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Language-in its communicative and playful functions, its literary formations and its shifting meanings-is a perennially fascinating topic. C. S. Lewis's Studies in Words explores this fascination by taking a series of words and teasing out their connotations using examples from a vast range of English literature, recovering lost meanings and analyzing their functions. It doubles as an absorbing and entertaining study of verbal communication, its pleasures...

This reference traces English words back to their Indo-European roots. Each entry features a brief definition, identifies the language of origin, and employs a few illustrative quotations. An extensive appendix includes prefixes, suffixes, more.

Do you know why...a mortgage is literally a death pledge? ...why guns have girls' names? ...why salt is related to soldier? You're about to find out... The Etymologicon (e-t?-'mä-lä-ji-kän) is :Witty (wi-te\): Full of clever humor; Erudite (er-?-dit): Showing knowledge; Ribald (ri-b?ld): Crude, offensive. The Etymologicon is a completely unauthorized guide to the strange underpinnings of the English language. It explains: how you get from "gruntled"...

Where do our everyday words come from? The bagel you eat for breakfast, the bumf you have to wade through at the office, and the bus that takes you home again: we use these words without thinking about their origins or how their meanings have changed over time. Simon Horobin takes the reader on a journey through a typical day, showing how the words we use to describe routine activities - getting up, going to work, eating meals - have surprisingly...

To untangle the knot of interlocking meanings of these painted words, logophile and mythologist Phil Cousineau begins each fascinating word entry with his own brief definition. He then fills it in with a tint of etymology and a smattering of quotes that show how the word is used, ending with a list of companion words. The words themselves range from commonplace - like biscuit, a twice-baked cake for Roman soldiers - to loanwords including chaparral,...

The world's foremost expert on the English language takes us on an entertaining and eye-opening tour of the history of our vernacular through the ages. In The Story of English in 100 Words, an entertaining history of the world's most ubiquitous language, David Crystal draws on one hundred words that best illustrate the huge variety of sources, influences and events that have helped to shape our vernacular since the first definitively English word-'roe'-was...

This A-to-Z etymology guide reveals the people and characters whose names have evolved into common English words. Have you ever wondered about the origins of words like "Bowdlerize"? In 1818 Thomas Bowdler published and abridged set of Shakespeare's plays which "omitted those passages which might offend family propriety"-thereby making his name literally synonymous with the practice of distorting someone's words. In Word Origins, Cecil Hunt provides...

Teaches the lesser-known names of everyday objects, including the aglet at the end of a shoelace, the pink carnuncula in the corner of one's eye, and the cardboard zarf that slips around coffee cups.

"So many of the words that we use to chronicle women's lives feel awkward or alien. Medical terms are scrupulously accurate but antiseptic. Slang and obscenities have shock value, yet they perpetuate taboos. Where are the plain, honest words for women's daily lives? Mother Tongue is a historical investigation of feminist language and thought, from the dawn of Old English to the present day. Dr. Jenni Nuttall guides readers through the evolution of...

Eddie and MJ are suddenly transported to India where they must use their word knowledge to solve a mystery and help their new friend Dev save his school.