Etymology Dictionaries and Resources

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• The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology - Now in its fifth printing and a standard reference for scholars, Onions's opus is still the most comprehensive etymological dictionary of English ever to be published.

Etymology Dictionaries and Resources

• American Dialect Society - A scholarly association dedicated to the study of the English language in North America.
• Behind the Name - The etymology and history of first names.
• Etymologic - The brain-twisting etymology game.
• Etymologically Speaking - A list of some curious word origins.
• Etymology - Word origins and links.
• Focusing on Words - An advanced Latin-Greek-English vocabulary source of etymologies with thematic units of roots, prefixes, and suffixes, and vocabulary quizzes.
• Fun With Word Origins - Samples of the etymological books from word-lover Martha Barnette, author of "Ladyfingers & Nun's Tummies" and "A Garden of Words."
• Nautical Expressions in the Vernacular - Myriad expressions in everyday English have nautical origins. This web page lists expressions and definitions mentioned by listswains, members of the Patrick O'Brian Mailing List, also known as the Gunroom.
• New Words In English - Neologisms and novel uses of words in English collected by members of the class Linguistics/English 215, Words in English: Structure, History and Use, taught by Suzanne Kemmer at Rice University.
• Magic of Words - Blog about words, phrases, names, and etymology.
• Oxford English Dictionary - Presents a word a day, complete with pronunciation, spellings, etymology, and quotations.
• Pandora's Word Box - Ideas in words, linking biology, medicine, and the humanities.
• Pennsylvania Town Name Origins / Northeast - Name origins of northeast PA towns by Mike O'Hara slowly expanding to include all of Pennsylvania.
• Roots of English - An etymological dictionary you can download by Prof. Eugene Cotter, Seton Hall University.
• Take Our Word for It - Weekly etymology magazine.
• Dictionary of Last Names - A database on last names, providing information on etymology and history of surnames
• What's The Meaning of This? - The origins of quirky English words and phrases like "In like Flynn" and "blackmail."
• The Word Detective - Words and language in a humorous vein. The online version of The Word Detective, a newspaper column answering readers' questions about words and language. Written by Evan Morris.
• A Word with You - A daily online column, featuring little known facts about well known words and phrases.
• World Wide Words - More than 400 pages on the history, origins, evolution and idiosyncrasies of English. New words and words in the news regularly featured.

Recommended Etymology Books   The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology by G. W. S. Friedrichsen     Dr. C.T. Onions first joined the staff of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1895. He worked on the OED, the Shorter OED, and then published his Shakespeare Glossary in 1911. A wonderful and learned scholar, he died in 1966 as the first edition of The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology was going to press. Assisted by G.W.S. Friedrichsen and R.W. Burchfield, Onions created a magnificent work of erudition, with 24,000 main entries. Including their derivatives, the dictionary delves into the origins of more than 38,000 words. For each entry, the dictionary provides the correct pronunciation, followed by a short definition, and the century and source of the word's first recording. Then come the etymological notes. Thus one learns that "froth" (an aggregation of small bubbles on liquid) was first noted in the 14th century, in Sir Gawain and the Bible, that it comes from the Old Norse frooa, and was taken from there into German (fraup) and Old English (froth). Now in its fifth printing and a standard reference for scholars, Onions's opus is still the most comprehensive etymological dictionary of English ever to be published. Kleins Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language by E. Klein     Although during the last sixty years philology has attained a high degree of development, looking at the literature available, Etymology appears only to have reached the level of philology at the turn of the century. This dictionary is the first major work of its kind in the 20th century, and as such, embodies the findings of modern philological scholarship. For example, full reference is made to Tocharian, the extinct language rediscovered at the end of the Nineteenth Century which often provides the key to the important transition form between the Old-Indian and the Indo-European group of languages to which English belongs. Several hundred words previously defined as being "of unknown etymology" are fully analyzed. The etymology of words of Semitic origin in the English language is given, the transliteration of Semitic words is based on a concept which renders exactly every consonant, vowel and diacritical sign. Hybrids are not only referred to, but in many cases a new, correctly formed word is suggested. Special attention is paid to loan translations (important elements in the cultural interrelationship between the nations) especially in regard to their passage from one language to another. The dictionary also provides the etymologies of proper and mythological names. Exhaustive cross-referencing, allows the reader to trace all words derived from one and the same base. Chambers Dictionary of Etymology by Sol Steinmetz     How are the words 'door' German 'Tr' and Sanskrit 'dvar' related? When did the word Blarney first appear in print? What's the linguistic history of the word 'history'? The Chambers Etymological Dictionary holds all the answers for any person curious about the origins of the words they use, and how these words have changed over time. This fascinating dictionary explores the development of meaning, spelling, and pronunciation of over 25,000 English words. Over 30,000 detailed entries trace words back to their Proto-Germanic or Indo-European roots, and include words borrowed from other languages, as well as the sources and dates of their first recorded use. For many years academics, wordsmiths, crossword lovers, and language enthusiasts of all stripes have turned to this celebrated volume as their reference of choice in lexical matters. First published as the Barnhart Etymological Dictionary, the Chambers Dictionary of Etymology offers a unique combination of approachability and authoritativeness in an accessible single-volume format, making it an essential etymological resource for the expert, and a fascinating reference for the general reader. Sample entry from the Chambers Etymological Dictionary: blarney n. flattering, coaxing talk. 1766, Lady Blarny (for Blarney), a smooth-talking flatterer in Goldsmith's the Vicar of Wakefield, her name being a literary contrivance in allusion to Blarney Stone, a stone in a castle near Cork, Ireland. Anyone kissing the stone is supposed to become skillful in flattering and coaxing. The word is used in its general sense in a letter of Sir Walter Scott (1796). An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language by Walter W. Skeat     Practical and reliable, this reference traces English words back to their Indo-European roots. Each entry features a brief definition, identifies the language of origin, and employs a few illustrative quotations. An extensive appendix includes lists of prefixes, suffixes, Indo-European roots, homonyms and doublets, and the distribution of English-language sources. The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots by Calvert Watkins     Fully revised and updated, THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF INDO-EUROPEAN ROOTS remains an indispensable resource for anyone interested in the history of English and its place in the Indo-European language family. More than 13,000 words are traced to their origins in Proto-Indo-European, the prehistoric ancestor of English that was spoken before the advent of writing. In Calvert Watkins"s skilled hands, Proto-Indo-European language and society are rendered as alive and compelling as they must have been six thousand years ago. His introductory essay shows how words in an unrecorded ancient language can be reconstructed and offers a wealth of fascinating information about Proto-Indo-European culture. The dictionary that follows contains nearly 1,350 reconstructed roots, plus two dozen new "Language and Culture" notes that explore interesting sidelights to the etymologies presented in many entries. Word Histories and Mysteries: From Abracadabra to Zeus by Editors of The American Heritage Dictionaries     English-speakers, especially Americans, are sometimes criticized because so many speak only one language, but in truth, English is a tongue composed of many others. Probably no one knows this better than those for whom etymology is their livelihood, such as these dictionary editors, and they draw on their collective experience of hunting down word origins, whether historical or linguistic, to produce this entertaining volume. Even those who aren’t wordy types may wonder where words like "namby-pamby," "milquetoast" and "hamburger" came from, and the explanations don’t disappoint: poet Henry Carey first coined the term "namby-pamby" to make fun of 18th-century poet Ambrose Philips ("amby" standing for Ambrose); "milquetoast" derives from an English comic strip depicting a timid, retiring man named after a bland food; and "hamburger" comes from "a form of pounded beef called Hamburg steak" that people ate in (where else?) Hamburg, Germany. The brief introductory pages of general language history are somewhat dry, but the tone elsewhere is conversational and rarely technical. Some of the entries have straightforward histories that make one question their inclusion ("asparagus" and "iconoclast" are inherited from Latin and Greek respectively), or are hard to even really consider English (like "ciao" and "maharajah"), but often even then the editors include historical tidbits that add interest. Lovers of language, history and literature should appreciate this book, which is much easier to read and more intriguing than the etymological notes found in a regular dictionary. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Word Mysteries and Histories: From Quiche to Humble Pie by American Heritage Publishing Company     This entertainment-oriented etymological dictionary is an uneven hodgepodge of 500 paragraph-length entries. Dictionary readers' curiosity is the only revealed selection criterion. The words and phrases included range from the ostensibly uninteresting ( cat, bed ) to the current ( latchkey child ) to the technical ( niobium ). Some entries simply give a wordy rendition of the standard dictionary etymology, but others provide interesting narrative backgrounds in an often waggish, pun-riddled prose. Like Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins ( LJ 10/1/77), which provides over 3000 entries, Word Mysteries and Histories is designed for browsing. Word Origins ... and How We Know Them: Etymology for Everyone by Anatoly Liberman     Millions of people want to know the origin of the words they use. Word columns in daily newspapers and numerous books attempt to satisfy their curiosity. Word histories are usually digested like pills: the user is interested in getting well, not in the chemistry of the prescribed medication. Those who send letters to the Editor also want a straight answer without bothering about how "editors" come by their knowledge. Therefore, they fail to realize that etymologies are seldom definitive and that the science of etymology is intensely interesting. Perhaps if someone explained to them that, compared to the drama of words, Hamlet is a light farce, they might develop a more informed attitude toward philological research and become students of historical linguistics rather than gullible consumers of journalists' pap. The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories by Merriam-Webster     A gold mine of word histories for reference or browsing. Covers the origins of 1,500 words. Over 600 engagingly written articles. Explore the stories behind our vocabulary. The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories (Oxford Paperback Reference) by Glynnis Chantrell     Dictionaries of etymology and word histories differ greatly in what is increasingly being called "accessibility" or "user-friendliness." This new work from Oxford, which provides the histories of more than 12,000 words, is definitely on the accessible side. Virtually all of the words are common, "everyday" words--core words--with only a handful of the exotics to which editors of other collections of word histories are drawn. Chantrell discusses the words straightforwardly and with a bit more vivacity than might be expected. In addition, her information is undoubtedly fresher than anyone else's, drawn as it is from the database of ongoing research for the Oxford English Dictionary. Each entry includes the date of first recorded use and a brief discussion of the term's origin and evolution. Prefixes are treated in boxed "Wordbuilding" features. A distinct gesture of friendliness on Chantrell's part is her decision to spell out words that would ordinarily be abbreviated in scholarly works and even in some nonscholarly dictionaries. T. F. Hoad's Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (Oxford, 1993), perhaps the most accessible of the scholarly choices, is prefaced by a list of almost 400 abbreviations, the use of which no doubt contributed substantially to its conciseness. In another nod to user-friendliness, many of the words abbreviated in Hoad--ablative, substantival, indeclinable, frequentative, and so on--are not to be found in Chantrell's word histories. Still, within the zone of popular word histories, Chantrell sets herself against several formidable and well-established competitors, among them John Ciardi's Good Words to You: An All-New Dictionary and Native's Guide to the Unknown American Language (Harper, 1987), John Ayto's Dictionary of Word Origins (Arcade, 1993), and Adrian Room's A Dictionary of True Etymologies (Routledge, 1986). The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories is recommended for libraries that need to freshen or expand their collection of word history resources.   Word Origins: An Exploration and History of Words and Language by Wilfred Funk     From a highly respected name in reference literature, an easy-to-access, dependable sourcebook on the origin and development of thousands of words, each word has been thoroughly checked by ranking linguists and the information is presented in a manner as entertaining as fiction. Dictionary of Word Origins: A History of the Words, Expressions and Cliches We Use by Jordan Almond     Answering the age-old question, "Why do we say it?" this handy dictionary gives the intriguing origins of hundreds of everyday words and expressions. How did lollipops get their name? (In the northern part of England, "lolly" means "tongue.") What is "long" doing in the word "longshoreman"? (When ships were unloaded, the sailors passed the goods from their ships to the men 'long the shore.) Why do we pass the buck? (In an old English card game, one would pass a jackknife, or "buck," to show whose turn it was to chip in.) Useful for reference and fun just for browsing, Dictionary of Word Origins is also a great way to expand vocabulary and enjoy doing it.