Etymoleon - Word History, the etymology podcast.

This podcast returns on May 31st 2026. A rejected advance gives rise to a false accusation. Twins are born, each to a different father. A king kills his nephews and serves them at a feast. Greek mythology is full of controversial tales. 

Alongside these mythological stories, this episode traces the origins of words such as oppugn, vitriol, infandous, cannibal, inveigh, lurid and obscene. 

Transition sound by https://audionautix.com 
-

https://www.greekmythology.com/ 

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2018/dec/11/one-set-twins-two-fathers-how-common-is-superfecundation 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHY1HxWadeo

Morphine was first drawn out of opium in 1806 and is named after a god of dreams. Egyptian remedies recorded ingredients that seem hard to take seriously, though some echo ideas later seen in aspirin and penicillin. A gunshot wound would go on to help a 19th century surgeon understand how the body digests food. 

Alongside these histories, this episode traces the origins of words such as analgesic, febrifuge, hospital, accoucheur, PRN and clinic. 

Transition sound by https://audionautix.com 

-

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/41595/pg41595-images.html

https://www.geriwalton.com/bonesetters-joint-manipulators-and-musculoskeletal-fixers/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-19012179

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/21/magazine/the-lives-they-lived-dana-raphael.html

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772609624000261

https://becker.wustl.edu/news/william-beaumonts-momentous-and-unethical-experiments/

This podcast returns on May 10th 2026. A musician discovered Uranus, a Hollywood actress developed military technology, and a statesman invented bifocal glasses. Names such as Spencer, Marshall and Stewart trace their origins back to occupations. The son of Britain's first prime minister held a series of sinecures, roles that offered status and income for little or no work. 

Alongside these histories, this episode traces the origins of words such as dilettante, empleomania, gaffer, thrasonical, lucubrate and ambition. 

History Daily - https://www.historydaily.com 

Transition sound by https://audionautix.com 

-

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/horace-walpole-gothick-man-letters/1000 

https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/know-the-ropes.html

To burke is to kill by strangulation, a word taken from the name of a 19th century murderer. In Anglo-Saxon England, a killing could be settled with payment through the wergild, a sum paid by the offender to the victim's family. In France, a petty criminal would go on to become one of the first figures to resemble a modern detective. 

Alongside these histories, this episode explores the origins of words such as assassin, scelerate, culprit, trucidate and lucre. 

Transition sound by https://audionautix.com 

- 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zvrsydm#zhxbcmn 

https://biomedical-sciences.ed.ac.uk/anatomy/anatomical-museum/collection/people/burke 

https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/eugene-francois-vidocq-and-the-birth-of-the-detective/ 

https://blog.oup.com/2015/08/word-etymology-culprit/ 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/content/articles/2006/04/11/local_heroes_doctor_william_palmer_feature.shtml

This episode investigates obscure words for conversations about bizarre histories, considering their origins and familiar words from the same root. Words explored include diluvial, nundination, expetible, tripudiate, mucilaginous, delitescent and redhibition. 

Hear a collection of strange moments from the past, from a deadly latrine collapse in Erfurt to a speculative frenzy over tulips, a mysterious dancing outbreak, and a city flooded with molasses. 

Sources:
https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/erfurt-latrine-disaster-what-happened/ 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20160419-tulip-mania-the-flowers-that-cost-more-than-houses 

https://www.britannica.com/event/dancing-plague-of-1518 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/molasses-flood-physics-science/ 

Transition sound by https://audionautix.com