Morphine was first drawn out of opium in 1806 and is named after a god of dreams. Egyptian remedies recorded ingredients that seem hard to take seriously, though some echo ideas later seen in aspirin and penicillin. A gunshot wound would go on to help a 19th century surgeon understand how the body digests food.

Alongside these histories, this episode traces the origins of words such as analgesic, febrifuge, hospital, accoucheur, PRN and clinic.

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https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/41595/pg41595-images.html

https://www.geriwalton.com/bonesetters-joint-manipulators-and-musculoskeletal-fixers/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-19012179

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/21/magazine/the-lives-they-lived-dana-raphael.html

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772609624000261

https://becker.wustl.edu/news/william-beaumonts-momentous-and-unethical-experiments/

This podcast returns on May 10th 2026. A musician discovered Uranus, a Hollywood actress developed military technology, and a statesman invented bifocal glasses. Names such as Spencer, Marshall and Stewart trace their origins back to occupations. The son of Britain's first prime minister held a series of sinecures, roles that offered status and income for little or no work.

Alongside these histories, this episode traces the origins of words such as dilettante, empleomania, gaffer, thrasonical, lucubrate and ambition.

History Daily - https://www.historydaily.com

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https://www.historytoday.com/archive/horace-walpole-gothick-man-letters/1000

https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/know-the-ropes.html

To burke is to kill by strangulation, a word taken from the name of a 19th century murderer. In Anglo-Saxon England, a killing could be settled with payment through the wergild, a sum paid by the offender to the victim's family. In France, a petty criminal would go on to become one of the first figures to resemble a modern detective.

Alongside these histories, this episode explores the origins of words such as assassin, scelerate, culprit, trucidate and lucre.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zvrsydm#zhxbcmn

https://biomedical-sciences.ed.ac.uk/anatomy/anatomical-museum/collection/people/burke

https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/eugene-francois-vidocq-and-the-birth-of-the-detective/

https://blog.oup.com/2015/08/word-etymology-culprit/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/content/articles/2006/04/11/local_heroes_doctor_william_palmer_feature.shtml

This episode investigates obscure words for conversations about bizarre histories, considering their origins and familiar words from the same root. Words explored include diluvial, nundination, expetible, tripudiate, mucilaginous, delitescent and redhibition.

Hear a collection of strange moments from the past, from a deadly latrine collapse in Erfurt to a speculative frenzy over tulips, a mysterious dancing outbreak, and a city flooded with molasses.

Sources:
https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/erfurt-latrine-disaster-what-happened/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20160419-tulip-mania-the-flowers-that-cost-more-than-houses

https://www.britannica.com/event/dancing-plague-of-1518

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/molasses-flood-physics-science/

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This podcast returns on April 12th 2026. This episode explores unusual words for conversations about chance, examining their origins and recognisable words from the same root. Words covered include incertitude, vicissitude, pari-mutuel, fortuity, aleatory and serendipity.

Plus, hear how some public offices in ancient Greece were filled by lottery rather than election, reflecting a belief that randomness could serve as a safeguard against corruption.


Sources:
https://ccel.org/ccel/gibbon/decline/decline.viii.xli.html

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/9105/9105-h/9105-h.htm

https://blog.oup.com/2016/03/sortition-ancient-greece-democracy

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This episode examines uncommon words for conversations about fixity, exploring their origins and familiar words from the same root. Words featured include intransigent, obdurate, adamantine, indelible, obstinate and irrevocable.

Hear how a wartime survey of buildings at risk of bombing led to Britain's listed building system, granting certain structures legal protection designed to secure their permanence.

Sources:
https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/09/crying-over-spilled-milk.html

https://utc.iath.virginia.edu/abolitn/abeswlgbt.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/targets-of-enemy-bombers-and-our-own-demolition-men-1598384.html

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/about-the-list/

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This episode explores lesser known words that are useful in conversations about reputation, considering their origins and recognisable words from the same root. Words highlighted include perfidious, calumny, susurration, ignominy, opprobrium, obloquy and flagitious.

Listen to the history of how a derailed train helped shape the beginnings of the modern public relations industry.

Sources:

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1857-08-18/debates/4642f51a-ffe6-4eee-a43e-9276e7fc81ac/CompensationForTheSufferersByTheIndianMutiny

https://www.audible.com/blog/quotes-theodore-roosevelt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qn-XatSQaA&t=404s

https://www.irishlegal.com/articles/irish-legal-heritage-richard-pigott-and-the-forgeries-commission

https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-history-spin-doctor

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This episode investigates obscure words for discussions about error, tracing their origins and familiar words from the same root. Words examined include solecism, lapsus calami, amphibology, defalcation, misfeasance and mea culpa.

Discover the mistaken beliefs that gave us the names West Indies, malaria and platinum.

Sources:

https://www.rd.com/article/malapropism-examples/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOU0eA03S2c

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/quarterly-bulletin/2015/desperate-adventures-and-men-of-straw-the-failure-of-city-of-glasgow.pdf

https://www.taylor-rose.co.uk/posts/misfeasance

https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/library-archive-open-research-services/archives/sir-ronald-ross-collections

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anJKMZCVjxs

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