Etymological Dictionary of the English Language

Comprehensive and easy to use this resource offers numerous cross-references that allow readers to trace English words back to their Indo-European roots. By exhibiting the relationship between English and cognate tongues it reveals the language's basis in Latin and Greek as well as prior derivations from Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic sources.<br>Each entry begins with a brief definition and an exact statement of the term's actual (or probable) language of origin. An account of its transition to English usage follows along with either a few quotations that indicate the period at which the word was adapted or else the usual Middle-English forms. A helpful Appendix contains a glossary of prefixes a general accounting of suffixes a table of Indo-European roots and vocabularies of homonyms and doublets in addition to lists showing the distribution of the sources of English.<br>A standard reference for many years this volume will prove a practical resource not only to students of comparative philology and of early English but to everyone with an interest in the origin history and development of the English language.