The Oxford Guide to Etymology

by Philip Durkin

This practical introduction to word history investigates every aspect of where words come from and how they change. Philip Durkin, chief etymologist of the Oxford English Dictionary , shows how different types of evidence can shed light on the myriad ways in which words change in form and meaning. He considers how such changes can be part of wider linguistic processes, or be influenced by a complex mixture of social and cultural factors. He illustrates every point with a wide range of fascinating examples.

Dr. Durkin investigates folk etymology and other changes which words undergo in everyday use. He shows how language families are established, how words in different languages can have a common ancester, and the ways in which the latter can be distinguished from words introduced through language contact. He examines the etymologies of the names of people and places. His focus is on English but he draws many examples from languages such as French, German, and Latin which cast light on the pre-histories of English words.

The Oxford Guide to Etymology is reliable, readable, instructive, and enjoyable. Everyone interested in the history of words will value this account of an endlessly fascinating subject.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction, Linguistics

358 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Philip Durkin's THE OXFORD GUIDE TO ETYMOLOGY is an introduction to this field of linguistics, the tracing of word histories. Durkin is an editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, and in this introduction he draws all of the examples from the history of English. Of course that means drawing in data from Latin, French, Old Norse, etc., but since the words he examines are part of English, any reader can relate to them.

This book is chock-full of information, but it's difficult to see what the audience is. From the initial pages, one might think this is meant as a textbook for students of linguistics or the history of English specifically. However, there are no exercises and the information is not broken up into convenient individual lessons. THE OXFORD GUIDE TO ETYMOLOGY is in fact exceedingly dry, and will prove a daunting read even for those with a linguistics background. I'd recommend it to those who have worked with Hock's challenging but worthy handbook Principles of Historical Linguistics, as Durkin's book complements Hock's book with more detail on this particular aspect of language change.

[E.A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have my interest in etymology in general and French lexical influence on English specifically, then this book is both a wonderful read and highly useful. It provides a very clear systematic overview
of the issues involved in studying etymology, well-informed by linguistic theory, and spiced throughout with relevant examples. To be honest just coming across so many lovely etymological stories made it a fun read for me. The discussion of what we may call the explanatory power of different explanations for linguistic change is also interesting. But I'm sure the previous reviewer is right that it's not a book for everyone.

[Susan Abbey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating - the words behind the words, behind the words - specialist skills that document the reasons for the words - where they originated and how we are supposed to use them - I have more respect now for the humble dictionary.

[Margrét · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically, language is messy. Word histories are opaque. We know nothing.

OK, we know some things. But with caveats.