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 i
... , The New York Times WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH USAGE " A must for every writer's library . " — The Boston Globe WEBSTER'S NEW DICTIONARY OF SYNONYMS This One JQST - FZX - 5YNO The Merriam - Webster New Book of Word Histories a.
... , The New York Times WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH USAGE " A must for every writer's library . " — The Boston Globe WEBSTER'S NEW DICTIONARY OF SYNONYMS This One JQST - FZX - 5YNO The Merriam - Webster New Book of Word Histories a.
Page xiii
... writing system . In tone languages , variations in tone distinguish words of different meaning that would otherwise sound alike . For words cited from such lan- guages , a small superscript number indicates the tone of the word it fol ...
... writing system . In tone languages , variations in tone distinguish words of different meaning that would otherwise sound alike . For words cited from such lan- guages , a small superscript number indicates the tone of the word it fol ...
Page 9
... writers like Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mary E. Wilkins Freeman spell it ain't . In some parts of the U.S. hain't is interchangeable with ain't . That's about all we know about ain't . You can see that there are some murky areas that ...
... writers like Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mary E. Wilkins Freeman spell it ain't . In some parts of the U.S. hain't is interchangeable with ain't . That's about all we know about ain't . You can see that there are some murky areas that ...
Page 10
... writer John Ar- buthnot illustrates this usage : " The prisoner had little to say in his defence ; he endeavoured to ... writers were quick to pick up this use- ful sense , but usage writers , both American and British , were also quick ...
... writer John Ar- buthnot illustrates this usage : " The prisoner had little to say in his defence ; he endeavoured to ... writers were quick to pick up this use- ful sense , but usage writers , both American and British , were also quick ...
Page 21
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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...