The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language

Reviews

Baden Eunson

Here is a gem – a medieval recipe from 1450: Puddyng of Porpoise. An utter delight.

J Miller

A real achievement. A recondite, yet risqué romp through the remote origins of the English language as we know today. This is an example of an antanaclasic sentence (it keeps using the same word in different senses; get the book for the details): Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

Sissy

Without being too pedantic, it hilariously segues from one term to a related word in a flippant and chatty style. Language is assessible. One term needs to be corrected from autopenotomy to autopenectomy. Take the Blode of hym, & the grece of hym self, & Oatmeal, & Salt, & Pepir, & Gyngere, & melle these togetherys wel, & then put this in the Gut of the Porpoise, & then lat it seethe esyli, & not hare, a good while: & then take hym up, & broyle hym a lyti, & then serve forth.

Dippy

It is quite informative but side-splitting in the venerable British humorous style of P G Wodehouse and Douglas Adams. Spoiled slightly by the damage to the book cover Perfect gift for word-lovers- like Brewer, only shorter, more lively and more conversational. Again, get the book for further elucidation – it has a connection to the creators of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Forsyth strings together etymologies in the most delightful way. Some are a bit dodgy, but that's par for the course in this arena. Great book.

Well written. It's a really interesting story of how the English language evolved.