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. |
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Page x
... extended , or generalized , to cover a host of similar senses . Our virtue is derived from the Latin virtus , which originally meant ' manli- ness ' . But we apply the term to any excellent quality possessed by man , woman , or beast ...
... extended , or generalized , to cover a host of similar senses . Our virtue is derived from the Latin virtus , which originally meant ' manli- ness ' . But we apply the term to any excellent quality possessed by man , woman , or beast ...
Page 8
... extended to the third person singular since it already served all the other forms of present - tense be . So an't was established in the meanings ' am not ' , ' are not ' , and ' is not ' by early in the eighteenth century . Remember ...
... extended to the third person singular since it already served all the other forms of present - tense be . So an't was established in the meanings ' am not ' , ' are not ' , and ' is not ' by early in the eighteenth century . Remember ...
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Page 39
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Page 49
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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...