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 vii
... German . The history of English is intimately tied to the history of the British Isles over the last 1500 years or so . We may speak of English as having its begin- nings with the conquest and settlement of a large part of the island of ...
... German . The history of English is intimately tied to the history of the British Isles over the last 1500 years or so . We may speak of English as having its begin- nings with the conquest and settlement of a large part of the island of ...
Page ix
... German , delicatessen , pretzel , and swindler , and from Swedish , ombudsman and smorgasbord . From Italian we have taken carnival , fiasco , and pizza , as well as many terms from music ( including piano ) . Portuguese has given us ...
... German , delicatessen , pretzel , and swindler , and from Swedish , ombudsman and smorgasbord . From Italian we have taken carnival , fiasco , and pizza , as well as many terms from music ( including piano ) . Portuguese has given us ...
Page xv
... German Hölle .French feu , German Höhle ôi ....... toy ..pepper , lip P ...... r ......... rarity S .......... Source , less sh ..shy , mission t ..... ..tie , attack th ..thin , ether th . .then , either ü ... ..boot , few \ ' fyü \ ů .. .
... German Hölle .French feu , German Höhle ôi ....... toy ..pepper , lip P ...... r ......... rarity S .......... Source , less sh ..shy , mission t ..... ..tie , attack th ..thin , ether th . .then , either ü ... ..boot , few \ ' fyü \ ů .. .
Page xvi
... German act .. ... active Gael .. Gaelic A.D. ..anno Domini gen .. ..genitive adj . ..adjective Ger German adv .adverb Gk ... Greek ( to A.D. 200 ) AF . ..Anglo - French Gmc ... .Germanic Alb . Albanian Goth .Gothic alter . ..alteration ...
... German act .. ... active Gael .. Gaelic A.D. ..anno Domini gen .. ..genitive adj . ..adjective Ger German adv .adverb Gk ... Greek ( to A.D. 200 ) AF . ..Anglo - French Gmc ... .Germanic Alb . Albanian Goth .Gothic alter . ..alteration ...
Page xvii
... German Serb .Serbian Olr .. .Old Irish sing . ..singular Olt . .Old Italian Skt Sanskrit OL Old Latin Slav .Slavic ... German var part .. .participle VL Pek . ..Pekingese W .. .verb .variant ..Vulgar Latin .Welsh Per .Persian WGmc ...
... German Serb .Serbian Olr .. .Old Irish sing . ..singular Olt . .Old Italian Skt Sanskrit OL Old Latin Slav .Slavic ... German var part .. .participle VL Pek . ..Pekingese W .. .verb .variant ..Vulgar Latin .Welsh Per .Persian WGmc ...
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...