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Word Mysteries and Histories: From Quiche to humble pie | |
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Authors: American Heritage Dictionaries
US$12.95
ISBN 0395 40264 6
This book is not to be confused with the very similar 'Word Histories and Mysteries'by the same publisher which has a slightly more academic look at the language and gives a greater cultural background explaining how English fits into the family of world languages. This book is both shorter and more focused on individual words and their origins. There are some interesting words here A 'slogan' is in origin a Scots Gaelic war cry. 'Soccer' is from the Football Assoc. of England, and a 'derrick', a kind of crane, was originally the name of a famous hangman.
There are 308 pages in the book. There is a short introduction, and an explanation that the text has been compiled by the american Heritage dictionary from letters sent in by readers explaining the origin of hundreds of words. In fact some 500 words have their origins investigated in an alphabetical listing. Many of these vary between mildly interesting and 'so what?' but others, such as people who became verbs - Messers Lynch and Boycott being two examples - are compelling reading. This is not really a book to sit and read at a sitting. Rather it is worth keeping on hand and dipping into during idle moments. The text finishes with 'a last word' in which the writers remind us that words tell us much about the people from whom they evolved, and have a beauty and romance about them which has fascinated people for centuries. We finish with an index which lists the words in the book. The book is also broken up with some rather strange black and white illustrations of which the cover picture is a good example.
One is left with the feeling that this book could have doen a lot more. some fascinating words have been left out, and no effort has been made to explain how or why the meaning of words changes with time. (For example 'Girl' used to mean young male or female - the word is unique to English, but no reason for the word changing to mean only females or history of that change is given.)
Who is this book for? Anyone who likes words, or is fascinated with the history and richness of the English tongue will find something here. However, is is very far from comprehensive, and the word selection is at times uninspired. Also sites such as http://www.etymonline.com/ do the same thing for free
Verdict: good to fill a few idle minutes
Assessment 4/10