame introduces the language and discusses his translations of the Poetic Edda.
A great chat, freely available here:
pod.link/1703401848/e...
A great chat, freely available here:
pod.link/1703401848/e...
November 24, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Episode 42 of ALILI is a return to the Germanic languages, but with a new guest: Old Norse specialist Jackson Crawford (@norsebysw.bsky.social) of YouTube fame introduces the language and discusses his translations of the Poetic Edda.
A great chat, freely available here:
pod.link/1703401848/e...
A great chat, freely available here:
pod.link/1703401848/e...
Reposted by Dr Danny Bate
Today I'm the guest on @dannybate.bsky.social 's podcast "A language I love is..." talking about Old Norse! open.spotify.com/episode/7GoR...
Old Norse and Jackson Crawford
open.spotify.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Today I'm the guest on @dannybate.bsky.social 's podcast "A language I love is..." talking about Old Norse! open.spotify.com/episode/7GoR...
Reposted by Dr Danny Bate
@dannybate.bsky.social I really, really enjoyed “Why Q Needs You”. Very entertaining and enlightening, and it’s now got me spotting things - like how my wife rhymes “again” with “train” but I say “agen”. (This one arose from a hymn in church this morning!)
November 23, 2025 at 1:19 PM
@dannybate.bsky.social I really, really enjoyed “Why Q Needs You”. Very entertaining and enlightening, and it’s now got me spotting things - like how my wife rhymes “again” with “train” but I say “agen”. (This one arose from a hymn in church this morning!)
A wildcard contender in the 'what does GH in English spelling stand for?' game.
November 23, 2025 at 1:15 PM
A wildcard contender in the 'what does GH in English spelling stand for?' game.
The best books of 2025
Gladiators and dictators, wolves and Beatles feature in our list this year
www.economist.com
November 22, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Reposted by Dr Danny Bate
In honour of our recent crossover episode with @dannybate.bsky.social of the A Language I Love Is.. podcast, tell us about a language that you love!
(Or several languages you love, I know it's hard to pick!)
(Or several languages you love, I know it's hard to pick!)
November 22, 2025 at 4:55 PM
In honour of our recent crossover episode with @dannybate.bsky.social of the A Language I Love Is.. podcast, tell us about a language that you love!
(Or several languages you love, I know it's hard to pick!)
(Or several languages you love, I know it's hard to pick!)
Reposted by Dr Danny Bate
Fascinating topic aired, here, by real linguists @gretchenmcc.bsky.social @dannybate.bsky.social
How are we still making discoveries about the 5000-year-old ancestor to English, Latin, Czech, Hindi and many other languages?
In our latest episode we get enthusiastic about figuring out Proto-Indo-European with @dannybate.bsky.social!
In our latest episode we get enthusiastic about figuring out Proto-Indo-European with @dannybate.bsky.social!
110: The history of the history of Indo-European - Interview with Danny Bate
Before there was English, or Latin, or Czech, or Hindi, there was a language that they all have in common, which we call Proto-Indo-European. Linguists have long been fascinated by the quest to get a
soundcloud.com
November 22, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Fascinating topic aired, here, by real linguists @gretchenmcc.bsky.social @dannybate.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr Danny Bate
Almost a year now since I received this absolutely classic burn from the Canadian government.
November 21, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Almost a year now since I received this absolutely classic burn from the Canadian government.
Leeds has made my day (as Leeds tends to), with twenty-two copies of 'Why Q Needs U' stocked and signed in their welcoming Waterstones – a personal record!
November 21, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Leeds has made my day (as Leeds tends to), with twenty-two copies of 'Why Q Needs U' stocked and signed in their welcoming Waterstones – a personal record!