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
( with Latin ) , in royal court , and in law court . 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 ...
( with Latin ) , in royal court , and in law court . 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 ...
Page xiii
If two things are next to each other , they may be friends or opponents . Thus from kom came con , contra , against ; and com , together , with . A companion is one with whom you break bread ( Latin panem ) . Country is the land lying ...
If two things are next to each other , they may be friends or opponents . Thus from kom came con , contra , against ; and com , together , with . A companion is one with whom you break bread ( Latin panem ) . Country is the land lying ...
Page xiv
It embraces con- cise or colorful expressions from any source : Spanish pronto , French détente , Russian sputnik , Latin condominium , Latin etc. ( et cetera : and others ) . This in- gathering is a continuing process .
It embraces con- cise or colorful expressions from any source : Spanish pronto , French détente , Russian sputnik , Latin condominium , Latin etc. ( et cetera : and others ) . This in- gathering is a continuing process .
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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 |