The Origins of English Words: A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European RootsThere are no direct records of the original Indo-European speech. By comparing the vocabularies of its various descendants, however, it is possible to reconstruct the basic Indo-European roots with considerable confidence. In The Origins of English Words, Shipley catalogues these proposed roots and follows the often devious, always fascinating, process by which some of their offshoots have grown. Anecdotal, eclectic, and always enthusiastic, The Origins of English Words is a diverting expedition beyond linguistics into literature, history, folklore, anthropology, philosophy, and science. |
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Page xi
Along the Mediter- ranean Sea they grew into Greek and Latin , and from the latter , the speech of Rome , came the Romance languages , Italian , Spanish , Portuguese , Romanian , French . Westward through Europe came the Celtic and ...
Along the Mediter- ranean Sea they grew into Greek and Latin , and from the latter , the speech of Rome , came the Romance languages , Italian , Spanish , Portuguese , Romanian , French . Westward through Europe came the Celtic and ...
Page xii
For some three hundred fifty years Anglo - Saxon and Norman French competed , and gradually merged , until Chau- cer's poems and Caxton's printing press set the crown upon their fusion into English . In the shuffle and friction of these ...
For some three hundred fifty years Anglo - Saxon and Norman French competed , and gradually merged , until Chau- cer's poems and Caxton's printing press set the crown upon their fusion into English . In the shuffle and friction of these ...
Page xiii
The French have long objected to the assimilation of foreign terms ; they speak scornfully of Franglais , the acceptance of English expressions . And recently the Soviet Union has protested against the " corruption " of Russian by ...
The French have long objected to the assimilation of foreign terms ; they speak scornfully of Franglais , the acceptance of English expressions . And recently the Soviet Union has protested against the " corruption " of Russian by ...
Page xiv
welcomes new words that identify new items or ideas from any land : Greek euphoria , French garage ( automobile barn ) , Swedish ombudsman , Afrikaans apartheid , Japanese karate ( empty hand ) and judo ( gentle way ) .
welcomes new words that identify new items or ideas from any land : Greek euphoria , French garage ( automobile barn ) , Swedish ombudsman , Afrikaans apartheid , Japanese karate ( empty hand ) and judo ( gentle way ) .
Page xv
Wonderful is a genuine word , a valid counter in the exchange of ideas ; wan- derful is a false coinage , a counterfeit ( French feit from Latin factum , made ) made against but in imitation of a coveted or currently accepted form .
Wonderful is a genuine word , a valid counter in the exchange of ideas ; wan- derful is a false coinage , a counterfeit ( French feit from Latin factum , made ) made against but in imitation of a coveted or currently accepted form .
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The Origins of English Words: A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European Roots Joseph Twadell Shipley No preview available - 2001 |
Common terms and phrases
ancient animal applied bhel bird called caput coined columns comes compounds dheigh dheigh N dheu earlier early earth element ending England English especially figuratively four French frequent genus gher gives Greek hand head hence horse human imitative Italy John King kleu known Latin letters lists literally live Lord meaning meant nebh Note one's onomen originally perhaps person plant play plek Possibly prefix probably Roman root says sense Shakespeare shape song sound speaks stand ster suer term things tree turn ueid usually whence woman words beginning
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Origins of English Words: A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European Roots |
| Author | Joseph Twadell Shipley |
| Edition | reprint |
| Publisher | JHU Press, 2001 |
| ISBN | 0801867843, 9780801867842 |
| Length | 672 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |