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The Word on Words : the Play of Language by German, Norman is a reference work available to read on EtoBox.
What is The Word on Words : the Play of Language about?
Awarded "Best of 2011" in Arts & Letters by Kirkus Review! Full-color interior GIFT EDITION! (For an economical edition, see "The Word on Black-and-White Classroom Edition" @ $8.99) KIRKUS REVIEW (posted in its entirety) The English language gets pulled up by its roots for purposes of entertainment, enlightenment and vocabulary building in this sprightly linguistic romp. The author, an English professor, introduces readers to some of the knottier words in the language through an approach that mixes analysis, history and lots of engaging anecdotes. His method is to seize on dusty old lexical roots, usually from Latin but also from Greek, Old English, Norse and French, and follow their branchings through the modern English words derived from them, with plenty of lore and intriguing digressions thrown in to make the pedagogy go down easy. He traces the Latin verb spectare (to watch), for example, through its many incarnations, from spectacle to expectant, while tossing in allusions to Shakespeare and Byron and an aside on the evolution of false eyes as defensive camouflage in the animal kingdom. German takes a meandering path through the lexicon, always happy to wander off on oddball
Who reads The Word on Words : the Play of Language?
It is typically read by readers who need quick, reliable lookup and repeat reference.
Common subject areas: reference, language, dictionaries and manuals.
- Author
- German, Norman
- Publisher
- CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
- Published
- 2011
- Language
- EN
- ISBN
- 9781460999769
- Category
- reference
- Rating
- 4.4 / 5 (21 ratings)
- Updated
- 2026-03-14