Episode 95: Reckonings, with Stephen Chrisomalis

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Episode 95: Reckonings, with Stephen Chrisomalis
Mark Sundaram & Aven McMaster

It’s time for a reckoning! Or, to be more accurate, a number of reckonings. We talk to Dr. Stephen Chrisomalis, a linguistic anthropologist who specializes in the anthropology of mathematics and the interaction of language, cognition, and culture, about his new book Reckonings. It’s a fascinating discussion of how we write and represent numbers, and how that’s changed over the years. Why don’t we use Roman numerals any more? It’s more complicated than you might think…

Announcement: Mark will be running another session of his Speakeasy seminar course, The Origins of English: Learning to Think Like an Etymologist, which is open to anyone who’s interested. Registration is now open at Speakeasy.com for the session running on Sunday afternoons (Eastern time) from September 12th October 3rd.

Glossographia (blog)

Twitter: @schrisomalis

Wayne State University faculty page

Reckonings webpage

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Episode 94: Catullus & Shibari, with Isobel Williams

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Episode 94: Catullus & Shibari, with Isobel Williams
Mark Sundaram & Aven McMaster

We talked to Isobel Williams about her fascinating and illuminating new translation of selected poems of Catullus, illustrated with her drawings of the Japanese art of rope binding, shibari. Our discussion ranges over the connections between the world of shibari and the emotional struggles depicted in Catullus’s poetry, the way translation and learning Latin can feel like being tied up in, and untangling, knots, and much more.

Content Note: fetish, sex, brief mention of sexual violence, discussion of enslavement and use of slavery as metaphor

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Blog about drawing shibari (Japanese rope bondage): Boulevardisme

Straight blog about drawing: Drawing from an uncomfortable position

Website: Isobel Williams

Twitter: @otium_Catulle

Instagram: @isobelwilliams2525

From Isobel: “For the online book launch, I compiled a video (>20 minutes) of self and others reading in Latin and English from the book. It starts with Sappho in ancient Greek and ends with Shakespeare, to show the continuity Sappho -> Catullus -> Ovid -> Shakespeare (it contains no Ovid). The video is here 'Catullus: Shibari Carmina' - readings and performances - YouTube

Page about the book

Link to the book for Canada and US: Catullus: Shibari Carmina | Independent Publishers Group

James Methven’s Precious Asses – highly recommended

Irish poet and mediaevalist Bernard O’Donoghue – Poet, Academic, Medievalist and Literary Critic

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Episode 79: Sex & Gender

photo credit: Flickr user get directly down

photo credit: Flickr user get directly down

Episode 79: Sex & Gender
Mark Sundaram & Aven McMaster

We trace the etymologies and development of the words “sex” and “gender”, as well as words for women and men in Greek, Latin, and English, touching on Roman, Greek, and medieval English ideas about gender. Then we discuss the grammatical term “gender” and how it differs across languages around the world.

Transcript of this episode

The History of Sex Podcast

The “Pink Lady” cocktail

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Episode 61: Classing up our Languages?

Episode 061: Classing up our Languages?
Mark Sundaram & Aven McMaster

In this episode we talk about the history of education in Europe, from classical Greece to the 19th century, covering the origins of many education-related words. Then we turn to the history of second-language teaching of Latin, from Roman Egypt to today’s Living Latin movement.

DSM (channel about language and etymology)

Sound Education

Classic Cocktail

Education video

Learning Latin and Greek from Antiquity to Present, chapters on teaching Latin to Greek speakers (Dickey) & Latin in Anglo-Saxon England (Fisher)

Medieval and Modern Views of Universal Grammar and the Nature of Second Language Learning” by Margaret Thomas

“Inside the Anglo-Saxon Classroom“ by Kate Wiles

Grasping Sentences by Wholes: Henry Sweet’s Idea of Language Study in the Early Middle Ages” by Mark Atherton

Learn Latin from the Romans: A Complete Introductory Course Using Textbooks from the Roman Empire by Eleanor Dickey

Learning Latin the Ancient Way by Eleanor Dickey

“The MovieTalk: A Practical Application of Comprehensible Input Theory” by Rachel Ash

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Episode 33: Purple, Pink, & Brown

Episode 033: Purple, Pink, & Brown
Mark Sundaram & Aven McMaster

Show Notes

We finish up our colour series (for now!) with a discussion of Purple, Pink, & Brown. From Phoenician shellfish, Virgil's Aeneas,& Propertius's Cynthia, to flowers, beavers, & bears, this episode covers a lot of ground. Let us know what fun colour facts we've missed, and what colourful topics you might like us to cover in the future!

Note: one area of discussion we rather left out is the place of purple in Byzantium/the Eastern Empire... maybe we’ll pick that up in the next episode briefly!

Talk the Talk Podcast

Let’s Talk Talk Podcast

Article on mealtime terms

Aviation

Pink flowers

"Costume" video

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This podcast episode on YouTube

Episode 27: Yellow & Orange

Episode 027: Yellow & Orange
Mark Sundaram & Aven McMaster

We return to our series on colour words with a discussion of Yellow and Orange in Greek, Latin, & English. The Roman and medieval associations of the colours take us from a wedding hymn by Catullus to Mary Magdalene & pawnbrokers -- and finally to modern connections to cowboys and Cheetos.

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Show Notes

Words for Granted Podcast

Gagliardo Cocktail

Golden Dream Cocktail

Gastropod Ice cream episode

Catullus poem 61 & English translation

Lexicon Valley episode on Orange

Ben Zimmer's Word Routes article on Orange

Episode 24: Talking Turkey

Episode 024: Talking Turkey
Mark Sundaram & Aven McMaster

Episode 22: Jack o'Lantern

Episode 022: Jack o'Lantern
Mark Sundaram & Aven McMaster

In our Halloween episode we discuss the origins of the holiday, the etymology of Jack o'Lantern, the Canadian connections to trick-or-treating, and the great pumpkin scandal of 2016, and we read a Roman poem about witches scared off by a wooden fertility god.

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The podcast on YouTube

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Show Notes

@HumCommCasters & @HumCommVids

Snopes.com pumpkin article

Horace Satires 1.8

"Costume" video

Episode 20: Blue & Green

Episode 020: Blue & Green
Mark Sundaram & Aven McMaster

We explore the terms for blue & green in Greek, Latin, and English, and discuss their symbolism and meaning in the various cultures. Is it true the ancient Greeks couldn't see blue? Why do we go 'green with envy'? And what did chariot racing, colours, and religious riots in Constantinople have to do with the Italian national football team?

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Our Patreon page -- and thank you to our newest supporter, Rémi Belleau!

Show Notes

Mythtake podcast

Linoleum video

Our merchandise

Berlin & Kay colour list

Article about Greeks not seeing the colour blue

Talk the Talk podcast

Article about ultramarine

Horace Ode 1.9 (Soracte) in English

Horace Ode 2.5 (Heifer) in English

Horace Odes Book 1 in Latin

Horace Odes Book 2 in Latin

Mosaic of the charioteers

Episode 19: Beef

Episode 019: Beef
Mark Sundaram & Aven McMaster

We chat about the Norman French influence on Anglo-Saxon words for animals and meat, the powerful emotional and political aspects of the words we use for food, and then delve into Latin technical terms for farmyard animals, ending off with Virgil's pastoral poems, the Eclogues.

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Our Patreon page -- and thank you to all our Patreon supporters!

Show Notes

Classy Little Podcast

Roman Colour Thesaurus – Caroline Lawrence (Roman Mysteries)

Merchandise

Beefeater cocktails

Episode 16: Red

Episode 016: Red
Mark Sundaram & Aven McMaster

We talk about Old English, Greek, and Latin words for red, the cultural importance of dyes, basic colour terms, blushes, blood, and gods. And a little bit about sex and phalluses, but only in the most genteel way. We promise.

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Our Patreon page -- and thank you to all our Patreon supporters!

Show Notes

MythTakes Podcast

Lexicon Valley: Red Herring

Lexicon Valley: Orange and Ben Zimmer's blogpost

"Album" podcast episode

Our "Weird" video

Episode 13: Album

Episode 013: Album
Mark Sundaram & Aven McMaster

The etymology of "album" leads to an in-depth conversation about the Latin words for "white", the many terms for "shining" in proto-Indo-European, and the connection between the Beatles and medieval German students. And we drink White Ladies. 

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Show Notes

Album video

The White Lady cocktail
Sappho poem 31
#TheDress
The Adidas jacket

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And thank you to our Patreon supporters: Valerie Polichar, Lukas Hägele, Evermore Anon, Ian & Susan McMaster, Carlos Solis, and Chantal Sundaram.

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