linguistics
A Brief History of the Letter 'X,' From Algebra to X-Mas to Elon Musk
A math historian explores how "x" came to stand in for an unknown quantity
Dictionary.com Adds More Than 300 New Words
Additions like “digital nomad,” “anti-fat” and “liminal space” reflect the dynamic nature of the English language
Three Pioneering Scholars Who Died This Year
They believed that the stories of marginalized communities were worth chronicling
'Goblin Mode' Is Oxford's 2022 Word of the Year
The term describes behavior that's "unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly or greedy"
'Gaslighting' Is Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year
Searches for the term, defined as the "practice of grossly misleading someone," skyrocketed in 2022
Two Hundred Years Ago, the Rosetta Stone Unlocked the Secrets of Ancient Egypt
French scholar Jean-François Champollion announced his decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs on September 27, 1822
Have Scholars Finally Deciphered a Mysterious Ancient Script?
Linear Elamite, a writing system used in what is now Iran, may reveal the secrets of a little-known kingdom bordering Sumer
Why Hitler and Stalin Hated Esperanto, the 135-Year-Old Language of Peace
Jewish doctor L.L. Zamenhof created Esperanto as a way for diverse groups to easily communicate
Where Did the Ancient Etruscans Come From?
A new DNA analysis suggests the enigmatic civilization was native to the Italian Peninsula
What Secrets Does This 1,800-Year-Old Carved Stone Hold?
The Tuxtla Statuette illuminates an endangered Latin American culture
Runes Found on Seventh-Century Cow Bone Could Change Slavic History
The Germanic writing suggests Slavs used an alphabet more than 200 years earlier than previously believed
Before He Wrote a Thesaurus, Roget Had to Escape Napoleon's Dragnet
At the dawn of the 19th century, the young Brit got caught in an international crisis while touring Europe
Who Invented the Alphabet?
New scholarship points to a paradox of historic scope: Our writing system was devised by people who couldn’t read
Father Reginald Foster Used Latin to Bring History Into the Present
Who speaks Latin these days? A surprisingly large number of people, thanks to the late friar, who died on Christmas Day at 81
How the Alphabet Got Its Order, Malcolm X and Other New Books to Read
These five October releases may have been lost in the news cycle
How 'Social Distancing' Can Get Lost in Translation
Governments around the world grapple with how to deliver important guidelines on minimizing the spread of COVID-19
The Meanings Behind Words for Emotions Aren't Universal, Study Finds
Certain emotions may be universal. But the way humans describe their feelings, it seems, is not
If a Moon Has a Moon, Is Its Moon Called a Moonmoon?
A new study suggests it's possible some moons could have moons and the internet wants to give them a name—but scientists have yet to actually find one
"OK," "Sheeple" Says Scrabble, Which Added 300 New Words to Official Dictionary
“For a living language, the only constant is change,” says Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for Merriam-Webster
Artificial Intelligence Can Now Decipher Medieval Graffiti (Cat Sketches and All)
Researchers sought to decipher the 11th-century graffiti adorning the walls of St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Kiev
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