Can't upvote this enough; it's a great podcast. If this seems just a little too esoteric, might I appeal to everybody's prurient side and recommend Chaucer's Vulgar Tongue [0] as a gateway episode?

[0] https://historyofenglishpodcast.com/2019/09/25/episode-129-c...

Oh wow, I've never seen anyone rep that podcast elsewhere, but I highly recommend it. It's absolutely fascinating. I'm not much of a podcast listener, but this one pretty much immediately captured my attention and has held it (I'm now a ~70 episodes in IIRC).

Also the ITV series "The Adventure of English" with Melvyn Bragg. They're all on YT.

A a great podcast that has started a personal hobby/interest in linguistics and etymology.

I love that history is able break your notion of what is or isn't possible and this podcast is great at that; it repeatedly shows how no language is set in stone, it is a human construct, and how languages are interrelated.

That is one of my favorite podcasts! I often go back and listen to older episodes.

And ‘Mother Tongue’ by Bill Bryson.

Please don’t recommend that book. Bill Bryson has no training in linguistics and that book is so bad, that there is a factual error on virtually every page.

Mein Held!