What’s In A Name?

Where do words come from? The English language is filled with immigrant terms – brought by the people who moved to the United States. And English has been exported around the world, as evidenced in the “Les bleu jeans” and the movie “Spanglish.”

Explore the fun world of words – and maybe create your own new words.

Connect:

Think about your own family and the words you use.

> For instance, what is the origin of your first and last names? What do they mean in their original language? Do you relate with those meanings?  Here are some lists of name origin websites:

• Behind the Name  http://www.behindthename.com/
• Name Meanings  http://www.name-meanings.com/index.php
• Baby Name Wizard  http://www.babynamewizard.com/namevoyager.html/lnv0105.html
• Baby Name Worlds (has pregnancy info)  http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/
• Behind the SurName  http://surnames.behindthename.com/
• Last Name Meanings  http://www.last-names.net/
• Internet Surname Database  http://www.surnamedb.com/
• Native Names map  http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/04/departments/native-names-interactive

> Have you noticed how the same word has a different meaning in another part of the country – or another country that uses the same language? That happens a lot with English since it is used around the world, often as a second or third language. Explore some of these differences:

• World Wide Words (International English with a British viewpoint)  http://www.worldwidewords.org/
• Soda vs Pop  http://popvssoda.com/
• Visual graphical dictionary  http://www.visuwords.com/
• Periodic Table in different languages  http://www.vanderkrogt.net/elements/multidict.php

> Etymology is the science of word origins. Place names are a fun way to investigate word origins, especially as they translate from one country to another. The Rio Grande means Big River, for instance. Here are some fun website about place name etymologies:

• Etymology’s View if the World  http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-37310.html
• Atlas of True Names  http://www.kalimedia.com/Atlas_of_True_Names.html
• Country Name Etymologies  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country_name_etymologies
• Country name etymologies  http://www.fact-index.com/l/li/list_of_country_name_etymologies.html

Create:

Language is dynamic. You can think of language as a family of words, where some die over time and others are born.

> Here is a website of new and emerging terms:

Double-tongued English (fringe and new words)  http://www.doubletongued.org/

> How about creating your own language? Here is a language construction kit to get you started: http://www.zompist.com/kit.html

Care:

As mentioned above, some languages are in danger of becoming extinct. Because they reflect the culture of their speakers, the death of such a language lessens other people’s ability to understand those people. International organizations such as UNESCO try to save endangered languages by documenting them, revitalizing them, or protection them. Check out these websites. Maybe you can learn and share a few words in that language. Think about helping record languages yourself!

http://www.unesco.org/cpp/uk/declarations/linguistic.pdf

http://www.unesco.org/culture/languages-atlas/

http://rosettaproject.org/

http://www.endangeredlanguagefund.org/

http://www.languageconservancy.org/

One of the fun things about the Internet is sharing with your friends, and you can make friends on the Net as well, such as other people with the same interests. But sometimes those strangers can be unkind and hurtful. Along with being careful as to what you say, and to whom, you should think about having a good online name, similar to an avatar, that can be used to share some things that are OK to be broadcast, such as a neat drawing you did. It’s a way to keep some privacy. But choose your name wisely so you will be proud to use it: Fat Cat or Gatto Gordo might not be a great choice as you grow up.

Careers:

Do you like investigating words? Language specialists and linguists help develop and sustain the world of words. You can specialize in lots of different ways: by subject matter, language, clientele, historical aspect, and so on. Look at this list of over a THOUSAND jobs of language specialists: http://jobs.careers.org/i/search/language-specialist

Usually language specialists require advanced skills. This site discusses what language specialists do, the skills and education needed, and possible salaries: http://www.mymajors.com/careers-and-jobs/Language-Specialist