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 83
Page 6
... century Middle English , when Chaucer used it for ' mental anguish or distress ' . During the seventeenth century , agony acquired the sense of ' intense pain of body ' and then took on the additional sense of ' a violent struggle ...
... century Middle English , when Chaucer used it for ' mental anguish or distress ' . During the seventeenth century , agony acquired the sense of ' intense pain of body ' and then took on the additional sense of ' a violent struggle ...
Page 7
... seventeenth century . During the Restoration period — after 1660 — we begin to find the first printed evidence of several negative contractions that had come into spoken use during the century . ( We actually don't know when spoken use ...
... seventeenth century . During the Restoration period — after 1660 — we begin to find the first printed evidence of several negative contractions that had come into spoken use during the century . ( We actually don't know when spoken use ...
Page 8
... century . Remember that an ' t is a speech form . We don't have a lot of printed evidence for it , and what we have ... seventeenth - century contraction ha'nt used for both ' have not ' and ' has not ' . ( Have you noticed how the ...
... century . Remember that an ' t is a speech form . We don't have a lot of printed evidence for it , and what we have ... seventeenth - century contraction ha'nt used for both ' have not ' and ' has not ' . ( Have you noticed how the ...
Page 10
... century , it was still used as an adverb . In his satirical pamphlet " The History of John Bull , " written in 1727 ... seventeenth century . Alimony is related to such words as alimentary and aliment ; aliment is the Scottish legal term ...
... century , it was still used as an adverb . In his satirical pamphlet " The History of John Bull , " written in 1727 ... seventeenth century . Alimony is related to such words as alimentary and aliment ; aliment is the Scottish legal term ...
Page 18
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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...