The Origins of English Words: A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European RootsJHU Press, 2001 - 672 pages There 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 xii
... endings of the root word . But by their roots ye shall know them . Sir William Jones ( 1745-1794 ) , while a judge in Calcutta , declared : " No phi- lologer can examine the Sanskrit , Greek , and Latin , without believing them to have ...
... endings of the root word . But by their roots ye shall know them . Sir William Jones ( 1745-1794 ) , while a judge in Calcutta , declared : " No phi- lologer can examine the Sanskrit , Greek , and Latin , without believing them to have ...
Page xv
... ending ; it means not the study of flowers , but a bouquet , a garland , of words . Word ways , while usually explicable , are always unpredictable . The endings of words must be watched carefully for the changes they make in the root ...
... ending ; it means not the study of flowers , but a bouquet , a garland , of words . Word ways , while usually explicable , are always unpredictable . The endings of words must be watched carefully for the changes they make in the root ...
Page xxi
... ending in puram or pur , such as Mahabalipuram , Rampur , and the one that has come into English as the riding breeches and boots , the jodhpurs . In America , Minneapolis combines the Greek word for city with the Sioux word for water ...
... ending in puram or pur , such as Mahabalipuram , Rampur , and the one that has come into English as the riding breeches and boots , the jodhpurs . In America , Minneapolis combines the Greek word for city with the Sioux word for water ...
Page xxiii
... ending in the Latin suffix osus : full of , may come into English as bellicose , grandiose , verbose ; or as courageous , ostentatious , pious ( full of piety ) . Usually the ose form is more learned , taken directly from the Latin ...
... ending in the Latin suffix osus : full of , may come into English as bellicose , grandiose , verbose ; or as courageous , ostentatious , pious ( full of piety ) . Usually the ose form is more learned , taken directly from the Latin ...
Page xxv
... ending in mania ; even more some 275 - in phobia ; yet these authors state that in no case is the compound with phobia " clearer , more convenient , more euphonious , or less ambiguous , than if the morbid fear had been characterized in ...
... ending in mania ; even more some 275 - in phobia ; yet these authors state that in no case is the compound with phobia " clearer , more convenient , more euphonious , or less ambiguous , than if the morbid fear had been characterized in ...
Other editions - View all
The Origins of English Words: A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European Roots Joseph Twadell Shipley No preview available - 2001 |
Common terms and phrases
ambhi bhag bhel bher bhes bheu bhili bhreg called caput coined columns compounds deik dekm dheigh N dheigh N 13 dhel dheu eghs element ending English folk etymology folkchanged French genus gerbh ghdhem gher goddess Greek guei guel hence ieug imitative jing kapr kel VIII King kleu ksei ksun kuei kuetuer labh Latin leguh leuk literally Love's Labor's Lost meaning medhi morui nebh nekut neuos oino onomen pilo plek pleu prefix relevant words beginning Roman root sek II seku Shakespeare skeu slang smer sner song sound spek sphei ster steu suer suffix tag II tereq teue tragh uegh ueid ueik ueks uelu uer II uerg uiro W. S. Gilbert whence
References to this book
Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing Michael Winkelman No preview available - 2000 |
The Mystery to a Solution: Poe, Borges, and the Analytic Detective Story John T. Irwin Limited preview - 1994 |