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Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins
The first Edition of the Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins detailed the fascinating and little known stories behind thousands of words and phrases that we use every day. In this new edition, William and Mary Morris update and expand their classic work to keep pace with our ever changing language. New entries include:
688 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1958
7 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
William Morris
19 books4 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
William^^^Morris
William^^^Morris
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 15, 2024
__________________________
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean–neither more nor less.'––Louis Carroll
This is a book for word lovers, and it dishes the dirt on thousands of English words and tells the story of their origins. These histories are not only informative; they are frequently downright funny. Here are a few examples of the word histories––in my words.
If you are afeared that people will laugh at you if you use the term afeared , relax. According to Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins , afeared is not a corruption of the word afraid by moonshiners dwelling deep in the Deliverance Woods ––it is a perfectly good word that has been around since the Middle Ages. People may still laugh at you if you use it, but you can sagely inform them that they are unschooled, benighted idgits.
Red herring is a term nearly all the mystery lovers on Goodreads know, but you may not realize it originates from the “sport” of fox hunting. Apparently, back in the days of yore, if fox hunters wanted to call their enthusiastic fox hounds off of the trail of their sly prey, the mounted hunters would drag a dried herring across the fox’s trail and thus cause the dogs to become confused and lose the scent of the wily fox. This is, of course, what some of the characters or clues are in a mystery novel––a smelly fish to throw the readers off of the scent of their prey.
Read the phrase Ye Olde Antique Shoppe out loud. One of my first assignments as a young writer for a textbook publisher in the 1970s was to write a unit on the history of the English alphabet for a language arts book. Yea, I know. It put me to sleep, too. But I know that according to my informants, you are pronouncing the first word in Ye Olde Antique Shoppe incorrectly. In Old English, the word Ye wasn’t spelled Ye. The first letter was not a Y, it was a now obsolete letter known as a thorn that looked similar to a lowercase p with a line at the top and the bottom. The thorn was never pronounced as Yee. It was pronounced the same way we pronounce the diagraph th today. In other words, Ye in the above example was always meant to be pronounced The.
Today, we use claptrap to mean showy or pretentious nonsense or bull …well, you know…shirt meant to get applause from listeners. For centuries entertainers have occasionally manufactured some arresting moment for their acts to attract the approval of the audience, and these performers of olde called those fake events claptraps . For instance, I have seen the circus act called “The Wheel of Death” 3 or 4 times. It is based around on a rotating apparatus with a wheel on one or both ends on which acrobats perform impressive acrobatic moves while the 40 foot tall apparatus spins around. And every time I have seen the act, there is one moment where the performer almost falls to a gory and tragic death and manages to save himself at the last second, just in time for a round of applause from the relieved audience. Well, the whole impeding death routine is a fraud, I suspect––intentional claptrap. It is literally a “trap” to catch “claps” (applause) from the audience. Most politicians have colossal cache of claptrap ready for any occasion, and they are definitely not afeared to use it.
★★★★ for a book that is not for everybody. You won’t sit down and read it cover to cover, but it is excellent browsing. I keep my copy by my bed.
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean–neither more nor less.'––Louis Carroll
This is a book for word lovers, and it dishes the dirt on thousands of English words and tells the story of their origins. These histories are not only informative; they are frequently downright funny. Here are a few examples of the word histories––in my words.
If you are afeared that people will laugh at you if you use the term afeared , relax. According to Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins , afeared is not a corruption of the word afraid by moonshiners dwelling deep in the Deliverance Woods ––it is a perfectly good word that has been around since the Middle Ages. People may still laugh at you if you use it, but you can sagely inform them that they are unschooled, benighted idgits.
Red herring is a term nearly all the mystery lovers on Goodreads know, but you may not realize it originates from the “sport” of fox hunting. Apparently, back in the days of yore, if fox hunters wanted to call their enthusiastic fox hounds off of the trail of their sly prey, the mounted hunters would drag a dried herring across the fox’s trail and thus cause the dogs to become confused and lose the scent of the wily fox. This is, of course, what some of the characters or clues are in a mystery novel––a smelly fish to throw the readers off of the scent of their prey.
Read the phrase Ye Olde Antique Shoppe out loud. One of my first assignments as a young writer for a textbook publisher in the 1970s was to write a unit on the history of the English alphabet for a language arts book. Yea, I know. It put me to sleep, too. But I know that according to my informants, you are pronouncing the first word in Ye Olde Antique Shoppe incorrectly. In Old English, the word Ye wasn’t spelled Ye. The first letter was not a Y, it was a now obsolete letter known as a thorn that looked similar to a lowercase p with a line at the top and the bottom. The thorn was never pronounced as Yee. It was pronounced the same way we pronounce the diagraph th today. In other words, Ye in the above example was always meant to be pronounced The.
Today, we use claptrap to mean showy or pretentious nonsense or bull …well, you know…shirt meant to get applause from listeners. For centuries entertainers have occasionally manufactured some arresting moment for their acts to attract the approval of the audience, and these performers of olde called those fake events claptraps . For instance, I have seen the circus act called “The Wheel of Death” 3 or 4 times. It is based around on a rotating apparatus with a wheel on one or both ends on which acrobats perform impressive acrobatic moves while the 40 foot tall apparatus spins around. And every time I have seen the act, there is one moment where the performer almost falls to a gory and tragic death and manages to save himself at the last second, just in time for a round of applause from the relieved audience. Well, the whole impeding death routine is a fraud, I suspect––intentional claptrap. It is literally a “trap” to catch “claps” (applause) from the audience. Most politicians have colossal cache of claptrap ready for any occasion, and they are definitely not afeared to use it.
★★★★ for a book that is not for everybody. You won’t sit down and read it cover to cover, but it is excellent browsing. I keep my copy by my bed.
September 28, 2023
I used to sit my wife below the salt until she read this book.
The “Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins” is exactly what the name implies. It is more fun to read from A to Z. However if you just use the book to look up references you know about be fastidious in your search. As I was looking up “A stitch in time…” and eventually found it as “Stich in time…”
The book is fun (and useful) in the sense that not only do you get the usual “This is what it means,” which you could have probably have gest, but you get a history that is not found in many of the other reference books.
The “Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins” is exactly what the name implies. It is more fun to read from A to Z. However if you just use the book to look up references you know about be fastidious in your search. As I was looking up “A stitch in time…” and eventually found it as “Stich in time…”
The book is fun (and useful) in the sense that not only do you get the usual “This is what it means,” which you could have probably have gest, but you get a history that is not found in many of the other reference books.
December 28, 2020
I've volunteered at Heirloom Books in Chicago since its opening. The founder, Chelsea Rectanus, and I were in the habit of filling down time at the shop by reading to one another or by playing games like Scrabble. This book of word origins was a something we turned into a game, one of us reading the title of an entry, the other proffering an etymology, then the reader giving Morris', often anecdotal, often speculative, account.
February 13, 2009
the morrises are so sassy!
February 23, 2016
I want this book for my library! It has all kinds of random words and phrases and usually an origin for whatever you're looking for - haha, just what it's supposed to do!
March 17, 2019
Occasionally insightful, frequently outdated, regularly grumpy.
September 25, 2023
Better than a dictionary.
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November 21, 2009None
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews