The word 'salary' comes from the Latin 'salarium' — Roman soldiers were sometimes paid in salt.

The word 'salary' comes from 'sal' (salt) — Roman soldiers were sometimes paid in salt.

The @ symbol is called 'arroba' in Spanish and Portuguese, meaning a unit of weight.

Nearly all European languages, and many Asian ones, derive from a common ancestor called Proto-Indo-European.

Loanwords are borrowed from other languages — 'kindergarten,' 'safari,' 'pajama,' and 'robot' are all loanwords in English.

There are roughly 7,000 languages, but about 23 languages account for over half the world's speakers.

Sign languages are complete, independent languages — American Sign Language and British Sign Language are mutually unintelligible.

There are no true synonyms — words with similar meanings always differ in connotation or register.

The average English speaker uses only about 20,000 words actively — but recognizes 40,000–50,000.