The Story of English in 100 Hundred Words

Featuring Latinate and Celtic words, weasel words and nonce-words, ancient words ('loaf') to cutting edge ('twittersphere') and spanning the indispensable words that shape our tongue ('and', 'what') to the more fanciful ('fopdoodle'), Crystal takes us along the winding byways of language via the rude, the obscure and the downright surprising. In this unique new history of the world's most ubiquitous language, linguistics expert David Crystal draws on words that best illustrate the huge variety of sources, influences and events that have helped to shape our vernacular since the first definitively English word was written down in the fifth century ('roe', in case you are wondering). An Eye-opening Tour Of The English Language Through The Ages From Britain's Leading Linguistics Expert. Machine Generated Contents Note: 1.roe -- The First Word (5th Century) -- 2.lea -- Naming Places (8th Century) -- 3.and -- An Early Abbreviation (8th Century) -- 4.loaf -- An Unexpected Origin (9th Century) -- 5.out -- Changing Grammar (9th Century) -- 6.street -- A Latin Loan (9th Century) -- 7.mead -- A Window Into History (9th Century) -- 8.merry -- A Dialect Survivor (9th Century) -- 9.riddle -- Playing With Language (10th Century) -- 10.what -- An Early Exclamation (10th Century) -- 11.bone-house -- A Word-painting (10th Century) -- 12.brock -- A Celtic Arrival (10th Century) -- 13.english -- The Language Named (10th Century) -- 14.bridegroom -- A Popular Etymology (11th Century) -- 15.arse -- An Impolite Word (11th Century) -- 16.swain -- A Poetic Expression (12th Century) -- 17.pork -- An Elegant Word (13th Century) -- 18.chattels -- A Legal Word (13th Century) -- 19.dame -- A Form Of Address (13th Century) -- 20.skirt -- A Word Doublet (13th Century) David Crystal. Includes Index. In this unique new history of the world's most ubiquitous language, linguistics expert David Crystal draws on words that best illustrate the huge variety of sources, influences and events that have helped to shape our vernacular since the first definitively English word was written down in the fifth century ('roe', in case you are wondering). Featuring Latinate and Celtic words, weasel words and nonce-words, ancient words ('loaf') to cutting edge ('twittersphere') and spanning the indispensable words that shape our tongue ('and', 'what') to the more fanciful ('fopdoodle'), Crystal takes us alo Offers an eye-opening tour of the English language through the ages. In this history of the world's ubiquitous language, this title draws on words that illustrate the huge variety of sources, influences and events that have helped to shape our vernacular since the first definitively English word was written down in the fifth century.