The Origins of English Words: A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European RootsJohns Hopkins University Press, 1984 M03 1 - 672 pages There are no direct records of the original Indo-European speech. By comparing the vocabularies of its various descendants, however, it is possible to reconstruct the basic Indo-European roots with considerable confidence. In The Origins of English Words, Shipley catalogues these proposed roots and follows the often devious, always fascinating, process by which some of their offshoots have grown. Anecdotal, eclectic, and always enthusiastic, The Origins of English Words is a diverting expedition beyond linguistics into literature, history, folklore, anthropology, philosophy, and science. |
From inside the book
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Page xxvii
... French gentil , pronounced zhontee , has come English jaunty . Other odd shiftings play from tongue to tongue . English Alps is French Alpes . Little change of sound . But with one spelling what we call Paris the French call Paree ...
... French gentil , pronounced zhontee , has come English jaunty . Other odd shiftings play from tongue to tongue . English Alps is French Alpes . Little change of sound . But with one spelling what we call Paris the French call Paree ...
Page 358
... French ; best - known are sans cérémonie ; sans gêne : free and easy , tomboyish . ( Madame Sans - Gêne ( 1893 ) is a play by Victorien Sardou about a madcap washerwoman become Maréchale [ wife of the Marshal ] Lefèvre ; she protects ...
... French ; best - known are sans cérémonie ; sans gêne : free and easy , tomboyish . ( Madame Sans - Gêne ( 1893 ) is a play by Victorien Sardou about a madcap washerwoman become Maréchale [ wife of the Marshal ] Lefèvre ; she protects ...
Page 409
... French to English as farthingale : hoopskirt . The French have a neat term , vert galant ( spring in an old man's heart ) , for an elderly man still in quest of woman : " homme entreprenant auprès des femmes , malgré un certain age ...
... French to English as farthingale : hoopskirt . The French have a neat term , vert galant ( spring in an old man's heart ) , for an elderly man still in quest of woman : " homme entreprenant auprès des femmes , malgré un certain age ...
Other editions - View all
The Origins of English Words: A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European Roots Joseph Twadell Shipley No preview available - 2001 |
Common terms and phrases
ambhi bhag bhel bher bhes bheu bhili bhreg called caput coined columns deik dekm dheigh N dheigh N 13 dhel dheu eghs ending English folk etymology folkchanged French genus gerbh ghdhem gher goddess Greek guei guel hence ieug imitative jing kapr kel VIII King kleu ksei ksun kuei kuetuer labh Latin leguh leuk literally Love's Labor's Lost meaning medhi morui nebh nekut neuos oino onomen pilo plek pleu prefix relevant words beginning Roman root sek II seku Shakespeare skeu slang smeit smer sner song sound spek sphei ster steu suer suffix tag II tereq teue tragh uegh ueid ueik ueks uelu uer II uerg uiro W. S. Gilbert whence
References to this book
Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing Michael Winkelman No preview available - 2000 |
The Mystery to a Solution: Poe, Borges, and the Analytic Detective Story John T. Irwin Limited preview - 1994 |