- Hardcover: 568 pages
- Publisher: OUP Oxford (18 April 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0198631219
- ISBN-13: 978-0198631217
- Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 15.6 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
817,195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #14 in Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Linguistics > Semantics > Lexicography
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Review
This useful book explains the meaning of English words, but only in the course of giving a very concise history, uncluttered by quotations and examples of usage, of how they came to mean what they do. Look up 'egregious', for instance, and you discover that its current meaning of 'remarkably bad' has somehow morphed from an original meaning of 'remarkably good', probably via an ironic usage of the former. In general, it's fascinating to be reminded of how many English words have a root in Old English. And perhaps surprising to find how many 'slang' usages which seem very modern actually originate in the 1920s and 1930s ('funny money', and 'fuzz' meaning police, for instance). It's both a valuable resource for reference, and almost endlessly intriguing to dip into in a serendipitous way.
Product Description
The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories describes the origins and sense development of thousands of core words of the English language; dates are given where recorded evidence of use has been found sourced by the ongoing research for the Oxford English Dictionary. Additional word histories outside this core group are included for words with a particularly interesting story to tell and links between words are given where these enhance the picture. A key feature of the book is the inclusion of a large number of well-known idioms with dates of original use with details of how and when they came about, eg happy as a sandboy, say it with flowers. Colourful popular beliefs are explored about words such as posh and snob, while insights are given into our social history revealed by language development, such as the connection in a Roman soldier's mind of salary with salt. The notion of 'relationships' is central and highlights the following: · shared roots (e.g. stare and starve both from a base meaning 'be rigid') · common ancestry (mongrel related to mingle and among) · surprising commonality (wage and wed) · typical formation (blab, bleat, chatter, gibber, all imitative of sounds) · influence by association (cloudscape on the pattern of landscape) · shared wordbuilding elements (hyperspace, hypersonic, hyperlink) with boxed information on the various meanings of the prefix in question.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
This book is really fascinating. It gives the background to thousands of English words. Anyone who is interested in our language should have The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories.
When I look up a word, it leads on to other words; it is such pure pleasure that it is hard to put the book down.
My advice is: buy it, and you won't be disappointed.
When I look up a word, it leads on to other words; it is such pure pleasure that it is hard to put the book down.
My advice is: buy it, and you won't be disappointed.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
35 of 39 people found the following review helpful
completely redundant
25 Nov 2003
Almost every entry here is a straightforward, unimaginative transcription of the short etymology feature included in ANY dictionary of the English language. A typical entry in this book reads (in full): "Slander: Slander is from Old French esclandre, an alteration of escandle, from late Latin scandalum 'scandal'." Which, as you can see, doesn't contain a single iota of information you couldn't find from the entry for "slander" in Webster, American Heritage, OED, or any halfway decent dictionary. This book is both a redundancy and a rip-off. Stay away.
48 of 55 people found the following review helpful
Shallow Look At Dull Words
11 Feb 2003
First off, the Editorial Review is somewhat misleading, as there are very few idioms ("say it with flowers" is not one of them) in this book. The book is mainly concerned with words originating from Middle or Old English -- that is, words whose origins are straightforward.
I was hoping for a book that would discuss modern words with unclear (like "hooker", "skyscraper", or "reefer"), and include idioms common in today's speech. This book seems to limit its entries to words with easy-to-trace origins, and idioms (like "spick and span") that don't see much usage in the books I read.
There must be a better reference out there.
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