Anatoly Liberman

Because McWhorter says it's more concise and newer, not to mention more scientific, than so much else that I've already wasted my time on read or considered....
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Ok, well, I guess I just got worn out before I got to this. It is exactly what it promises to be, a clear & thorough explanation of the relevant key principles of historical etymology (of English) to help discourage further dissemination of folk etymology.

But dang it's dry. The author snootily avoids being "funny" and show more claims that the subject matter itself is engaging enough to be "fun" and in the process becomes so clinical the writing is actually unfriendly. And then at the end he claims that "a book not worth rereading is not worth reading even once" and suggests we reread this. Well, I read a lot of it, but I have no interest whatsoever in studying it.

One thing about it I didn't like was how often the author admits to controversies and uncertainties. But a few more example of words the origins of which we *do* know would have been more interesting and satisfying, imo.

But even so, I did find a couple of bookdart-able bits:

Island and isle are not related, and neither should actually have the s.

"For Shakespeare 'metal' (or 'mettle') was a synonym for "any substance" (the metal of my speech; of your metal...; I am made of that self metal as my sister)...."

Recommended for those readers not burnt out on the field but still interested. show less

One of my sisters gave me this book as a gift. It took me quite a while to read this; I enjoyed it; the author has a quirky sense of humor; it's a bit too much detail for me in some places

I imagine it is difficult to write a book about etymology without becoming a dictionary. Liberman also confuses his audience getting too caught up in technicalities, but for a linguist not clarifying his orthography. At times he mentions phonetics and pronunciation, at others, nothing.

Explains the "how" and "why" of etymology and the science behind the origins of words we use everyday. Part history and psart how-to manual