The Penguin Book of Exotic WordsPenguin Books, 1996 - 159 sider The unusually rich vocabulary of the English language is the result of new words from all over the world being freely assimilated. House, man, bread, and speak, among our most basic words, arrived with the Saxons, while the Vikings added law, egg, sister, and sky. From the 11th century onwards, new vocabulary was introduced from France and from classical Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Traders, explorers, and settlers enriched the English language further with words like alcohol, sofa, and candy from Arabic, canoe from Arawakan, and curry, shampoo, bungalow, and dungaree from the Indian subcontinent. All these and many other words are collected here. As well as exploring their often exotic source, there are also famous, unusual, or funny examples of their use, with entries arranged thematically. For anyone interested in the extraordinary richness of the English language, this highly original reference work is a must. |
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Side xi
... Johnson wrote in the next century : ' Words are seldom synonimus ; a new term was not introduced , but because the former was thought inadequate . ' Johnson was fairly happy about this , accepting that the language has been ' suffered ...
... Johnson wrote in the next century : ' Words are seldom synonimus ; a new term was not introduced , but because the former was thought inadequate . ' Johnson was fairly happy about this , accepting that the language has been ' suffered ...
Side 63
... Johnson , who was much addicted to tea , defines it ( 1755 ) as ' A Chinese plant , of which the infusion has lately been much drunk in Europe . ' Johnson's dictionary does not attempt to describe pronunciation , beyond marking the ...
... Johnson , who was much addicted to tea , defines it ( 1755 ) as ' A Chinese plant , of which the infusion has lately been much drunk in Europe . ' Johnson's dictionary does not attempt to describe pronunciation , beyond marking the ...
Side 122
... Johnson defines it as ' to rove over the sea in search of opportunities to plunder ; to wander on the sea without any certain course ' . Now , some miscellaneous occupations : barbecue comes , through Spanish , from the Haitian word bar ...
... Johnson defines it as ' to rove over the sea in search of opportunities to plunder ; to wander on the sea without any certain course ' . Now , some miscellaneous occupations : barbecue comes , through Spanish , from the Haitian word bar ...
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adjective Africa Algonquian American ancient animal antimacassar apparently Arabic Australia bird Britain British called Canterbury Tales Chaucer chiefly China Chinese cloth comes ultimately commented cotton course creature described desert Dictionary Dr Johnson drink Dutch early eighteenth century England English word Europe European existed in English fabric familiar fourteenth century gave George MacDonald Fraser German goes back Greek Greek word Guinea guinea-pig Hindi horse incubus India invented Irish island Italian kind King language later Latin Malay mean meant medieval Michael Flanders military modern nineteenth century Nowadays Old French one's originally Oxford particularly Penguin Books perhaps Persian pidgin Portuguese potato probably recently referred rhyming slang Roman Samuel Pepys sandwich Sanskrit seems sense seventeenth century Shakespeare sixteenth century soldiers someone sort South Spanish spelling succubus things Tod Sloan tree usually verb Victorian Wendy Cope West wind word comes word has existed write to Penguin wrote