With over 8000 entries, and written for the general market, this volume uncovers the often surprising connections between words. Written in a clear and informative style, the dictionary describes the Indo-European origins of English and includes many new words and coinages adopted each year.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As a professional quiz writer this book has become my first choice for reference.
If you like me have ever wondered where the meaning of certain words come from then this book is a must.
Clear and concise, you will not be disappointed.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars
14 reviews
83 of 84 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
I broke this book in two....
20 Jan 2000
By David Oaks
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
... because I use it so often. That's right, there are so many fascinating, helpful word origins in this book that due to over-use and laying the book out flat to read it (over breakfast, etc.), it's the first book I actually split in two down the binding. So now I'll need to get another one. I read a few word origins from this book almost daily, it's my favorite word book. These word origins reveal twists, turns and reverses of the human mind, history and culture over the ages. Mr. Ayto doesn't just pick a few of the most interesting words; I like that a wide variety of words -- including mundane -- can be found here. The author is candid (marking with an asterisk) about which pre-literate word origins involve guess work. At the end of entries you'll often find cross-referenced words.
72 of 75 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow
22 Feb 2001
By absent_minded_prof
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I think this book may hold the record for most quickly becoming indispensible to me. It contains concise, single paragraph histories of the backgrounds of 8,000 words in our language. One thing I really enjoy about it is the way it combines presentations of the most common, everyday words with the coolest, most interesting ones.
Offhand, one of my favorite words would have to be the word "guitar." Did you know that the word guitar started out as the Greek word "kithara," and came to English by means of two separate routes? On the one hand, it passed directly through Europe, by way of the Roman Empire, becoming "cithara" in Latin and then "citole" in Middle English. On the other hand, it went through North Africa with the Muslims as a "qitar" in Arabic, then into Spanish by way of the Moors as "guitarra," then into French as "guitare," then finally into English as "guitar." (A citole, by the way, for all you non-Chaucer fans out there, was a medieval stringed instrument that we no longer have with us.)
That's just one word. There are 7,999 more entries like that, and all of them are amazing. This book is so worth the money it isn't even funny. Two million thumbs up.
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Single Reference Source
28 Oct 2000
By Robert Morris
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Ayto provides "the true historie" of more than 8,000 English-language words in a single volume, one which I consider to be the most useful of the several I own and regularly consult. Each entry is brief and precise. If you have a need and interest, or if you are merely curious about word origins and plan to purchase only one reference source, this is the one.
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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