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 xviii
... Greek and Latin gave English pluvial and plutocracy ; from Germanic flug came flow , flee , flight . The k to kh sound shift appears in Spanish caballo , French cheval , English cavalry and chivalry . ( The two foreign words also show ...
... Greek and Latin gave English pluvial and plutocracy ; from Germanic flug came flow , flee , flight . The k to kh sound shift appears in Spanish caballo , French cheval , English cavalry and chivalry . ( The two foreign words also show ...
Page xix
... Greek u is usually turned into English y , as gune , woman , gives us gyne- cology . The Oxford English Dictionary lists hubristic as " irregular for hybristic . " Words beginning with i in Greek or Latin may begin with j or y in ...
... Greek u is usually turned into English y , as gune , woman , gives us gyne- cology . The Oxford English Dictionary lists hubristic as " irregular for hybristic . " Words beginning with i in Greek or Latin may begin with j or y in ...
Page xx
... Greek word . Latin prunum became Anglo - Saxon plum be- fore it came again into the language as prune . Agatha Christie , in Elephants Can Remember , speaks of twin sisters Dorothy and Margaret , " known colloquially as Dolly and Molly ...
... Greek word . Latin prunum became Anglo - Saxon plum be- fore it came again into the language as prune . Agatha Christie , in Elephants Can Remember , speaks of twin sisters Dorothy and Margaret , " known colloquially as Dolly and Molly ...
Page xxi
... Greek word for city with the Sioux word for water . In Egyptian hieroglyphics one symbol , a lion couchant , represents both sounds , I and r . In the Minoan Linear A script , used on the island of Crete from 3000 to 1500 B.C. , Cyrus H ...
... Greek word for city with the Sioux word for water . In Egyptian hieroglyphics one symbol , a lion couchant , represents both sounds , I and r . In the Minoan Linear A script , used on the island of Crete from 3000 to 1500 B.C. , Cyrus H ...
Page xxiii
... Greek agkura : bent , English angle , anchor ; Greek aggelus : mes- senger , English angel , messenger of the Lord . In 15th - century English , smooth flow of sound occasionally added an n , as message led to messenger , passage to ...
... Greek agkura : bent , English angle , anchor ; Greek aggelus : mes- senger , English angel , messenger of the Lord . In 15th - century English , smooth flow of sound occasionally added an n , as message led to messenger , passage to ...
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 |