Aye & Aiwa

Digging into words, and geeking out on language

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about

I’m a language enthusiast who’s lived in Scotland, Spain, and France, and I’m married to a wonderful Moroccan—so my life’s a beautiful blend of cultures and languages. I’m especially fascinated by words, their origins, and etymology. Whether it’s an interesting expression or an ancient root, I love exploring how language shapes the way we think and connect.

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    • Corgi’s

      Corgi’s are so popular now. If you walk around Paris you can see so many of them. But, where did the name come from. The origin of the word corgi is not quite black and white. Some believe it’s a blend of two old Welsh words: cor, meaning “dwarf,” and ci (which later evolved into…

    • Mois de mai, mois gruyère

      The other day, I heard the loveliest phase – “Month of May, gruyère month”, or as the lovely woman shared with me, “mai gruyère”. This refers to the fact that in France (and much of Europe), the month of May is packed with public holidays, turning the calendar into a block of Swiss cheese—well, Gruyère,…

    • Words used in Scotland that the Vikings left.

      Coming from Scotland, and dearly wanting to experience Up Helly Aa festival – something I’ve yet to see in person. Growing up, I heard stories about the Vikings coming to Scotland, but I never realised just how many words they left behind, many of which we still use today. Greet – Græd (cry) Reek –…

    • Why Aye and Aiwa?

      When thinking of what to call this site, so many ideas and going round in circles but my head always came back to “Aye and Aiwa”. You see, I’m from Scotland and my husband is from Morocco. “Aye” in Scotland means “yes”. “Aiwa” in arabic also means “yes”. For me, it just has a nice…