The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins

Overview

Discover the fascinating stories behind everyday words and how their evolution reveals insights about human history, technology, and culture.

Course No. 2140

From ancient Germanic roots to modern cyber-communications, English has constantly evolved by borrowing from other languages and inventing new terms. Professor Curzan approaches words like an archaeologist, uncovering their hidden histories and meanings.

This 36-lecture course will:

• Trace the journey of words from birth to death

• Explore how English borrowed from Celtic, Norse, French, Latin and world languages

• Examine regional dialects and global varieties of English

• Reveal how dictionaries are created and words are selected

• Investigate slang, taboo words, and the language of politics, war, and love

Video Lectures

1. Winning Words, Banished Words (32 min)

2. The Life of a Word, from Birth to Death (31 min)

• The Human Hands behind Dictionaries (30 min)

4. Treasure Houses, Theft, and Traps (31 min)

• Yarn and Clues-New Word Meanings (31 min)

• Smog, Mob, Bling-New Words (31 min)

7. “Often” versus “Offen” -Pronunciation (30 min)

• Fighting over Zippers (30 min)

• Opening the Early English Word-Hoard (30 min)

• Safe and Sound-The French Invasion (30 min)

11. Magnifical Dexterity-Latin and Learning (28 min)

12. Chutzpah to Pajamas-World Borrowings (30 min)

13. The Pop/Soda/Coke Divide (30 min)

14. Maths, Wombats, and Les Bluejeans (33 min)

• Foot and Pedestrian-Word Cousins (30 min)

• Desultory Somersaults-Latin Roots (30 min)

17. Analogous Prologues-Greek Roots (32 min)

18. The Tough Stuff of English Spelling (30 min)

19. The b in Debt-Meddling in Spelling (31 min)

20. Of Mice, Men, and Y’All (31 min)

21. I’m Good … Or Am I Well? (29 min)

22. How Snuck Sneaked In (30 min)

23. Um, Well, Like, You Know (32 min)

24. Wicked Cool-The Irreverence of Slang (29 min)

25. Boy Toys and Bad Eggs-Slangy Wordplay (32 min)

• Spinster, Bachelor, Guy, Dude (31 min)

27. Firefighters and Freshpersons (30 min)

28. A Slam Dunk-The Language of Sports (30 min)

29. Fooling Around-The Language of Love (30 min)

30. Gung Ho-The Language of War (31 min)

31. Filibustering-The Language of Politics (29 min)

32. LOL-The Language of the Internet (32 min)

33. #$@%!-Forbidden Words (31 min)

• Couldn’t (or Could) Care Less (30 min)

35. Musquirt and Other Lexical Gaps (32 min)

36. Playing Fast and Loose with Words (34 min)