Overview

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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9780198631217

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Reviews

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.

Author Information

Glynnis Chantrell is Senior Editor in the English Language Teaching department at OUP. For several years she was Senior Editor in the Dictionaries department, working on many books including the Concise Oxford Dictionary (9th edn), and the New Oxford Dictionary of English (responsible for Word Histories). Glynnis taught modern languges for many years, and is multi-lingual. She has taught at every level, including adults.

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