Cover image of Words for Granted - An etymology and linguistics podcast

Words for Granted - An etymology and linguistics podcast

Words for Granted is a podcast that looks at how words change over time. Host Ray Belli uses linguistic evolution as a way of understanding larger historical and cultural changes.

Ranked #1

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Episode 61: International Names of Germany

Episode 61: International Names of Germany

There are more etymologically different names for Germany than there are for any other European country. This is due to ... Read more

17 Dec 2018

30mins

Ranked #2

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Episode 54: Philosophy

Episode 54: Philosophy

In the pre-modern world, philosophy referred to all forms of intellectual knowledge. Today, the discipline of philosophy... Read more

2 Sep 2018

14mins

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Ranked #3

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Episode 3: Weird

Episode 3: Weird

Today's episode looks at the Old English sense of the word wyrd. Originally, it wasn’t an adjective, but a noun that’s c... Read more

26 Jun 2016

17mins

Ranked #4

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Episode 4 (Bonus Episode): Polysemous Words

Episode 4 (Bonus Episode): Polysemous Words

This episode explores polysemy, the phenomenon by which a single word can have multiple meanings. Why do we use the word... Read more

8 Jul 2016

17mins

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Ranked #5

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Episode 30: Days of the Week (General Overview)

Episode 30: Days of the Week (General Overview)

The days of the week are part of the core vocabulary of any language. In English, their etymologies are rooted in ancien... Read more

5 Jul 2017

22mins

Ranked #6

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Episode 5: Meat

Episode 5: Meat

The word ‘meat’ once referred to all forms of solid food, not just animal flesh. In today's episode, we explore the ambi... Read more

23 Jul 2016

21mins

Ranked #7

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Episode 78: Bohemian

Episode 78: Bohemian

As a common noun, ‘bohemian’ describes an artistic, carefree lifestyle usually marked by poverty and unorthodoxy. The wo... Read more

17 Nov 2019

25mins

Ranked #8

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Episode 46: God (and His Biblical Names)

Episode 46: God (and His Biblical Names)

The word ‘God’ is not derived from the original Biblical texts. Rather, it’s a term from Germanic paganism that was adap... Read more

24 Apr 2018

29mins

Ranked #9

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Episode 77: Gothic

Episode 77: Gothic

As someone who came of age during the late 90’s, my first encounter with the word ‘gothic’ was through alternative music... Read more

20 Oct 2019

22mins

Ranked #10

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Episode 67: The American Pronunciation of R (Rhoticity)

Episode 67: The American Pronunciation of R (Rhoticity)

One of the most defining characteristics of the Standard American English accent is its ‘rhoticity,’ or the pronunciatio... Read more

31 Mar 2019

23mins

Ranked #11

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Episode 69: OK

Episode 69: OK

‘OK’ is the most spoken and most written word in the entire world. It's such a fundamental part of modern communication ... Read more

5 May 2019

23mins

Ranked #12

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Episode 80: Cannibal

Episode 80: Cannibal

The word ‘cannibal’ comes to us by way of a familiar historical figure: Christopher Columbus. The word is ultimately a H... Read more

31 Dec 2019

30mins

Ranked #13

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Episode 31: Monday/Tuesday

Episode 31: Monday/Tuesday

In today's episode, we begin our investigation of the etymologies of each day of the week. Both Monday and Tuesday are u... Read more

14 Jul 2017

18mins

Ranked #14

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Episode 32: Wednesday

Episode 32: Wednesday

In Old English, the word for Wednesday was Wodnesdaeg, which literally meant ‘Woden's day.’ It comes from a loan transla... Read more

2 Aug 2017

28mins

Ranked #15

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Episode 43: Demon

Episode 43: Demon

Greek gods. Golden Age heroes. Our conscience. Guardian angels. Evil spirits. All of these things and more were once ass... Read more

20 Feb 2018

32mins

Ranked #16

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Episode 79: Philistine

Episode 79: Philistine

In common usage, a ‘philistine’ is a derogatory term for an anti-intellectual materialist. The word derives from the anc... Read more

14 Dec 2019

25mins

Ranked #17

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Episode 76: Wife

Episode 76: Wife

In Old English, the word ‘wife’ meant woman. In fact, the word ‘woman’ derives from the word wife! Today's episode is no... Read more

1 Sep 2019

21mins

Ranked #18

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Episode 81: Idioms (General Overview)

Episode 81: Idioms (General Overview)

This episode begins a new series on the etymology of English idioms. In this general overview of idioms, we discuss why ... Read more

13 Jan 2020

22mins

Ranked #19

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Episode 6: Comfort

Episode 6: Comfort

The word ‘comfort’ once described the spiritual consolation given by God to an individual. Today, it describes commercia... Read more

5 Aug 2016

18mins

Ranked #20

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Episode 18: Culture

Episode 18: Culture

According to literary critic Raymond Williams, culture is ‘one of two or three most complicated words in the English lan... Read more

4 Jan 2017

30mins

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