Sl- for slither, slink and slime

It’s very strange how many words in English beginning with the letters sl have similar meanings. Think of ‘slick’, ‘slip’, ‘slide’, ‘slither’, ‘slink’ and ‘slime’. All of these have something to do with a particular kind of movement, or sensation, but their exact relationship is indefinable. In the same way, words beginning with gl often have something to do with quality of light – ‘glitter’, ‘glisten’, ‘glint’ and so on. I suppose we’re used to the idea that whole words can sound like the things they describe (‘crash’ or ‘whisper’ come readily to mind) but groups of letters? It’s a mystery to me. Does anyone know of similar oddities in languages other than English?

What suits best?

Being English, I know the four suits in playing cards as ‘diamonds’, ‘hearts’, ‘clubs’ and ‘spades’. However, other languages interpret these symbols differently. Did you know that the French for clubs is trèfles, meaning ‘clover’? Or that, in Italian, spades are know as picche (pikes)? In Malay, one of my favourite languages, spades are given the name kelawa, which means ‘cave bat’! Entirely appropriate I think, given its shape. It would be fascinating to find out which words are used in other languages.