Featuring Latinate and Celtic words, weasel words and nonce-words, ancient words ('loaf') to cutting edge ('twittersphere') and spanning the indispensable words that shape our tongue ('and', 'what') to the more fanciful ('fopdoodle'), Crystal takes us along the winding byways of language via the rude, the obscure and the downright surprising. In this unique new history of the world's most ubiquitous language, linguistics expert David Crystal draws on words that best illustrate the huge variety of sources, influences and events that have helped to shape our vernacular since the first definitively English word was written down in the fifth century ('roe', in case you are wondering).

"Indian Names in Michigan traces the origin of hundreds of place-names given to counties, towns, lakes, rivers, and topographical features of the Great Lakes State. These melodic names that enrich our appreciation for the romantic past of our state record the culture and history of both the American Indian and the white settler. Most of the Indian names borne by Michigan's cities, counties, lakes, and rivers are those of Indian tribes and individuals. Settlers named places not only fro the resident tribes, but also for tribes in the West that they had never seen. Indian Names in Michigan is written for all local history enthusiasts and anyone interested in Indian history and culture"--Back cover.

From alphabet to zeugma Storied Words reveals the picturesque stories of 1,000 words that we use to talk about writing. You will learn about: The actual pictures behind our alphabet letters (e.g., "A", the inverted head of an ox; "B," a two-chambered house; "Z," a sword and shield) The surprising common origin of grammar and glamour The literal meanings of our rhetorical devices The "meaningless chatter" in jargon's ancestry The picturesque origins of the words we use to talk about style The "mock song" of parody How and why the librarian of the great ancient library of Alexandria gave us the komma, the kolon, and the periodos Each chapter begins with an introductory essay followed by alphabetized discussions of individual words. Chapter topics include the writer's tools, patterns of arrangement, style, rhetorical choices, grammar, writers in academe, and publishing. Storied Words is chock full of quotations and anecdotes from writers throughout history; it also contains an essay on the history of the English vocabulary.

The publication of Webster's Third New International Dictionary in 1961 set off a storm of controversy in both the popular press and in scholarly journals that was virtually unprecedented in its scope and intensity. This is the first full account of the controversy, set within the larger background of how the dictionary was planned and put together by its editor-in-chief, Philip Babcock Gove. Based on original research and interviews with the people who knew and worked with Gove, this is a human story as well as the story of the making of a dictionary. The author skilfully interweaves an account of Gove's character and working habits with the evolution of the dictionary. The reception given Webster's Third - now widely regarded as one of the greatest dictionaries of our time - illuminates public misconceptions about language and the role of dictionaries.

Horace G. Danner’s A Thesaurus of English Word Roots is a compendium of the most-used word roots of the English language. As Timothy B. Noone notes in his foreword: “Dr. Danner’s book allows you not only to build up your passive English vocabulary, resulting in word recognition knowledge, but also gives you the rudiments for developing your active English vocabulary, making it possible to infer the meaning of words with which you are not yet acquainted. Your knowledge can now expand and will do so exponentially as your awareness of the roots in English words and your corresponding ability to decode unfamiliar words grows apace. This is the beginning of a fine mental linguistic library: so enjoy!” In A Thesaurus of English Word Roots, all word roots are listed alphabetically, along with the Greek or Latin words from which they derive, together with the roots’ original meanings. If the current meaning of an individual root differs from the original meaning, that is listed in a separate column. In the examples column, the words which contain the root are then listed, starting with their prefixes, for example, dysacousia, hyperacousia. These root-starting terms then are followed by terms where the root falls behind the word, e.g., acouesthesia and acoumeter. These words are followed by words where the root falls in the middle or the end, as in such terms as bradyacusia and odynacusis.. In this manner, A Thesaurus of English Word Roots places the word in as many word families as there are elements in the word. This work will interest linguists and philologists and anyone interested in the etymological aspects of English language.

A guide to the science and process of etymology for the layperson explains how the origins and history of hundreds of words are determined, discussing such topics as folk etymology, changes of meaning in language history, borrowed words, and the methods of etymology.

Logophilia Education (estd. August, 2010) is the first and only Etymology Education organisation in the world. We're passionate in our belief that a strong and sophisticated vocabulary is the most essential skill that students should possess. Why? Anything you study is written in words. All subjects have their own terminology. Without a strong understanding of English words you will never really study well, and will end up finding shortcuts to learning (e.g. rote-memorising, using mnemonics, and so forth). Logophilia, therefore, teaches the structure of English words with the intent of getting students to become very strong in vocabulary, and dictionary-independent. This method of teaching, done through Logophilia's unique paedagogy, is called Etymology Education. We promote Etymology awareness as a life skill, and aim to get it into mainstream school curricula worldwide, thereby simplifying and sophisticating language comprehension for everyone. We teach (experiential vocabulary programmes), quiz (the Logo+philia™ Gala Olympiad), & write (books, blogs, apps, and vocabulary-learning aids), to help you see the logic of English words.