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 xii
Surviving in Latin as pater ( Jupiter is Zeus - pater ) , in Italian as papa and the papal seat of the pope , and in French as père , it makes the Germanic shift from a p sound to an f sound in the German Vater , Danish fader ...
Surviving in Latin as pater ( Jupiter is Zeus - pater ) , in Italian as papa and the papal seat of the pope , and in French as père , it makes the Germanic shift from a p sound to an f sound in the German Vater , Danish fader ...
Page xiv
Gelett Burgess in this century invented the word blurb because it " sounds like a publisher . " Kodak was coined by cameraman George Eastman , who thought that k has a commanding sound . Radar ( radio detecting and ranging ) and scuba ...
Gelett Burgess in this century invented the word blurb because it " sounds like a publisher . " Kodak was coined by cameraman George Eastman , who thought that k has a commanding sound . Radar ( radio detecting and ranging ) and scuba ...
Page xv
Ideas and experiences are infinite ; to express them , we have 26 letters and some 45 sounds . Some words , though long , are easy to trace . An electroencephalogram is the writing ( gram , graph ) of the electric movements of the brain ...
Ideas and experiences are infinite ; to express them , we have 26 letters and some 45 sounds . Some words , though long , are easy to trace . An electroencephalogram is the writing ( gram , graph ) of the electric movements of the brain ...
Page xviii
Words that in early times began with one of the sounds listed below , may later have changed to the next sound to the right . Gutturals : g , k , kh ( h ) , g Examples : genus , kin ; choler , gall ; host , guest Dentals : d ...
Words that in early times began with one of the sounds listed below , may later have changed to the next sound to the right . Gutturals : g , k , kh ( h ) , g Examples : genus , kin ; choler , gall ; host , guest Dentals : d ...
Page xix
Vowel Actions Indo - European words were never written ; they were spoken by heedless illiter- ates who ( as speakers of dialects around the world today ) tended to slur sounds , drop any sound that got in the way of rapid expression ...
Vowel Actions Indo - European words were never written ; they were spoken by heedless illiter- ates who ( as speakers of dialects around the world today ) tended to slur sounds , drop any sound that got in the way of rapid expression ...
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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 |