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.

    • 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 gi), meaning “dog.” Or, it could also come from the Welsh word curgi, which means “to watch over.”

      Whichever one it is, they’re absolutely adorable!

      Portrait of cute Pembroke Welsh Corgi lying on wooden floor and looking at camera. Adorable red and white dog resting on parquet in apartment. Concept of pets.

    • 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, to be precise. And the gruyère cheese – if you can imagine it – is full of holes. So, May has many public holidays, just like the holes in gruyère cheese.

      Beautiful cheeses in the kitchen – cheese food preparing concept

    • 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 – Røg (smoke) – Even the capital, Edinburgh’s nickname is “Auld Reekie”

      Hame – Hjem (home)

      Kilt – Kjalta (to fold)

      Bairn – Barn (child)

      I grew up using these words without ever stopping to think about where they came from. I love how language reveals the history of the land.

    • 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 ring to it.