🜁 Where words came from…
⟡ Before there were words, there were mouths. Before mouths, there were patterns, etched in dust, drummed into bark, drawn in the air by hands trying to mean something. Language began as instinct and turned into ritual.
⊚ Digging Through the Roots
Etymology is not the study of words. It’s the excavation of memory.
To trace a word back is to descend into layers of forgotten need.
† Truth comes from trēow – Old English for “faith” or “fidelity.”
↯ Over time, the idea of truth shifted from loyalty to accuracy.
We stopped believing truth was something you gave. We started demanding it as proof.
† Person comes from persona, the Roman mask worn in plays.
What we now call identity was once a costume.
⋰ We Carry What We Don’t Remember
Words outlive their contexts.
Language evolves, but it also haunts. †
Sometimes we speak with symbols that meant something else to someone else.
They’ve forgotten us. We remember them.
↯ The words keep moving.
❖ Language Was Not Invented
It’s not a tool. It’s a behavior. A consequence. A side effect of wanting to be understood, and of not being understood well enough.
We didn’t choose to speak. We had to.
The first word was likely not a noun.
It was a cry. A call. A warning.
Maybe a mistake.
⊹ Fictional Timeline of the First Word (Probably)
- ~200,000 years ago: Vocal cords say hey (unintentionally)
- ~100,000 years ago: Someone says food (and someone else gets it wrong)
- ~50,000 years ago: “Let’s name this rock.”
- ~Today: “It’s called a smartphone and it’s ruining my ability to finish this sentence.”
“Language is fossil poetry.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
✴
◈ The Myth of Origins
Some say all languages came from one.
Some say we built Babel and it fell.
Some say Hermes invented the alphabet while lying to Zeus.
Everyone agrees:
No one remembers the first word.
But we’re all still answering it.
⌘ What Now?
Follow the etymologies.
Follow the fractures.
See where they lead.
They may not bring you closer to understanding, but they will bring you deeper into language.
Return to the surface ◯