Etymoleon - Word History, the etymology podcast.

This episode considers unusual words for conversations about happiness, examining their origins and recognisable words from the same root. Words featured include gaiety, delectation, sangfroid, equanimity, ananda and rapturous. 

Hear the history of Jeremy Bentham's attempt to systematically assess pleasure and pain as a guide for moral action. 

Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/eudaimonia

https://blogs.library.mcgill.ca/osler-library/aequanimitas/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqfjUTqDGRw

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This episode gets into unusual words for conversations about eating, exploring their origins and familiar words from the same root. Words discussed include voracious, pantagruelian, temulent, alimentation, deglutition and abstemious. 

Plus, discover the history of how three daily meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner, became the norm. 

Sources:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/205/205-h/205-h.htm

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/caterpillar-mcmaster-1.5605825

https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/gourmet-vs-gourmand-usage-difference

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1877-06-05/debates/119d4165-514d-4018-bd66-f6b96f695261/PrisonsBill%E2%80%94Bill121

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20243692

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/28/breakfast-health-america-kellog-food-lifestyle

https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/hard-chews-why-mastication-played-crucial-role-in-evolution/

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This podcast returns on February 22nd 2026. This episode examines lesser-known words for discussions about Precision, looking at their origins and familiar words from the same root. Words explored include punctilious, ad litteram, cavilling, facsimile, pettifogging and fastidious.

Find out when systems of measurement moved from regional variation to global uniformity.

Sources:
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/20686987-candelabra-selected-essays-and-addresses 

https://wordhistories.net/2018/02/04/scruple-origin/ 

https://kmbs.konicaminolta.us/blog/new-facts-about-fax-in-healthcare/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bUVjJWA6Vw 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-51198666 

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This episode explores uncommon words for discussions about Power, examining their origins and familiar words from the same root. Words highlighted include recrudescence, lese-majeste, contumacious, de facto, seditious and arrogate.

Hear how the transfer of royal power was not always determined by birth.

Sources:
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/King-Stephen-Anarchy/
https://debretts.com/royal-family/the-royal-succession/ 
https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199791279/obo-9780199791279-0046.xml 
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73906.txt.utf-8 
https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2009-07-09/debates/09070996000389/CoronersAndJusticeBill 
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/biog207883 
https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/john-gaunt-duke-lancaster-who-facts-family-children-legacy/ 

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This episode covers rare words for conversations about Time, exploring their origins and recognisable words from the same root. Words featured include desultory, ephemeral, dilatory, tarry, exigent and evitable.

Listen for the history of how time, once determined locally, became standardised across Britain with the emergence of the railway.

Sources:
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/387/294/ 
https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/much-ado-about-nothing/read/1/1/ 
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/give-us-ballot-address-delivered-prayer-pilgrimage-freedom 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TbLTpR0njo 

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