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 xviii
Shakespeare punned in his title Much Ado About Nothing ( pronounced Noting ) : to carry along the plot , many things must be noted , as by eavesdropping , or discerned through the blundering of Dogberry . Like other good playwrights ...
Shakespeare punned in his title Much Ado About Nothing ( pronounced Noting ) : to carry along the plot , many things must be noted , as by eavesdropping , or discerned through the blundering of Dogberry . Like other good playwrights ...
Page xx
English ( Shakespeare's ) Harry le Roi was Prince Hal . From the " gramarye " of medieval witchcraft and alchemy , grammar and glamour ( originally a spell , still the spell of beauty ) are variants of a single word .
English ( Shakespeare's ) Harry le Roi was Prince Hal . From the " gramarye " of medieval witchcraft and alchemy , grammar and glamour ( originally a spell , still the spell of beauty ) are variants of a single word .
Page xxiv
Shakespeare , as might be expected , was the greatest wordfacturologist of them all . Well known is his one - time honorificabilitudinitatibus , with its long alternation of consonants and vowels . Less well known is the fact that of ...
Shakespeare , as might be expected , was the greatest wordfacturologist of them all . Well known is his one - time honorificabilitudinitatibus , with its long alternation of consonants and vowels . Less well known is the fact that of ...
Page xxvii
( We are told that a family is not truly Old American unless there is a horsethief on the tree ; Shakespeare is truly Old English , for the earliest recorded fellow of that ilk , William Sakspere of Clopton , who died in 1248 ...
( We are told that a family is not truly Old American unless there is a horsethief on the tree ; Shakespeare is truly Old English , for the earliest recorded fellow of that ilk , William Sakspere of Clopton , who died in 1248 ...
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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 |