A word's odd journeySourced
From “load a gun”
to “invite to a birthday.”
In Wangerooge Frisian, onlidder once meant “to load,” as with a ship or gun. Contact with German appears to have shifted it toward “to invite,” a usage preserved in a birthday invitation.
A small invitation
captured a big shift in meaning.
Summary / translation: Unbubly · CC BY-SA 4.0
Source and reuse details
Wangerooge Frisian · Wikimedia contributors
Adapted, summarized and translated from the source. Adapted text is also available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Reviewed: 2026-10-01