Snowy Love.

I recently had the chance to see Nizhalkuthu (നിഴൽക്കുത്ത്, Shadow Kill); I think it’s my first movie in Malayalam, so I kept my linguist hat on as I watched, and one repeated word was സ്നേഹം (snēhaṁ) ‘love.’ Once the movie was over I looked it up, and was astonished to learn that its source, Sanskrit स्नेह॑ (snéha) ‘oil, grease, fat; smoothness, glossiness; moisture; tenderness, love’ is from Proto-Indo-European *snóygʷʰos ‘snow’! That’s one of the more unusual semantic transitions I’m aware of, and I thought I’d pass it along.