John Gordon Ross

Almost everyone uses language, so inevitably almost everyone thinks they are an expert in it. I don’t consider myself an expert, though most of my work requires at least language competence and sometimes actual skill, but I do follow the blogs featured on this feeds page.

(If you are wondering where the translation-related feeds have all gone, I have put them on their own page.)

Most of the blogs represented here are in English, most of the time, but don’t be surprised to find other languages used. Go with the flow – I occasionally find myself pleasantly surprised at how much I can grasp in languages I have never seen before.

Language On the Net

Language Log » Silent Night

Sunday 25 December 13:00:14 UTC 2016

Dave Cragin asks, "How did 平安夜 come to mean Christmas Eve?" Now that's a good seasonal topic if ever there were one. Píng'ān yè 平安夜 literally means "peace(ful) night", which calls to mind "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht" ("Silent Night, Holy Night"). That's the famous German Christmas carol composed in 1818 by Franz Gruber (1787-1863) with lyrics by Josef Mohr (1792-1848), … [Link]

Omniglot blog » Christmas

Sunday 25 December 6:00:45 UTC 2016

A Multilingual Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it! From: https://www.ampersandtravel.com/blo~ [Link]

languagehat.com » Silva Rerum.

Sunday 25 December 0:45:59 UTC 2016

Another bit of ostentatious erudition from the narrator of Mating (see this post): she says “Clearly the living quarters were just another part of the silva rerum,” and of course I had to investigate. I knew it was Latin for ‘the forest of things,’ but there had to be an allusion there; it turns out Cicero refers to “Silva rerum … [Link]

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