Linguistics Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 47
In English grammar, what term refers to both nouns and prepositions, and also parts of the mouth like the tongue and lips?
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speech
From which classical language are about half of all English words derived?
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latin
In Cockney rhyming slang, which relative is referred to as 'skin and blister'?
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sister
Romanian developed from which language spoken by the ancient Romans?
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latin
What language, originally based on a form of Dutch called Hollands, includes words from Khoi and Zulu?
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afrikaans
What color does the adjective 'ruddy' derive from the Old English 'rudig'?
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red
Which ancient language is Sardinian, one of the modern Romance languages, most similar to?
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latin
From which ancient language did all the Romance languages develop directly?
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latin
What city's dialect gradually became the national language of France?
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paris
Which Semitic language is spoken by the most people?
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arabic
In word derivations, what does the abbreviation 'OE' signify?
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old english
What term for all the letters in a language is derived from the names of two Greek letters?
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alphabet
Which type of book, deriving its name from the Greek word for 'treasure', contains a collection of synonyms?
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thesaurus
What term, derived from the Tamil word 'curuttu', refers to a cigar with square-cut ends?
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cheroot
What word, derived from the old Italian word 'cavalcare' meaning 'to ride on horseback', is used to describe a ceremonial procession?
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cavalcade
Which language is frequently abbreviated as 'Skt' in dictionaries?
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sanskrit
What is the term for a marshy area where peat is found, which has a name similar to a Gaelic word for 'soft'?
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bog
From which classical language of India does the word 'yoga', meaning 'joining' or 'union', originate?
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sanskrit
What is the 9-letter word for the study of a word's history?
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etymology
What is the Old English word that originally meant a piece of carbon glowing without fire?
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coal
What term, derived from the Greek for 'race discourse', refers to the history of a family?
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genealogy
What term describes similar-sounding words used incorrectly in place of the correct ones, and is associated with Norm Crosby?
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malapropism
What word for scowl is derived from the Old Irish 'sron' which means nose?
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frown
What language is also known as Cape Dutch?
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afrikaans
What is the name of the ancient Scandinavian language from which Icelandic, Faroese, and Swedish originated?
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old norse
Which language primarily evolved from the Zuid-Holland dialect of Dutch settlers in South Africa?
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afrikaans
What is the term for something a monoglot only knows one of?
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language
In Spanish grammar, verbs are divided into groups based on which form ending: -ar, -er, or -ir?
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infinitive
What type of informal word, often less appropriate for writing than speaking, is exemplified by 'ain't'?
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colloquialism
Which country has Bohairic, one of the 5 distinct dialects of its Coptic language, used in the Coptic Church?
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egypt
What language has dialects including Gulf, Maghrebi, and Egyptian?
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arabic
What term, originating from Greek for 'to transfer', is used to describe one thing as another and can be 'mixed'?
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metaphor
What is the branch of linguistics that deals with the origin and development of words?
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etymology
What Semitic language is Maltese a dialect of, despite its heavy influence from Italian?
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arabic
Which classical language of the Hindus was standardized by the grammarian Panini?
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sanskrit
What term, originating from the Latin word for 'brother', is used for a mendicant?
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friar
What 9-letter word refers to the origin of a word or the study of word origins?
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etymology
What is the term for a word formed by the initial letters of a set group of words, like NOW for National Organization of Women?
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acronym
What 'herbal' name, derived from the Greek word for 'kingly,' is the Russian variant Vassily?
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basil
What nut's name originates from an Old English term meaning 'foreign nut'?
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walnut
What artistic method did Alonzo Reed & Brainerd Kellogg devise in the 1800s to visually represent the structure of a sentence?
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diagram
Which renowned scholar from M.I.T. proposed that humans have an inborn ability to learn language?
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noam chomsky
Which M.I.T. linguist asserts that humans are born with an innate understanding of the general principles of language?
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noam chomsky
What term, derived from the Turkish word 'odah' meaning room, refers to a female slave or concubine?
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odalisque
What is the most widely spoken artificial language?
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esperanto
What is the last letter in the Greek alphabet that corresponds to a letter in English which is not Z?
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omega
In which language does the term meaning 'of the city of Saluq,' from which the name of the saluki dog is derived, originate?
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arabic
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