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. |
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Page xii
... tion of why a rather mundane theory of origin is to be preferred to a more popular story . ( See discussion at tinker . ) Recall always that we , like all other etymologists and most other human beings , are imperfect . The articles in ...
... tion of why a rather mundane theory of origin is to be preferred to a more popular story . ( See discussion at tinker . ) Recall always that we , like all other etymologists and most other human beings , are imperfect . The articles in ...
Page 3
... tion of an Unhealthy Diet " ; tip , as from " to improve performance " ; wop , from " without passport " ; and gorp ( trail - munch ) , from " good old raisins & peanuts . " ( See also cop , posh . ) Such expansions amount to a parlor ...
... tion of an Unhealthy Diet " ; tip , as from " to improve performance " ; wop , from " without passport " ; and gorp ( trail - munch ) , from " good old raisins & peanuts . " ( See also cop , posh . ) Such expansions amount to a parlor ...
Page 5
... tion the aegis became an impregnable , shield - like weapon that was fash- ioned by the metalworking god Hephaestus to resemble a thundercloud and fringed with tassels suggestive of thunderbolts . Zeus occasionally entrusted the aegis ...
... tion the aegis became an impregnable , shield - like weapon that was fash- ioned by the metalworking god Hephaestus to resemble a thundercloud and fringed with tassels suggestive of thunderbolts . Zeus occasionally entrusted the aegis ...
Page 8
... tion here is a little plainer . We have evidence of a seventeenth - century contraction ha'nt used for both ' have not ' and ' has not ' . ( Have you noticed how the middle consonant always seems to disappear from these old con ...
... tion here is a little plainer . We have evidence of a seventeenth - century contraction ha'nt used for both ' have not ' and ' has not ' . ( Have you noticed how the middle consonant always seems to disappear from these old con ...
Page 27
... tion of the Aeneid : " with prayers and vows the dryads I atone . " This sense is also now archaic . The verb s main use in contemporary English is with the preposition for in the sense to make reparation or supply satisfaction ...
... tion of the Aeneid : " with prayers and vows the dryads I atone . " This sense is also now archaic . The verb s main use in contemporary English is with the preposition for in the sense to make reparation or supply satisfaction ...
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.