The Origins of English Words
A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European Roots
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Todd Ross
About this listen
There are no direct records of the original Indo-European speech. By comparing the vocabularies of its various descendants, however, it is possible to reconstruct the basic Indo-European roots with considerable confidence. In The Origins of English Words, Shipley catalogues these proposed roots and follows the often devious, always fascinating, process by which some of their offshoots have grown.
Anecdotal, eclectic, and always enthusiastic, The Origins of English Words is a diverting expedition beyond linguistics into literature, history, folklore, anthropology, philosophy, and science.
©1984 Joseph T. Shipley (P)2023 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Leaves much to be desired
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Mythology: Mega Collection
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Do you know how many wives Zeus had? Or how the famous Trojan War was caused by one beautiful lady? Or how Thor got his hammer? Give your imagination a real treat. This Mega Mythology Collection of eight audiobooks is for you....
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An interesting set of introductions.
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The Strange Death of Europe is a highly personal account of a continent and culture caught in the act of suicide. Declining birth rates, mass immigration, and cultivated self-distrust and self-hatred have come together to make Europeans unable to argue for themselves and incapable of resisting their own comprehensive alteration as a society and an eventual end.
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Fear-mongering
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What listeners say about The Origins of English Words
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ed Pegg Jr
- 11-04-23
The best "Read the Dictionary" on Audible
This is a book published in 1984 by the then 90-year-old author. The English professor died in 1988 and thus missed the 1989 publication of the second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, OED2.
Quagmire, quacksalver, Quakers, Quaker-gun. Frequently within the book will be a series of related words, and then details about the origins about the words, some related stories, and their use in literature. The OED was heavily referenced while putting together this book. Vivify, viable, viper from their trait of birthing their offspring alive, revive, vitality, victuals.
Amazingly, it comes off as lively, with a factoid you likely haven't heard before every minute. The narrator does a great job of it. However, there are occasional places where the asides are cryptic. "Ad infinitum, as heard with the fleas..." The author is referencing a Jonathan Swift poem.
So, Nat'ralists observe, a Flea
Hath smaller Fleas that on him prey,
And these have smaller yet to bite 'em,
And so proceed ad infinitum:
But most references are giving fully. Likely, this book has a larger vocabulary than anything else on Audible.
Recommended.
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- Koko B.
- 07-08-24
Soooooo boring
This book was so boring that I could only listened to it a little over 2 hours. I couldn't fathom listening to it for 36 hours. I love anything to do with etymology but this book was..... well, it was outdated (since it was published a while ago, I'll let that slide) and written in the most boring manner. The narrater's performance didn't help either. I wish I could return it for a refund! I wasted my 1 credit for it. I guess I could use it as my "sleep aid."
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