Main alliterative channel

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I'm a university prof with a PhD in Medieval Studies. I use language, literature, and history to explore the web of connections in the world around us. Many of the videos on this channel start with a word as a jumping off point, with its history and etymology opening up a way to explore history and culture more widely. Others examine literary devices, cognitive science, myth, medieval literature, history of science, and a wide variety of other topics. The "endless knot" is a common visual motif of an interconnected knot with no beginning or end, found in many cultures around the world. My use of the symbol is a reference to the 14th c. poem "Sir Gawain & the Green Knight", where it describes the pentangle which Gawain has emblazoned on his shield as a symbol of the interconnectedness of things. Here it also gains significance from its comparison to the cognitive science hexagram or heptagram which shows the interrelated nature of various fields in cognitive science.

founded 4 years ago
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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by alliterative@tilvids.com to c/alliterative_channel@tilvids.com
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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by alliterative@tilvids.com to c/alliterative_channel@tilvids.com
 
 

The surprisingly connected origins of "law" and "lager".

#oktoberfest #etymology #WordNerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #law #lager #beer

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Some interesting details about the origins of "raincheck" and "tarpaulin".

(Clipped from this short video from 2015! https://youtu.be/BJPrrQWvfvU )

#baseball #etymology #historicallinguistics #language #lingcomm #linguistics #wordnerd #words

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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by alliterative@tilvids.com to c/alliterative_channel@tilvids.com
 
 

The surprisingly connected origins of "king" and "genealogy".

#etymology #WordNerd #linguistics #HistoricalLinguistics #language #words #lingcomm #sarcophagus #pagoda

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The etymology of Jack-o’-Lantern and the confused history of Hallowe’en. And you can find more spooky etymologies in our video on Ghost Words: https://youtu.be/Td5FtoKWWTI

#halloween #historyofhalloween #etymology Check out our Patreon page if you'd like to help support us: https://www.patreon.com/TheEndlessKnot

For further explorations of these subjects, check out Thorneloe University's courses in the Humanities, including "Greek and Latin Roots of English" and other Ancient Studies courses, online and on campus in Sudbury, Ontario. http://www.thorneloe.ca/endlessknot

Show notes & credits: http://www.alliterative.net/jackolantern Transcript: http://www.alliterative.net/jackolantern-transcript Related blog post: http://www.alliterative.net/blog/2015/10/27/the-many-faces-of-the-jack-o-lantern Related podcast episode: http://www.alliterative.net/podcast/2016/10/25/episode-22-jack-olantern or https://youtu.be/GH7-hQTO4GA

Website: http://www.alliterative.net/ Blog: http://www.alliterative.net/blog Twitter: https://twitter.com/alliterative Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alliterativeendlessknot Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/115113245513532543153/about Tumbler: http://alliterative-endlessknot.tumblr.com/ SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/alliterative Podcast: http://www.alliterative.net/podcast/2016/10/25/episode-22-jack-olantern or https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/endless-knot-podcast-endless/id1016322923?mt=2

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Click here to sign up for our podcast email list, to be notified when new podcast episodes go up: http://eepurl.com/btmBZT