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...German all belong to the Germanic branch, while French, Spanish and Italian belong to the Italic branch. This means that the Germanic languages all evolved from a common language and the Italic languages from another. Yet both of these had evolved earlier from a much older common language which is now called proto-Indo-European. In the same way, all the Celtic languages...

...Germanic tribes, Vikings and the Normans. More recent globalisation, including colonial activity, has brought even more words into the language. Each of the ten words below has originated from another language, sometimes by a complex route. Tomato, guitar, pyjamas, juggernaut, slogan, taboo, shaman, mumbo-jumbo, raccoon, embargo. Can you guess the geographical origin of...

...German, Norwegian, English and Italian. In languages such as Czech where the word order is less prescribed, Yoda is switched back to the "Subject – Verb – ​Object" word order you would typically expect in normal French, which is actually stranger sounding to native Czech speakers! Will you be able to help Maître Yoda to correct his French syntax? Here is a little...