Middle English with Jess Zafarris

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The Language Podcast with Richard Simcott

Richard Simcott

15 episodes

9 months ago

If you love learning about language - about its diversity and evolution, and where our modern words come from - then this is the podcast for you. Join language-lover and hyperpolyglot Richard Simcott as he learns valuable lessons and interesting facts from some of the world’s foremost language experts. The first series is all about the evolution of English - from its roots in Old English to where it might be headed in the future. The second series is a toolkit for all you language learners out there - whether you’re learning for the first time, or adding another language to your arsenal.

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Society & Culture

Education,

Language Learning

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Middle English with Jess Zafarris

The Language Podcast with Richard Simcott

30 minutes 48 seconds

2 years ago

Middle English with Jess Zafarris

Prepare to be amazed by an array of fascinating etymological revelations, including the surprising (and sometimes cheeky) origins of English words, as we continue our journey through the evolution of English and trace its transformation from Old English to Middle English. Join Jess Zafarris, the woman behind Useless Etymology and Words from Hell, as she talks about The Great Vowel Shift, a turning point in linguistic history, and demonstrates the intriguing sounds of Middle English.

“One of the great joys of studying Middle English is learning how the words that we use today are rooted in the past and in different languages.”

Why do we say words like ‘ruthless’, but not ‘ruth’, or ‘disgruntled’ but not ‘gruntled’? And does the word ‘female’ come from the word ‘male’? All these questions and more are answered as we continue our journey through the evolution of English, and find out how it shifted from Old English to Middle English.

Jess Zafarris has a blog, two books and a TikTok channel dedicated to the subject of etymology. In this episode she explains how Old English morphed into Middle English, and how it ended with The Great Vowel Shift. She shares an incredible array of etymological wonders, explaining the (sometimes naughty) origins of English words. And she gives us a glimpse into how Middle English may have sounded, and how you can learn it yourself.

Check out Jess’ latest book Words from Hell - Unearthing the darkest secrets of English etymology.

Find out more about our sponsor, Chambers here and sign up to their newsletter. Chambers is the number one brand for word lovers! And they’re publishers of Jess Zafarris’ latest book Words from Hell.

Your host is polyglot Richard Simcott. The Language Podcast is an OG Podcasts production.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and a 5-star rating - it really helps to reach more language lovers like you. If you want to see more of us, you can find us on:

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Website: http://www.thelanguagepodcast.com

Notes:

www.gutenberg.org/

Archive.org

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