Posted on 12/15/2025 6:55:00 AM PST by SunkenCiv
Some of the most ordinary words in English have origins that no one can explain. Among them: "dog", "big", "bird", "donkey", "boy", "girl" and "puzzle". In this episode, let's trace their earliest appearances, explore the theories behind them, and unravel why these everyday words became some of our language's greatest mysteries.
The English words nobody can explain | 23:24
RobWords | 887K subscribers | 478,352 views | December 6, 2025
YouTube transcript (below) reformatted at textformatter.ai
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
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Sidebar:The English divide nobody talks about | 13:03
Jay and Mark | 1.74M subscribers | 1,170,715 views | December 8, 2025
The Irish Gaelic word for “boy” is “buachaill”. It can also be used to refer to a young man or a male child. Other Irish words related to “boy” include “giobóg” (boy, scarecrow), “giolla” (boy, gofer, manservant, page), “buíon” (boy, group, detail, set), and “giobún” (boy, gibbon). The term “buachaill” is commonly used and recognized in Irish language resources. [AI-generated answer. Please verify critical facts.]
https://search.brave.com/search?q=irish+gaelic+for+%22boy%22
I am once again amazed at the youtube algorithm - I got this in my feed over the weekend. Sometimes it is a video about speaking Texas German or something and my Father, who lives far away, will tell me he got the same video in his feed.
I’ve been following this channel off and on for some time. Interesting stuff there! Thanks for posting this one - new to me.
I’ll watch something in here, and it or something related shows up in the YouTube feed on the Roku. Of course, my viewing patterns are basically identical in both places, but it sometimes creeps me out.
My pleasure.
What is the etymology of the word etymology?
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“Etymology” derives from the Greek word etumos, meaning “true.”
Etumologia was the study of the “true meanings” of words.
This evolved into “etymology” by way of the Old French ethimologie.
That’s all fairly straightforward, but there are many, many words
in the English language that have unexpected and fascinating origins.
In Polish dog is ‘pies’.
That happens to me too.
I don’t like them presenting material on the basis of what I’ve watched. I know what I’m interested in, and I can look it up. I want Roku to surprise me with new stuff I wouldn’t have thought of. That doesn’t happen so much anymore.
I’m sure that with enough dogged determination they will sniff it out..............
Dog is simply God spelled backwards.
That might be related to the Spanish word “perro”. Another word without known origins.
Portuguese is “Cão” pronounced “kown” but not closing the n and going nasal as in French........miles from the Spanish “Perro”........
The English word that always gets me is “Once”. Where the hell does that w-sound come from?
bump
I suspect that in the past it was pronounced as it is spelled, but as whites began settling in Texas the in the late 1700’s we corrected it into the w-sound.
Much like we Texans add the letter R to words we think needs it.
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