The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word HistoriesA gold mine of fascinating word histories! This engaging and informative book reveals the origins of 1,500 words from "abigail" to "zombie", tracing in terms from the mythology of ancient Greece to the comic strips of the 20th century. This delightful volume will help you discover how a skimpy bathing suit came to be called a "bikini" and what "serendipity" has to do with Horace Walpole. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 84
Page viii
... example , some verbs ( called " weak " ) formed their past tense and past participle by adding an ending with -d or -t while oth- ers ( called " strong " ) did this by changing a vowel . Nouns belonged to one of three genders ...
... example , some verbs ( called " weak " ) formed their past tense and past participle by adding an ending with -d or -t while oth- ers ( called " strong " ) did this by changing a vowel . Nouns belonged to one of three genders ...
Page ix
... examples can be given here . From Modern French we have words like bikini , cliche , and discotheque , from Dutch , easel , gin , and yacht , from German , delicatessen , pretzel , and swindler , and from Swedish , ombudsman and ...
... examples can be given here . From Modern French we have words like bikini , cliche , and discotheque , from Dutch , easel , gin , and yacht , from German , delicatessen , pretzel , and swindler , and from Swedish , ombudsman and ...
Page xi
... example , meant ' foolish ' . Its present meaning , of course , is quite different , and the attitude it conveys seems to have undergone a complete reversal from contempt to approval . Pioneer now has over- whelmingly favorable ...
... example , meant ' foolish ' . Its present meaning , of course , is quite different , and the attitude it conveys seems to have undergone a complete reversal from contempt to approval . Pioneer now has over- whelmingly favorable ...
Page 5
... example , in the poetry of Thomas Gray and Lord Byron . Zeus , especially in poetical contexts , is identified by his Homeric epithets " aegis- bearer " and " aegis - bearing . " By the eighteenth century the word aegis was being used ...
... example , in the poetry of Thomas Gray and Lord Byron . Zeus , especially in poetical contexts , is identified by his Homeric epithets " aegis- bearer " and " aegis - bearing . " By the eighteenth century the word aegis was being used ...
Page 10
... example of this appeared in the dialogue of a baseball player in Ring Lardner's 1915 story " Alibi Ike " : " He's got the world beat , " says Carey to Jack and I. " I've knew lots o ' guys that had an alibi for every mistake they made ...
... example of this appeared in the dialogue of a baseball player in Ring Lardner's 1915 story " Alibi Ike " : " He's got the world beat , " says Carey to Jack and I. " I've knew lots o ' guys that had an alibi for every mistake they made ...
Common terms and phrases
adjective akin to Gk akin to OHG alter American ancient animal appeared applied assumed attested back-formation became began bird borrowed into English called Church cognate common compound denote developed dialect Dictionary diminutive Dutch earlier earliest early eighteenth century England English borrowed English word etymology fascism fifteenth folk etymology fourteenth century French word gave rise German glish Gmc origin Goth Greek horse influenced Italian known language Late Latin later Latin verb Latin word LIEBFRAUMILCH literally meaning meant Medieval Latin Middle English Middle French Modern English neut nineteenth century noun Old English Old French Old High German Old Norse perh person phrase plural popular prob pronunciation refer Roman semantic seventeenth century Shakespeare similar sixteenth century song sound Spanish spelling synonym teenth century term tion trans translation turn verb Vulgar Latin WGmc writing
Popular passages
Page 142 - This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune, often the surfeit of our own behaviour, we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars...
Page 37 - twould a saint provoke," (Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke ;} " No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face : One would not, sure, be frightful when one's dead — And — Betty — give this cheek a little red.
Page 214 - And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
Page 236 - Behold, we know not anything; I can but trust that good shall fall At last— far off— at last, to all, And every winter change to spring. So runs my dream; but what am I? An infant crying in the night; An infant crying for the light, And with no language but a cry.
Page 94 - There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind.
Page 6 - So I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of " agnostic." It came into my head as suggestively antithetic to the " gnostic " of Church history, who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant...
Page 105 - We don't want to fight, but by jingo if we do, We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money too.
Page 114 - THE Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea, When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.