The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word HistoriesMerriam-Webster, 1991 - 526 pages A gold mine of fascinating word histories! This engaging and informative book reveals the origins of 1,500 words from "abigail" to "zombie", tracing in terms from the mythology of ancient Greece to the comic strips of the 20th century. This delightful volume will help you discover how a skimpy bathing suit came to be called a "bikini" and what "serendipity" has to do with Horace Walpole. |
From inside the book
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Page v
... English words have histories of great interest , but only a small sampling could find space here . Still , the more than six hundred articles which form the heart of the book , many of them discussing several related words , offer ...
... English words have histories of great interest , but only a small sampling could find space here . Still , the more than six hundred articles which form the heart of the book , many of them discussing several related words , offer ...
Page vii
... English is not a Romance language . In terms of its genetic stock , English is a member of the Germanic group , and thus a sister of such extinct tongues as Old Norse and Gothic and such modern ones as Swed- ish , Dutch , and German ...
... English is not a Romance language . In terms of its genetic stock , English is a member of the Germanic group , and thus a sister of such extinct tongues as Old Norse and Gothic and such modern ones as Swed- ish , Dutch , and German ...
Page viii
... word like that or your preceded them or they stood alone . To get a sense of how far evolution has taken us from the early tongue , we need only glance at a sample of Old English . Here is the beginning of the Lord's Prayer : Fæder ūre ...
... word like that or your preceded them or they stood alone . To get a sense of how far evolution has taken us from the early tongue , we need only glance at a sample of Old English . Here is the beginning of the Lord's Prayer : Fæder ūre ...
Page ix
... English vocabulary . In a few instances the influ- ence of a Scandinavian cognate gave an English word a new meaning . Thus our dream , which meant ' joy ' in Old English , probably took on the now familiar sense ' a series of thoughts ...
... English vocabulary . In a few instances the influ- ence of a Scandinavian cognate gave an English word a new meaning . Thus our dream , which meant ' joy ' in Old English , probably took on the now familiar sense ' a series of thoughts ...
Page x
... English speakers have encountered all over the globe . English has drawn words from India ( bandanna ) , China ( gung ho ) , and Japan ( tycoon ) , as well as a number of smaller areas in the Pacific ( amok and orangutan from the Malay ...
... English speakers have encountered all over the globe . English has drawn words from India ( bandanna ) , China ( gung ho ) , and Japan ( tycoon ) , as well as a number of smaller areas in the Pacific ( amok and orangutan from the Malay ...
Common terms and phrases
adjective akin to Gk akin to OHG alter American ancient animal appeared applied assumed attested back-formation became began bird borrowed into English called Church cognate common compound denote developed dialect Dictionary diminutive Dutch earlier earliest early eighteenth century England English borrowed English word etymology fascism fifteenth folk etymology fourteenth century French word gave rise German glish Gmc origin Goth Greek horse influenced Italian known language Late Latin later Latin verb Latin word LIEBFRAUMILCH literally meaning meant Medieval Latin Middle English Middle French Modern English neut nineteenth century noun Old English Old French Old High German Old Norse perh person phrase plural popular prob pronunciation refer Roman semantic seventeenth century Shakespeare similar sixteenth century song sound Spanish spelling synonym teenth century term tion trans translation turn verb Vulgar Latin WGmc writing
Popular passages
Page 6 - So I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of " agnostic." It came into my head as suggestively antithetic to the " gnostic " of Church history, who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant...