Webster, Merriam Primary Author mixed material bibliography Massachusetts Merriam-Webster Inc.,Publisher 1991 monographic en English

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An armchair adventure for word lovers. Where did the term OK originate! Was Andrew Jackson so poor a speller, as his opponents charged, that he used and popularized an abbreviation for "all correct" as he spelled it: "Ole Korrek? Or does the Choctaw Indians' term of approval "okeh" lie at the foundation of one of the most successful of all Americanisms? With a witty, conversational style, The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories explains the history of 1500 words, including OK, which reflect the many ways our store of words has expanded over the centuries as human knowledge and experience have changed. This book unearths the curious origins of words both exotic and commonplace and carries the reader from continent to continent in search of the sources of our vast, colorful English vocabulary. For example: Harass demonstrates the logical link between words borrowed by one culture from another. It derives from the Middle French "harer," meaning "to set a dog on." Certainly to feel harassed is to feel hounded! The connection between tarantula spiders and the tarentella an Italian folk dance associated in folk belief with the bite of the tarantula and its cure is traced to the Italian seaport of Taranto. And lute, both the instrument and its name, can be attributed to Arabic culture and language. Delve into the intriguing, often entertaining stories specially selected, researched, and written by the editors of Merriam-Webster and discover the bonds that reveal English as a true globetrotter of a language one that has been enriched by virtually every culture it has encountered. Etymology - Dictionaries. R 422.030877796033 Transformatio Library Bandung Theological Seminary R 422.03 Web m E09003153 Reference Room R 422.03 Web m download_%2842%29.jpg 72902 2015-01-19 14:13:14 2025-06-11 10:08:52 machine generated