Looking for recommendations for etomology books that you have or like. This would also include books that are about phrases and not just single words.
Thanks.
My junior year of high school, I had to suffer through a goofy guide to vocabulary-building called “Word Power Made Easy.” Something of a self-help book. I guess it’s useful because it tells a word’s root and history, which can be interesting, but I personally got a hold on etymology just by looking up words and glancing at their origins.
Visit Dave Wilton’s site over at http://www.wordorigins.org/source.htm I’ve linked you to his list of etymology sources.
For the best single dictionary on words, Chambers Dictionary of Etymology is my favorite. It’s a $45. book, buy I rate it my best purchase of the last two years.
For phrases there are more than a few sources, but I find that many of them have errors. Hendrickson is one. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms is another.
I use Dictionary of Word Origins by John Ayto. I think it’s pretty good.
Ayto is good.
I like Rawson’s Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk. You’ll never look at a meeting the same way again…
If you can afford it: The Oxford English Dictionary. There is no better resource, but it’s expensive.
It’s available online, and it’s possible that your local public library subscribes (mine does, so I can use it by typing in my library card number). Ask them.
Other good resources:
Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable – Very good for phrases. There’s an online version of one of the older editions at http://www.bibliomania.com/
Partridge’s Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English – great resource, the standard work on the subject. You can get a taste at http://www.partridge-slang.com/
Bryson’s <i>Mother Tongue</i> or </i>Made in America</i> are the histories of English/American English and have the origin of lots of words we take for granted. Plus it’s written in a very easy prose style, not just a list of words.
I have owned a paperback copy of Chambers’ Etymological Dictionary of the English Language for years. My fave (hardcopy) reference. It was like $5 way back, not the same thing as tisiphone’s. (Chambers puts out a lot of stuff.)