Bonus Episode 5: Odds and Ends

In this bonus episode we explore a few odds and ends which didn’t make into the earlier episodes. Β  We examine the Old English words related to knowledge and wisdom. Β And we also look at the original terms for the fingers.

4 thoughts on “Bonus Episode 5: Odds and Ends

  1. A friend alerted me to your podcast about a month ago and I find it absolutely fascinating. More importantly, I’ve become a patron on Patreon.

    This episode on knowledge and wisdom was enlightening and reminded me of something when I studied Russian years ago. The vid/ved root also made its way east, as did the root med meaning honey so that a medved or bear is something that “knows honey”. And from that we also get the family name Medvedev.

    • Thanks for the interesting etymology. I assume that it is also the source of the surname ‘Medved’ as well? And thanks for supporting the podcast!

      • Yes, Medved has the same etymology.

        Vedat’ (Π²Π΅Π΄Π°Ρ‚ΡŒ) is a kind of archaic synonym of znat’ (Π·Π½Π°Ρ‚ΡŒ, to know), wich is actually cognate to the same PIE root *Η΅neh₃-. So we see the very same substitution process in Russian! All derivative terms of Π²Π΅Π΄Π°Ρ‚ΡŒ also feel outdated or rare: nevedenie (Π½Π΅Π²Π΅Π΄Π΅Π½ΠΈΠ΅, ignorance), nevedomyj (Π½Π΅Π²Π΅Π΄ΠΎΠΌΡ‹ΠΉ, unknown), ved’ma (вСдьма, a witch), etc.

        However, the other derivative root from ved- is vest’ (Π²Π΅ΡΡ‚ΡŒ, a piece of news) is widespread in modern Russian as it produces words like izvestnyj (извСстный, known), neizvestnyj (нСизвСстный, unknown), povestka (повСстка, subpoena), etc. Sometimes it works as a substitution to vedat’ instead of znat’. For example, neVEDomyj (Π½Π΅Π²Π΅Π΄ΠΎΠΌΡ‹ΠΉ) is substituted with neizVESTnyj (нСизвСстный), while neznakomyj (Π½Π΅Π·Π½Π°ΠΊΠΎΠΌΡ‹ΠΉ derivative ΠΎf znat’) has a more specific meaning “unfamiliar”.

        Also, the original meaning of the root still prevails: to see is videt’ (Π²ΠΈΠ΄Π΅Ρ‚ΡŒ), an apparition is videnie (видС́ниС), vision (meaning “a look into future”) is videnie (ви́дСниС), visible/apparent is vidimyj (Π²ΠΈΠ΄ΠΈΠΌΡ‹ΠΉ) – the list is quite long.

  2. This bonus episode was very interesting – I was waiting for you to mention “cognate” as a Latin cognate word for “know,” but alas, to no avail. Please allow me to supplement your brilliant podcast with this extraneous tidbit.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.