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I learned about & down a wikipedia rabbit hole and was also so intrigued. Etymology and lexicology writ large are very interesting.. For example, look up the history of the classic "ye olde shoppe". The mix of cultures and the effects of time are amazing.

One of my favorite word derivations is feamyng which is a collective noun for ferrets. The word itself is like a game of telephone gone wrong. Multiple mistypings in dictionaries, etc. give it quite the interesting word history.



If you like etymology, I highly recommend The History of English Podcast. It covers the history of ampersand among many, many other things.




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