The Penguin Book of Word Histories - Softcover

McDonald, Fred

9780140282986: The Penguin Book of Word Histories

Softcover

ISBN 10: 014028298X ISBN 13: 9780140282986

Publisher: Penguin UK, 2010

Compiled by Fred McDonald, this new book traces the origins and explains the meanings of approximately 15,000 words. Words with similar ancestry or semantic development are cross-referenced or subsumed into one entry, making comparisons easier for the reader. There is also a short introduction explaining the book's purpose and layout, and giving a very short account of the English language and the languages that have contributed to it.

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About the Author:

Fred McDonald studied English Language and Literature as a mature student at Goldsmiths' College, London, followed by an MA in Old and Middle English at Kings College.She then joined Oxford University Press as assistant editor on the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, and also answered queries for the Oxford Word and Language Service (OWLS). Since leaving to become a freelance she has contributed, as lexicographer, etymologies editor, and occasionally managing editor, to more than twenty English dictionaries and language reference books, including the The New Penguin English Dictionary, and has broadcast on place names and other aspects of the English language. She is co-author of Questions of English, based on enquiries to OWLS, and of The Guinness Book of British Place Names.

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