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
Results 1-5 of 89
Page 2
... reader than an acronymic one . Reading that a word comes down to us via a seemingly endless cascade of meaningless little sound changes from the remote and ultimately unknow- adolescent 3 able Indo - European , many readers find 2 accident.
... reader than an acronymic one . Reading that a word comes down to us via a seemingly endless cascade of meaningless little sound changes from the remote and ultimately unknow- adolescent 3 able Indo - European , many readers find 2 accident.
Page 3
... comes from " north , east , west , south , " which is certainly more colorful than its actual derivation from new ( possibly on the model of French nouvelles ' news ' , from nouvelle ' new ' ) . Such purported origins are especially ...
... comes from " north , east , west , south , " which is certainly more colorful than its actual derivation from new ( possibly on the model of French nouvelles ' news ' , from nouvelle ' new ' ) . Such purported origins are especially ...
Page 4
... comes to us , through the French , from Latin adulterium , derived from the verb adulterare , ' to pollute , defile ... come to ] agnostic 5 aegis Today when we speak of something as 4 adroit.
... comes to us , through the French , from Latin adulterium , derived from the verb adulterare , ' to pollute , defile ... come to ] agnostic 5 aegis Today when we speak of something as 4 adroit.
Page 6
... comes from Greek atheos , ' godless , not believing in the existence of gods ' . [ modif . ( influenced by E Gnostic ) of Gk agnōstos unknown , unknowable , not knowing , fr . a- not , without + gnōstos known , fr . gignōskein to know ] ...
... comes from Greek atheos , ' godless , not believing in the existence of gods ' . [ modif . ( influenced by E Gnostic ) of Gk agnōstos unknown , unknowable , not knowing , fr . a- not , without + gnōstos known , fr . gignōskein to know ] ...
Page 7
... comes from a Restora- tion comedy ; it means ' am not ' : Miss Prue . You need not sit so near one , if you have any thing to say , I can hear you farther off , I an't deaf . Ben . Why that's true as you say , nor I an't dumb , I can be ...
... comes from a Restora- tion comedy ; it means ' am not ' : Miss Prue . You need not sit so near one , if you have any thing to say , I can hear you farther off , I an't deaf . Ben . Why that's true as you say , nor I an't dumb , I can be ...
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...