ProtoIndoEuropean – Content Catnip

Ancient Word of the Day: Snu

Ceci nest pas un nez - This is not a nose Rene Magritte

The smell sensing organ in animals is often described as a Snout and when someone is annoyed with you, you may get snubbed by them. Humans since prehistoric times have been sniffing, snuffling, snorting and sneezing and when we are blocked up, we have a lot of snot. Philosopher’s lamp, 1936 Rene Magritte These nasalContinue reading “Ancient Word of the Day: Snu”

Ancient Word of the Day: Crudelis

Crudelis: Latin To delight in blood and gore. Over time this word came to mean being vicious and cruel The word Crudelis comes from an even older word in Proto-Indo-European, simply Kru which means blood, gore and viscera. Kru words show up in the English language a lot in association with bloody and awful deaths.Continue reading “Ancient Word of the Day: Crudelis”

Ancient Word of the Day: Khemeia

Alchemy Welcome to the dizzying world of alchemy and the philosopher's stone in medieval times

Khemeia: The extraction of juices for medicine, from Ancient Greek Related to the word Khumos meaning plant juice. This word khemeia travelled from Greece to the Medieval Arabic world where it came to mean al-khemeia or alchemy. The goal of alchemists was to bring a mystical fifth element known as the ‘quintessence’ from the divineContinue reading “Ancient Word of the Day: Khemeia”

Ancient Word of the Day: Emacitus

Hypothetical Banks Notes from Hungary Feature Woodland Animals

Emacitus: The desire to buy things from Latin. The English version of this word ‘Emacity’ fell out of use at the beginning of the 20th Century. This was replaced by less beautiful terms to describe the same thing, such as shopaholic, consumerism and retail therapy. Emacitus derives from the even older Proto-Indo-European word Em YouContinue reading “Ancient Word of the Day: Emacitus”

Ancient Word of the Day: Dam

Dam: To Tame or domesticate from Proto-Indo-European Other words that originate from Dam are: Domesticate: Hunter gatherer tribes needed to be able to trust dogs to watch out for bears, wolves and other carnivores. They had to be safe to keep around children and become domesticated. Tame: The first wolves were domesticated and made tameContinue reading “Ancient Word of the Day: Dam”

Ancient Word of the Day: Bhleu

Before Time Began: Latin Quotes on Ancient Sundials

Bhleu: ‘To Blow or to swell’ from Proto-Indo-European Life flows and leaves, wind, clouds, fire and storms bhleu/blow. From this ancient word comes many other beautiful nature words we know and love today, such as: Blossoms Bulbs Bellows Blast Bleat Belly Bells Ball Balloon Bladder Blót, an ancient Norse rite of blood sacrifice, also derivedContinue reading “Ancient Word of the Day: Bhleu”

Ancient Word of the Day: An

An: ‘To breath’ from Proto-Indo-European If you empty your lungs you make an AHHHH sound on the exhale. The Proto-Indo-European word for this onomatopoeic sound is An. The word an remains the same in Anglo-Saxon, Old English, Icelandic, Swedish and Dutch. The ancient sound of an even exists within the word Human and Anmal. AfterContinue reading “Ancient Word of the Day: An”