Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meaning

by Sol Steinmetz

"My favorite popular word book of the year"
-William Safire, NY Times 6/22/2008

A fun, new approach to examining etymology!

Many common English words started out with an entirely different meaning than the one we know today. For

The word adamant came into English around 855 C.E. as a synonym for 'diamond,' very different from today's meaning of the "utterly unyielding in attitude or opinion."

Before the year 1200, the word silly meant "blessed," and was derived from Old English saelig, meaning "happy." This word went through several incarnations before adopting today's "stupid or foolish."

In Semantic Antics , lexicographer Sol Steinmetz takes readers on an in-depth, fascinating journey to learn how hundreds of words have evolved from their first meaning to the meanings used today.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction, Linguistics, Writing, History, Reference

288 pages, Hardcover

First published March 25, 2008

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't exactly what I expected, and at first I found it terribly insulting to anyone's intelligence. Some of the entries (the book is alphabetized in dictionary style) had no justification for being included. I stuck with it, however, and became familiar with the Steinmetz style. I learned about amelioration and pejoration, and appreciated the wealth of quotations exemplifying a given word's change in usage. Being a reference book, it can be a bit tiresome to read a lot of in one sitting, so it became my bathroom reader, which worked rather well.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

thank god for this, a sense of open interest and of humor about words, words which in general have been so heavy about me. levity, please.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good little book. Steinmetz takes a collection of words and discusses how the meanings have shifted since they came into the English language. It's also nice, as you can read straight through, or flip about. Steinmetz also uses some excellent examples to illustrate his work. Quite good.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book to dip into - I read it during free moments at lunch. It provides a history of individual words and how their meanings have developed over time. My conversation would be so much richer if I could only remember a few of the stories. The author picks interesting words and has good modern and historical/literary examples.

[Kay Hudson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book to read in bits and pieces when you have a few minutes free. Follows changes in the meanings of words over the centuries, sometimes logical, sometimes not so much. No wonder Chaucer feels like a foreign language even when the words appear to be familiar.

[Colleen]

Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meaning by Sol Steinmetz (2008)

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a lot of fun exploring the shifting meanings of commonly used words.

[Bernie4444 · Rating 5 out of 5]

How and why words change their meaning.

I find semantics fascinating; do words express or retard thought?

Now words are a moving target. This book helps explain the moving target without getting too bogged down. We can not put every word in one book and even if you have several books it could easily overflow your library.

I learned most of my English from Shakespeare and Ogden Nash; O.K. also Newspeak from the book “1984” and a good old book from 1933 "Science and Sanity - an introduction to non-Aristotelean systems and general semantics.”

After a short introduction, this book is organized with the target words (and phrases) in alphabetical order, then there is a small glossary and consulted sources.

You may find that you need a broad background to read the book or the internet readily available as even the references need references.

Just as when you were a child and planned to go through the encyclopedia from “A” to “Z”, you will find yourself doing it with “Semantic Antics”

[Christian Miller-Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sol Steinmetz offers a captivating journey through the history of English, uncovering the origins and stories of its most fascinating words. Blending linguistics, culture, and history, he highlights how language evolves with humanity. Written with clarity and charm, this book is both educational and entertaining.

[Rosy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Putting this one back on the shelf for now. It's not intended as a cover-to-cover read, and not quite engaging enough to make it one as I was hoping. Pretty book to have, though, and fun to dip in to.

[Nilendu Misra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never knew the racist origin of bulldose. And the combination of cells is called a battery because a combination of guns used to be/is called so. Good short book for word lovers. The kind to browse - which originated from cattles chewing on leaves - on a delightful spring weekend.

[Glenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Who new that "yelp" wasn't onomatopoeic but instead had a long history, originally meaning "to speak vainly"? [and do we care?] This is basically a dictionary (highly selective--too selective, really, since Steinmetz's choices seem pretty random). Not a good "beach read" but interesting, and easy to cover the "A" words or "B" words or "C" words (etc) in the 10 mins I have before I fall asleep each night.

[Rowena · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a linguistics lover, this is a great book! It gives examples of how many common English words started out with a totally different meaning. I also enjoyed the quotations from novels that were included in the book. The only thing I didn't like very much was the book's organization; the words are listed alphabetically, like in a dictionary. Overall, I really enjoyed reading it.

[steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a dictionary.

Okay, so it's not the OED. And it doesn't carry so much as a third of the words in the English language. But it's a dictionary; not exactly something to curl up with and read cover-to-cover, unless you're really into encyclopedic knowledge.

[John-Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you enjoy words - this is a great reference book - although it only explores a limited set of words as they've evolved.

As the Web evolves, semantics will be a factor as in understanding the context; looking for meaning. This topic is of professional interest to me.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

not what i expected, is just a dictionary of words and their origins. thought it would be more in story format

[Cathy Leverkus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who would have guessed, that how a word changes over time could be so interesting.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

was hoping this would be more interesting than it was. turned out, it was a coffee table kind of book...

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting idea, but I'm glad I didn't spend money on the book; after a while the words began running together.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is Great! I completely let out my inner nerd when I saw this! It's a book that tells the change in word meanings throughout history.

[J.M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting look at some common, everyday words and how their meaning evolved throughout the ages. Laid out in dictionary format, this isn't exactly something you'd read back to back.

[Mackenzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it very interesting, but it soon became boring because it is organized like a dictionary, so I was basically reading a dictionary.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good clean word fun. I heart words.