Word Origins...And How We Know Them [Hardcover]

This book makes one realize that there are two kinds of etymologies: the one that tries to explain terms like "hackney" and "jack-o-lantern"; and the one that tries to explain terms like "hand" and "bring". The first makes you search through medieval tomes and books about ancient crafts; the second causes one to delve into ablaut series and next to unpronounceable Proto-Indo-European (PIE) words that look more like formulas (which they partly are). The first yields a number of anecdotal and often amusing stories, the second dry-as-dust formal word derivations. The author, although acknowledging the existence of the second, is clearly much more interested in the first; PIE figures only sporadically in the text and does not even occur in the index.

This approach makes the book a juicy read, especially on "funny" English words; the sections on ablaut series etc. lack the same flourish and are mercifully small. Yet even in the juicy part there are quite a number of promising
paragraphs that lead nowhere. For example, on page 101 we learn that "Cockney" has an interesting origin, but that origin is never revealed.

Much too much to my taste is attributed to sound symbolism (page 212: the b in "to beat" is suggested to be "imitative (echoic)" of the beating action; the argument is that out of 115 synonyms of "beat, strike" about 20 begin with a b) or explained as "baby words" (pig - big - bag for "swollen things"). I think such claims are warranted only when supported by similar phenomena from several non-Indo-European languages. I personally cannot find back any of these sound symbolisms in Hebrew, the only Non-IE language I know well. Latin "capere" (to take), Finnish "kappan" (to seize) and Hebr. "kaf" (hollow hand) may very well be related (and I think they probably are) but I don't hear any sound symbolism in them (page 43). For that matter, Hebr. "khataf" (he grabbed) sounds much more like seizing.

The editing is far from perfect; one problem is that the Old-English/Icelandic letter "thorn" (a p with an upward stick like a b) is often printed as a p (f.e. page 83). In summary, the subtitle "Etymology for Everybody" is fully justified, but it is a limited form of etymology.

As someone who reads etymological dictionaries (English, French and Italian) for fun I was expecting something more upbeat. This is an incredibly interesting topic - tracing a word's history is like tracing the culture of a nation. I am an academic myself, so I wasn't expecting or wanting this book to be dumbed down, but I found it extremely dry - so dry in fact that I quickly began flitting through the book in the hope of finding some interesting insights. If you've never read anything before on etymology or etymologists, then you might find it worthwhile buying the book. If not ...

The author of this book is highly knowledgeable about the origins of words and attuned to the many misconceptions non-etymologists may have about the subject. However, the authors love of word origins seems to impede his ability to discuss them in a clear and concise fashion. So many words are presented in every chapter - even the titles of the chapters consist of too many words - that the reader looses track of the topic in that particular chapter. Thorough, but could be organized (and edited) a bit better.