The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language

Product Information

The Illustrated Etymologicon is therefore both illuminating and illuminated, enlightening and enlightened.

This is a point well worth remembering when you're next reading a film review about a 'feisty heroine. That will entail that they are from the beginning build as to attract attention and to amuze the reader. I'd written a book that mentions De Quincey and John Dalton, and I end up with a half-page spread in The Sun. Excellent book, great fun and very informative, witty and interesting - recommended to anyone who likes words and knowing weird, random facts about them.

I admit, I'm a bit geeky, especially when it comes to words or books - and when there's a book about words, I turn from 'a bit geeky' to 'full blown geek mode'. British verbal savant Mark Forsyth came up with a powerful trilogy of books: THE ELEMENTS OF ELOQUENCE, THE HOROLOGICON (reviewed separately), and this one, THE ETYMOLOGICON. It is, according to reviewer Karin Schimke, "a cursory run through history presented with a wry eye and a peculiar sense of humor. I ought to get a disclaimer out of the way - this title is published by Icon, the same people who publish my Inflight Science, but don't worry, I've slagged off their books in the past. The Etymologicon might sound dry, in theory: a book which takes you through a load of connections between words in the English language.

That's our aim with every book, of course, but when all the component parts come together in just the right way, the results speak for themselves. A Christmas Cornucopia: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Yuletide Traditions was published on 3 November 2016. Did you know for instance that 'pool' as in pooling resources and playing pool has nothing to do with water and everything to do with chickens (poulets en France). It's not an academic work, that's for sure, nor a thesis, nor a highly-focused and heavily detailed linguistic magnum opus.Old English lufian "to love, cherish, show love to; delight in, approve," from Proto-Germanic *lubojan (cognates: Old High German lubon, German lieben), from root of love (n. Heathrow Airport was named after the hamlet of 'Heath Row' which was demolished in 1944 for the airport to be constructed. Some of the chapters about two-thirds of the way through feel a little short and rushed, but in the main each chapter gave me something to annoy Louise with. Ptero was the Greek word for wing, this allows for the dinosaur with a finger on its wing, the pterodactyl, and for the aircraft whose wings move in a spiral, the helico-pter. OMG, Cupid - this is the written word's golden age: Far from destroying literacy, the social media have given writing a new importance, especially in the art of wooing, says Mark Forsyth".