Product Description

A revealing selection of over 1000 English words that were begged, borrowed and stolen from 100 other languages from around the world. Words change, they emigrate and immigrate, they arrive with invading armies and embrace changing fashions; they amend their spelling as they roam across the centuries and languages. This book delves into their origins, their meanings and their changing habits. Some imagination is occasionally required to understand their peripatetic habits but bear with them and you will find many surprises and also, very often, explanations so simple that it is fun to have it explained. Remember that many of these wordy journeys took place before it was common practice to write things down so, as they moved from language to language and from dialect to dialect, the sound varied slightly and when eventually pen was put to paper, the result very often bore little resemblance to its origins. Before the printed word, dictionaries, spell checkers and spelling tests and when dialects flourished there was far less control in the way that words were spoken and spelt so they were able to wander casually between settlements, over mountain ranges and across seas where they would be taken up by people with different pronunciations. This gave scope for endless variation in meanings and later spellings but before writing there was, of course, no spelling. England s world wide influence picked up new words for the mother tongue wherever explorers travelled and it is perhaps English s greatest strength that it has always adopted new words as the need arises, a strength that now makes it by far the most universally spoken language. This book helps to explain where it all began.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #84835 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages