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Author
Language
English
Description
A New York Times Notable Book
The Professor and the Madman is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary—and literary history.
The making of the OED was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray,
...Author
Language
English
Description
This extensive reference volume presents the etymological history of thousands of English words.
The story of how words come to be is the story of how humans think, and how we fashion our civilizations. Words can be the product of long and intertwining histories, migrations from other languages, or new coinages of science or slang. This diversity of origins is part of what gives the English language its beauty and power.
In Dictionary of Word Origins,...
10) Studies in words
Author
Publisher
Cambridge U.P
Pub. Date
1967.
Language
English
Description
Language-in its communicative and playful functions, its literary formations and its shifting meanings-is a perennially fascinating topic. C. S. Lewis's Studies in Words explores this fascination by taking a series of words and teasing out their connotations using examples from a vast range of English literature, recovering lost meanings and analyzing their functions. It doubles as an absorbing and entertaining study of verbal communication, its pleasures...
Author
Language
English
Description
"Peter Winceworth, a disaffected Victorian lexicographer, inserts false entries into a dictionary - violating and subverting the dictionary's authority - in an attempt to assert some sense of individual purpose and artistic freedom. In the present day, Mallory, a young overworked and underpaid intern employed by the dictionary's publishing house, is tasked with uncovering these entries before the work is digitised. As the novel progresses and their...
Author
Publisher
John Murray
Pub. Date
2008.
Language
English
Description
Words are essential to our everyday lives. An average person spends his or her day enveloped in conversations, e-mails, phone calls, text messages, directions, headlines, and more. But how often do we stop to think about the origins of the words we use? Have you ever thought about which words in English have been borrowed from Arabic, Dutch, or Portuguese? Try admiral, landscape, and marmalade, just for starters.
The Secret Life of Words is a wide-ranging...