HeyJaredDanny Bate, Wanderer in Language History
Linguist, writer, purveyor of pieces and fun facts on the topics of history, language and language history. Author of the acclaimed new book 'Why Q Needs U'. BA, MPhil, PhD, etc. etc.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 5
- Latest publication
- Sep 28, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 9, 2026
Latest issues
Good King Václav (opens the original)
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Every September 28th, thanks to a brutal fratricide over a thousand years ago, the Czech Republic gives itself a day off.The victim of that crime was Wenceslaus, ruler of Bohemia from 921 to maybe 935 AD; the chief perpetrator was his own dear brother Boleslaus. A life of Christian dogoodery and an untimely death together earned Wenceslaus sainthood and lasting fame. It reached an all-new audience with the publication in 1853 of English hymnwriter John Mason Neale’s lyrics for the carol Good Kin
Bad Romance (opens the original)
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How does one language become another? More specifically, how exactly did we get from the Latin of antiquity to the many Romance languages of today? What changes happened to Latin that it should end up looking so different?These are the driving questions of Romance historical linguistics, the field of study that aims to investigate how French, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian and many other languages developed over time from a common source.In this great endeavour, historical sourc
The Emperor’s New Letters (opens the original)
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A common response to my profuse public pontifications about the history of the alphabet is ‘could we add new letters?’With the phonemically faulty state of English spelling in mind, the question is one that I enjoy; it’s heartening to see people considering the alphabet not as a fossilised artefact, but rather as a living system, which any present-day generation can update to suit their speech. My answer to the enquiry is an enthusiastic yes, and I add that new members of the alphabet would draw
Homer's ABCs (opens the original)
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Sing, goddess, of how Homer is all the rage right now.My timelines have become streams of Nolan-inspired analyses, hot takes and fun facts. While there are many wrathful (and often untenable) criticisms and some complaints of Homeric fatigue to wade through, I nonetheless love to see the cultural moment. The simple fact that boatloads of people are newly disembarking onto the pages of the Iliad or setting sail into the Odyssey is very heartening for me.That world is amply populated with protagon
Sure Sugar (opens the original)
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Despite its reputation and the infamous evidence to the contrary, I’m committed to demonstrating how regular English spelling actually is. Yet words like sugar and sure, I admit, mock that vocation.In being pronounced as if they began with SH, the pair require me to reach begrudgingly for a particular word to describe their spelling. That word is irregular. What I mean by this reluctantly applied label is that I can’t formulate the relationship between their initial sound and symbol as a rule. ̵
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