- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: The Lilliput Press Ltd; 2nd Revised edition edition (Oct 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1843510731
- ISBN-13: 978-1843510734
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.6 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,024,326 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
"'This fascinating and revealing collection of words - some current and apparently commonplace, others seemingly esoteric and alien - is brilliantly arranged to encourage the reader to a fuller understanding of of Wittgenstein's enigmatic aphorism: "the limits of my language are the limits of my world.'" - PROFESSOR BRIAN FARRELL"
Product Description
"Wordgloss" is a lively, comprehensive reference work, first published to acclaim in 1990, now reworked and extended. This invaluable compendium consists of a series of mini-essays, informed by Latin and Greek and a deep knowledge of the humanities. It ranges over diverse categories that embrace law, politics, science, technology, literature, philosophy, and the arts. The extraordinary exponential expansion of modern knowledge has created a Niagara of words and concepts flowing from a wide range of disciplines never explored, borne on a stream of consciousness created by writers and thinkers. "Wordgloss" tells you where these words and concepts came from, examining the myth or history that clings to them and how they acquired the meaning they now have. It is a treasure-hoard that will intrigue, delight and divert, and become a necessity for every desk and library shelf.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Was this the wish of the Demiurge? Boston to Washington DC is a conurbation! Cui bono?! Do we live in a lexical dystopia awaiting a thaumaturgic gloss revival? Who today knows that "pleonasms are tautologous and should be avoided." Errata need not be repetitive - a verisimilitude! Do you need this book? Do you know the words? Author Jim O'Donnell (book Foreword by John Banville) writes in his preface that "the extraordinary expansion of modern knowledge and its fission into micro-specialties" has created "a niagara of words and concepts flowing from a wide range of disciplines that we have never explored." The everyday result is that our increasingly sophisticated modern world of communications is confronted by the Hydra-headed cultural stumbling block of a classics-based "verbal universe" manifesting an erstwhile lexical heritage to which most readers no longer have any personal or educational connection. Wordgloss is not a quintessential corrective panacea for this problem, but O'Donnell writes that "Wordgloss is full of the words and concepts you always meant to look up. It tells you where they came from and how they acquired the meaning or meanings they now have." The book is written "associatively", which is "pedagogically" more effective than the "linear" scientific style of dictionaries. Definitely a fun and educating vade-mecum read. Fons et origo!
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1 review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
A fascinating survey
8 Sep 2006
Format:Paperback
Jim O'Donnell's Wordgloss: A Cultural Lexicon first appeared in 1990 to much acclaim: here it's been reworked and extensively revised and extended to provide essays on law, politics, science, history and language. Any interested in words and culture will learn about literary usage, word origins, cultural connections, and changing historical context in a fascinating survey.
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