Linguist Answers Word Origin Questions | Tech Support | WIRED

Linguist Gareth Roberts joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about the etymologies of English words. How did the first languages first form? Was there once a single common language that all the others evolved from? When were swear words invented? Have words like "dude" and "bro" become gender neutral? Who came up with the word poop? Is "unalived" a real word now? Answers to all of these questions and plenty more await on Etymology Support.



0:00 Etymology Support

0:14 Etymologies rock

1:05 Gender neutral dude bros

2:50 Silent letters: Why?

3:47 “Unalived”

4:55 Grimm's Law

5:57 %^*&*%!!!

6:47 Making up new words

8:41 How did each language form?

12:05 What was there before we had language?

14:06 Orange

14:47 ????

15:09 Fall into Autumn

15:54 Did we ruin demure?

16:35 New Slang

18:00 NO

18:34 The Great Vowel Shift

19:51 Shakespeare!

20:34 Why did we stop saying 'thee' and ‘thou?’

21:57 …..word?

22:21 Pregnant: Origins

23:25 Doggos



Director: Anna O'Donohue

Director of Photography: Caleb Weiss

Editor: Richard Trammell

Expert: Gareth Roberts

Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi

Associate Producer: Brandon White

Production Manager: Peter Brunette

Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark

Casting Producer: Nicholas Sawyer

Camera Operator: Christopher Eustache

Sound Mixer: Sean Paulsen

Production Assistant: Sonia Butt

Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin

Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant

Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen

Additional Editor: Paul Tael; Jason Malizia

Assistant Editor: Andy Morell

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