674

Oh no my harvest is too bountiful (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 3 days ago by Stamets@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] Malgas@beehaw.org 27 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Fun fact: "nuclear" ultimately comes from the Latin nucula, 'little nut'. The c and l being adjacent is the result of metathesis, similar to pronouncing "ask" as "ax".

[-] Hudell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago

Is that because we exist within a nut?

Or something like that, I don't know. I don't remember anything from the "the universe in a nutshell" book.

[-] Schmoo@slrpnk.net 9 points 2 days ago

Now go further back. Where does the latin word nucula come from?

[-] Lux 15 points 2 days ago

went further back lol

Latin: Nux - nut nuculus - diminutive of nut ("little nut")

Proto-Indo-European: kneu - nut

I can't find much on where the -culus suffix originated, which seams to be the the place we would want to look if trying to tie the pronunciation of nuclear to the earliest etymological root.

[-] GandalftheBlack@feddit.org 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

-ulus according to Wiktionary:
From Proto-Italic *-elos (whence Faliscan -𐌄𐌋𐌏𐌔 (-elos)), from Proto-Indo-European *-elós, thematized from Proto-Indo-European *-lós.[1] Cognate with Proto-Germanic *-ilaz and *-ulaz, whence no longer productive English -le (as in dimple and nozzle), Dutch -el, German -el.

So the PIE for little nut would be something like *knewelós