Language

The origin of the hat’s name comes from the location of berries used to dye its felt

From Ashkenazi roots to German titles, the surname of Israel’s president carries centuries of meaning

Franz Xaver Mozart is known as ‘FX’ – because English speakers are baffled by his middle name

Authoritarian governments have pushed Farsi’s dominance – but 59 other languages still thrive

Enough! Just stop using ‘til when it should be till

Ski-slope bump or influential person? Two similar-sounding but unrelated words have merged

How a genuinely old dialect word became part of a made-up East Anglian pub game

The art of slipping away from a party without saying goodbye is known across the Channel as ‘leaving in the English style’

How a Greek word for sanctuary became one of the most contested terms in modern English

Despite its strong association with US sport and policing, the term ‘rookie’ has a complicated history

Some familiar words we use in everyday English carry surprising traces of Malay, a language spoken widely across south-east Asia

How biology, physics and geography came to define the structure and range of the human voice

It is the second most-spoken first language in the world, and opens doors across continents and careers – yet British schools still insist on teaching French

How perfect can crucial communications be within a hospital with a plethora of languages, dialects and communicative styles?

A set of documents provides a unique window into earlier forms of the English language

What triggers haplology – why do speakers omit whole syllables?

Small communities across Finland, Estonia and even Ukraine keep the Swedish language alive in unexpected corners of Europe

An examination of other languages from around the world shows us that ownership can be signalled in rather more complicated ways

The village is said to be the only place along the English east coast where an enemy navy could approach within a few hundred yards

The idea England ever spoke no languages other than English is a fantasy with no foundation in reality

Can an alignment of names and occupations ever have involved more than just simple coincidence?

Morphemes are the building blocks essential for the composition of words

Shootings and snakes won’t stop Nicholas Evans’s award-winning work documenting the world’s smaller languages

How 17th-century French pronunciation was taken across the Atlantic Ocean from northern and western France to North America

Where does the common name Wright come from? The answer has its roots in work

Our English orthography gives no assistance at all to help readers tell where the emphasis should be placed

The sport’s familiar – but often baffling – terminology has its origins in Anglo-Norman instructions, Old French numbers and Arabic palms

How many native English speakers would be entirely comfortable conducting a press conference in some language other than their own?

We invented algorithms to sort our words. Now the algorithms are teaching us how to speak

The word algorithm would appear at first sight to come into the same Arabic-loan category as algebra, and it does indeed have an origin in the Arabic language

The one French word my Mum knew was largesse, which can be translated into English as “generosity”. But why did she, and other country children of her generation?

Sandy Baltimore’s name has surprising links to Gaelic-speaking Ireland, colonial plantations and Caribbean migrations