English isn't an English word at all!

Did you know that the word "English" is of Germanic origin?

It comes to us from Angle, originally used to refer to members of the Germanic people that had invaded the island of Britain in the 5th Century CE (oh yeah, even the English were "invaded" literally!). The Angles gave their name to the land they occupied (England) and eventually the word to denote their vernacular tongue became "English" as we know it today!

Hooked on to this now? Some word origins that I would like to share - in fact the study of word origins is called etymology, something that I relish thoroughly!

Why do I bother - because it helps us understand multiple languages and their link.

For example, mother seems to have a common link - matr (Sanskrit), Moeder (Dutch), Mutter (German) and Mater (Latin).

Technology has adopted etymology like no other. Some recent examples that I like:

Kubernetes (Greek for helsman/ pilot/ captain of a ship) - it also shares its root word to Governor (gubernator) and cybernetics. To top things off, the logo of Kubernetes is a ship's wheel.

The Kerberos protocol was named after the character Kerberos (or Cerberus) from Greek mythology, the ferocious three-headed guard dog of Hades. Considering that much like the Greek dog that authenticated people into Hades' den, the same way Kerberos authenticates users!!

That's enough for this one. More in the next edition. Ciao!