This simple word might come in handy when you are desperate enough to resort to three letter words in Scrabble. It comes from Latin, meaning equal.

As a verb it means to pulverize and to ponder. There are two separate senses of the noun. Three if you count the island off the coast of Scotland. A fine soil or a fine cloth.

I only went back as far as Medieval Latin, but I think this has PIE roots. Latin: ultimus, meaning final. A threat usually Issued by a stronger to a weaker adversary.

For 19 years I have held a cheesecake contest on the last day of the year. Inevitably, bits of cake fall to the floor and with the crowd of people sampling the cakes, the sticky, gooey contents spread across the floor unless I deligently clean up. Is it wrong for me to borrow this word from the medi...

This word is from Sicily, meaning code of silence. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the word to the Spanish word hombredad, meaning manliness, modified after the Sicilian word omu for man. According to a different theory, the word comes from Latin humilitas (humility), which became umirtà and th...

I recently noticed that the Italian word for battle is Battaglia, and naturally figured a Latin parent, which is battuere, meaning to beat. From there to old French, where we grabbed it. What is unusual about this word is that the ancient Latin speakers may have borrowed this from Gaulic and not a d...

From Middle English scant, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr (“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skammaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“mutilated, hornless”).

This originally meant come together, until it took on the predominately sexual sense. But it’s PIE and Latin roots were simply “come with”. Co + ire.

From French, from Latin. A material applied over another.

Originally justle. To knock against as in joust. This originally meant “to have sex”. As I recall jazz originally meant the same. There is no end to verbs for that activity.

It appears this is strictly of Germanic origin. To repress.

From Greek to Latin to Italian. Then to us. It can reference either a natural or artificial cave.

The idea occurred to me when studying Italian, idea. The word for idea in german is similar: idee. I reckoned that since both the Germanic and Romance languages have variations of this same theme, there must be a PIE origin. Sure enough. *wid-es-ya-, suffixed form of root *weid- "to see."

I saw this word in an article in Atlantic, but used in a non biblical sense, which made sense...the belief in the fall of man from innocence.

I was surprised that the Germanic origin of this has a PIE heritage.