Search posts, papers, and topics
A historical essay tracing the origin of the letter W from post‑Roman scribal practices, its adoption via double‑U in early medieval Latin and Old English, competition with the rune wynn, and its later spelling quirks in English.
The article surveys the mysterious set of ~1,000 Ancient Greek words with no Indo‑European etymology, arguing they are borrowings from a now‑lost “Pre‑Greek” substrate spoken by earlier Neolithic farmers. It explains linguistic concepts (substrate, superstrate, adstrate), gives examples (olive, fig, cypress, etc.), and outlines how such borrowings reveal migration and contact patterns.
