Post #947789

2026-04-05 17:20 UTC

Eggs are oval. The word ‘egg’ is even etymologically related to ‘oval’. ‘Oval’ comes from Latin ‘ōvālis’ (egg-shaped), a derivative of ‘ōvum’ (egg), the ancestor of Spanish ‘huevo’, French ‘œuf’ and others. Latin ‘ōvum’, in turn, was a distant cousin of Germanic *ajjan, the ancestor of Old Norse ‘egg’. This word was borrowed into Middle English and gradually displaced the native word ‘ey’. Click my new infographic graphic to learn more. See post 2 for an anecdote on ‘eggs’ and ‘eyren’.

Replies (9)

@Janne6nen@mementomori.social 2026-04-05 19:47

@yvanspijk@toot.community 🥚 M U N A 🥚 We Finns must come from Mars or something.

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@yvanspijk@toot.community 2026-04-05 17:20

2/ In 1490, William Caxton wrote an anecdote on ‘eggs’ and ‘eyren’. Commenting on the linguistic diversity of English, which made creating a standardised English hard, he told the story of a group of northern merchants asking a southern lady for eggs: “And one of them, named Sheffelde, a mercer, cam in to an hows and axed for mete, and specyally he axyd after eggys. And the goode wyf answerde that she coude speke no frenshe. And the marchaunt ... 2/

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@jaharkema@mstdn.social 2026-04-05 18:54

@yvanspijk I guess ovaries are related too huh

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@Johns_priv@mastodon.social 2026-04-05 18:58

@yvanspijk I just wanted to say that I love that this diagrams always have the catalan version, cause sometimes is closer to Latin, sometimes closer to Spanish and sometimes closer to Portuguese :) Ah! The magic of romance languages!

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@proedie@mastodon.green 2026-04-06 06:36

@yvanspijk Proto-Germanic is in there twice – with two slightly different eggs.

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@ccferrie@mastodon.ie 2026-04-06 08:10

@yvanspijk I wonder does the Irish "ubh" come directly from PIE like the Cornish, Welsh and Breton or does it come from French via the Normans?

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@hanscees@ieji.de 2026-04-06 08:10

@yvanspijk anything to do with eye?

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@CafeJunkie@troet.cafe 2026-04-06 08:29

@yvanspijk I always love to see how connected all the European languages are! 😊 👍 And I think it's a pitty that we don't learn that in school - kids would have a much better understanding for each other (both figuratively and literally) I think. 🤔😊

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@daliarezk@mastodon.social 2026-04-06 11:16

@yvanspijk Is the Earth an oblate spheroid or flat?

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