The Story of English in One Hundred Words

This title offers an eye-opening tour of the English language through the ages from the Britain's leading linguistics expert. In this unique new history of the world's most ubiquitous language, linguistic expert, David Crystal, draws on words that best illustrate the huge variety of sources, influences and events that have helped to shape our vernacular since the first definitively English word was written down in the fifth century ('roe', in case you are wondering). Featuring Latinate and Celtic words, weasel words and nonce-words, ancient words ('loaf') to cutting edge ('twittersphere') and spanning the indispensable words that shape our tongue ('and', 'what') to the more fanciful ('fopdoodle'), Crystal takes us along the winding byways of language via the rude, the obscure and the downright surprising.

ISBN 1846684277   DEWEY edition DC22 ISBN13 9781846684272 (What's this?)   Pages 320 Publisher Profile Books Ltd   Published in London Imprint Profile Books Ltd   Height (mm) 216 Format Hardback   Width (mm) 135 Publication date 13 Oct 2011   Academic level General DEWEY 420.9

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