Picture of author.

Mario Pei (1901–1978)

Author of The New World Spanish/English, English/Spanish Dictionary (El New World Diccionario español/inglés, inglés/español) (Spanish and English Edition)

61+ Works 1,930 Members 17 Reviews 1 Favorited

About the Author

Includes the names: Mario Pei, Mario Pei, Marió Peí, Mario A. Pei, Mario A. Pei, Dr Mario A Pei, Mario Andrew Pei, Revised by Mario Pei

Works by Mario Pei

The New World Spanish/English, English/Spanish Dictionary (El New World Diccionario español/inglés, inglés/español) (Spanish and English Edition) (1969) 590 copies, 1 review
The Story of Language (1949) 494 copies, 3 reviews
The Story of the English Language (1968) 103 copies, 4 reviews
A Dictionary of Linguistics (1954) — Editor — 85 copies, 1 review
Dictionary of Foreign Terms (1974) 60 copies
Language for Everybody (1968) 42 copies
What's in a word? Language: yesterday, today, and tomorrow (1976) 38 copies, 1 review
Getting Along in German (1970) 33 copies
Talking Your Way Around the World (1971) 31 copies, 1 review
The Story of Latin and the Romance Languages (1976) 30 copies
Getting Along in French (1957) 29 copies
Glossary of Linguistic Terminology (1966) 29 copies, 2 reviews
Invitation to linguistics; a basic introduction to the science of language (1965) 27 copies
World's Chief Languages (1960) 25 copies
All About Language (1954) 22 copies
Getting Along in Spanish (1977) 21 copies
New Italian Self-Taught (1982) 20 copies
Words in Sheep's Clothing: How People Manipulate Opinion by Distorting Word Meanings (1969) 19 copies
How to learn languages and what languages to learn (1973) 18 copies
Double-Speak in America, (1973) 18 copies
Getting Along in Russian (1965) 18 copies
Our names, where they came from and what they mean (1955) — Joint Author. — 17 copies
One language for the world (1958) 15 copies
The families of words (1972) 12 copies, 1 review
Swords of Anjou (1953) 10 copies
Our National Heritage (1965) 10 copies, 1 review
Weasel words: The art of saying what you don't mean (1978) 10 copies
The Many Hues of English (1973) 9 copies
A Comparative Practical Grammar of French, Spanish and Italian (1977) — Editor; Editor — 9 copies
Tales of the natural and supernatural (1972) 8 copies, 1 review
The America we lost; the concerns of a conservative (1969) 8 copies
Swords for Charlemagne: (Swords of Anjou) (A Graphic giant) (1957) 8 copies, 1 review
Getting along in Italian (1965) 7 copies
Language Today (1967) 6 copies
The Lexicon Webster Dictionary (A to Oyster, Volume One) (1986) 5 copies
Swords of Anjou 4 copies
The New Grolier Webster International Dictionary Of The English Language Volume I 1965 (1976) 4 copies
Voices of Man The Meaning and Function of Language (1962) 4 copies
The Italian language (1941) 3 copies
Wanted: a world language 3 copies
THE CONSUMER'S MANIFESTO A Bill Of Rights to Protect the Consumer in the Wars Between Capital and Labor. 2 copies
Studies In Romance Philology And Literature (2017) 2 copies
Getting Along In Spanish A Holiday Magazine Language Book (1957) 2 copies
La maravillosa historia del lenguaje 2 copies
Getting Along in Portuguese (2012) 2 copies
A Dictionary of Linguistics, 1954 1 copy
The World's Chief Languages (1949) 1 copy
The world's chief languages (Formerly Language for War and Peace) (Third Edition) 1 copy
La Maravillosa Historia del Lenguaje 1 copy
The American road to peace: a constitution for the world 1 copy
La maravillosa historia del lenguaje 1 copy
GETTING ALONG IN FRENSH 1 copy
Voices of Man (World Perspectives) (2023) 1 copy
The Australia New Zealand living Webster encyclopedic dictionary of the English language : twelve supplementary references sections (1975) 1 copy
World Perspectives, The Meaning and Function of Language 1 copy
Words in Sheep's Clothing - How people manipulate opinion by distorting word meanings (1969) 1 copy
French precursors of the Chanson de Roland (1948) 1 copy
the Story of English a Modern Approach (1962) 1 copy
Russia's secret weapon (reprint) 1 copy
Language of the specialists; a communications guide to twenty different fields 1 copy
First-Year French (1957) 1 copy
Work Explorer

Associated Works

How to Build a Better Vocabulary (1961) — Introduction — 287 copies, 4 reviews
The Talisman Italian Cook Book (1950) — Introduction, some editions — 211 copies, 5 reviews
Snoopy's Philosophy (1968) — Translator — 79 copies
The Living Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language (1971) — Introduction — 60 copies
Great Science Fiction Stories By the World's Greatest Scientists (1985) — Author — 56 copies, 2 reviews
The adventure of language (1963) — Editor — 19 copies
Our Language: The Story of the Words We Use (1955) — Introduction — 14 copies
The Golden Carnation and Other Stories Told in Italy (1960) — Foreword, some editions — 11 copies
Words, words, and words about dictionaries (1963) — Contributor — 10 copies
The Webster Reference Dictionary of the English Language: With a Historical Sketch of the English Language By Mario Pei, (1982) 2 copies

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Birthdate
1901
Date of death
1978
Gender
male
Education
City College of New York
Columbia University
Occupations
professor
author
consultant to OSS, etc.
Organizations
US Army School in Monterey
NATO
University of Pittsburgh
Columbia University
Short biography
Mario Andrew Pei was born in Rome, Italy, in 1901. Like many Italians of the period, he moved with his family to New York City in 1908. Following his own father's scholarly example, he attended many public and parochial schools. He was an excellent student and was already fluent in five languages by the time he graduated from High School. He went on to learn 30 other languages, as well as the sentence structures of over 100 more languages. His education included receiving a bachelor's degree from City College of New York and a doctorate from Colombia University in 1937.

He started teaching languages at City College in 1923 and joined the Department of Romance Languages at Colombia University in 1928. In 1932, he published "The Italian Language.” During World War II, his language proficiency was put to use as a language consultant to the Office of War Information and the Office of Strategic Services. It was then at he wrote language courses and guides.
Nationality
Italy (birth)
USA
Places of residence
Rome, Italy
New York, New York, USA

Members

Reviews

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18 reviews
jsoos106 reviews
The Story of Language Revised Edition by Mario Pei
A bit of a scholarly discussion. Great work spanning languages around the world with many examples used to provide insight to the point given. Provides an overview of language and how it has been addressed through the ages. Goves through a discussion of the major language groups and languages in the world (including some invented languages such as Esperanto). My version is somewhat dated (mid '60s), so some of the figures (population levels, etc) are obviously off, the underlying messages show more are still valid. I was not enamored with the last several chapters focused on a "universal language" Well worth reading. show less
Nov 7, 20102 other reviews
librisissimo2,402 reviews
The families of words by Mario Pei
Substance: Great collection of word-lists and esoteric facts about word origins. Gives a table of standard changes in sounds from Indo-European to its branches, but the details of some words don't fit the patterns.
Style: Clear and readable, but can only be loved by a linguistics fan.
Aug 16, 2009
annbury1,501 reviews
The story of the English language, by Mario Pei
An old history of English (first published in 1955, revised 1967) which gets us up to the 20th century in the first third of the book, with most of the journey focussed on how and when particular words came into the language. The middle section is mostly about English usage in various locales, and the last bit about the future -- i.e., precriptive vs. evolutionary. It was interesting and valuable in its day.
½
Sep 3, 2010 (Edited)3 other reviews
antiquary3,543 reviews
Swords for Charlemagne by Mario Pei
Story of Roland based, as the author's note says, more on the Song of Roland (and other legendary material such as the Song of Bernardo del Carpio) than on such historical facts as exist about the real Roland. The "feel" of the story is much more late medieval than 800. The author (like the original Song) carries the story down past the death of Roland to the trial of Ganelon to provide a happier conclusion.
Jul 2, 2013
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Associated Authors

Statistics

Works
61
Also by
11
Members
1,930
Popularity
#13,342
Rating
3.9
Reviews
17
ISBNs
91
Languages
2
Favorited
1

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