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Author: Reader's Digest Association, Limited
Publisher: Reader's Digest Association
Published: 2008-02-01
Total Pages: 382
ISBN-13: 9780276442445
DOWNLOAD EBOOKReveals the secrets, scandals and surprises behind the words used every day. This book includes the stories and the personalities that have helped shape the English language from William Shakespeare and Lord Byron, to Rudyard Kipling and Salmon Rushdie.
Author: William Morris
Publisher: Harper Collins
Published: 1988-05-17
Total Pages: 516
ISBN-13: 006015862X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Morrises, well-known lexicographers, published a dictionary of the same title in 1977, a revision of a three-volume work published between 1962 and 1971. This new revision, which provides histories of interesting words and phrases in the English language, is similar in concept to several books by John Ciardi. Like Ciardi's works, the etymologies and phrase origins are presented in a readable style, making them a joy to browse.
Author: Jordan Almond
Publisher: Citadel Press
Published: 1995
Total Pages: 292
ISBN-13: 9780806517131
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis dictionary gives the intriguing origins of hundreds of everyday words and expressions. Useful for reference and fun just for browsing, Dictionary of Word Origins is also a great way to expand vocabulary and enjoy doing it.
Author: Max Cryer
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
Published: 2011-03-25
Total Pages: 406
ISBN-13: 1458785599
DOWNLOAD EBOOKBelieve it or not, this is probably the first book to attempt to identify the original sources of some of the English language's most common expressions. We might think we know who first said famous for fifteen minutes, annus horribilis, the cold war and let them eat cake. It's a no brainer, you might say, but Max Cryer has a surprise or two in ...
Author: Anatoly Liberman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2009-04-13
Total Pages: 336
ISBN-13: 0199889015
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWritten in a funny, charming, and conversational style, Word Origins is the first book to offer a thorough investigation of the history and the science of etymology, making this little-known field accessible to everyone interested in the history of words. Anatoly Liberman, an internationally acclaimed etymologist, takes the reader by the hand and explains the many ways that English words can be made, and the many ways in which etymologists try to unearth the origins of words. Every chapter is packed with dozens of examples of proven word histories, used to illustrate the correct ways to trace the origins of words as well as some of the egregiously bad ways to trace them. He not only tells the known origins of hundreds of words, but also shows how their origins were determined. And along the way, the reader is treated to a wealth of fascinating word facts. Did they once have bells in a belfry? No, the original meaning of belfry was siege tower. Are the words isle and island, raven and ravenous, or pan and pantry related etymologically? No, though they look strikingly similar, these words came to English via different routes. Partly a history, partly a how-to, and completely entertaining, Word Origins invites readers behind the scenes to watch an etymologist at work.
Author: Julia Cresswell
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2010-09-09
Total Pages: 514
ISBN-13: 0199547939
DOWNLOAD EBOOKContains alphabetically arranged entries that explore the origin, evolution, and social history of over three thousand English language words.
Author: Robert Hendrickson
Publisher: Facts on File
Published: 2000
Total Pages: 754
ISBN-13: 9780816040889
DOWNLOAD EBOOKExplains the origins of thousands of words, proverbs, idioms, foreign language expressions, animal and plant names, and nicknames.
Author: Neil Ewart
Publisher:
Published: 1983
Total Pages: 162
ISBN-13: 9780713713541
DOWNLOAD EBOOKExplains the meaning and implication of 400 phrases commonly used throughout the English-speaking world, such as: eager beaver and sour grapes.
Author: Joseph Twadell Shipley
Publisher: JHU Press
Published: 2001-07
Total Pages: 688
ISBN-13: 9780801867842
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThere are no direct records of the original Indo-European speech. By comparing the vocabularies of its various descendants, however, it is possible to reconstruct the basic Indo-European roots with considerable confidence. In The Origins of English Words, Shipley catalogues these proposed roots and follows the often devious, always fascinating, process by which some of their offshoots have grown. Anecdotal, eclectic, and always enthusiastic, The Origins of English Words is a diverting expedition beyond linguistics into literature, history, folklore, anthropology, philosophy, and science.
Author: Patricia T. O'Conner
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Published: 2010-08-24
Total Pages: 290
ISBN-13: 0812978102
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDo you cringe when a talking head pronounces “niche” as NITCH? Do you get bent out of shape when your teenager begins a sentence with “and”? Do you think British spellings are more “civilised” than the American versions? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you’re myth-informed. In Origins of the Specious, word mavens Patricia T. O’Conner and Stewart Kellerman reveal why some of grammar’s best-known “rules” aren’t—and never were—rules at all. This playfully witty, rigorously researched book sets the record straight about bogus word origins, politically correct fictions, phony français, fake acronyms, and more. Here are some shockers: “They” was once commonly used for both singular and plural, much the way “you” is today. And an eighteenth-century female grammarian, of all people, is largely responsible for the all-purpose “he.” From the Queen’s English to street slang, this eye-opening romp will be the toast of grammarphiles and the salvation of grammarphobes. Take our word for it.
