Book Review : Etymologicon
Author: Mark Forsyth
Two things I've ticked off from my wish list; One is my long time wish to read The Etymologicon: A Circular stroll through the hidden connections of the English language and the second one is updating my blog with other than music review.
I came to know about Mark Forsyth through his Inky fool blog, such a thought provoking posts regarding origin of English language words which kindles interest makes me to read his Etymologicon. He astonishes with so many wonderful at the same time eccentric facts about the origin of words by digging deep into the history . One may misinterpret by title that book may be preachy and drab with just list of words and their origin. In contrast, Markk forsyth discuss about the origin of words with each description linked with the next word and that too he construed each word spiced with his sense of humour. Another beauty is that Forsyth started the book with origin of the phrase 'A Turn-up for the books' and ends with etymology of 'book'. In Appendix of the book, he added quite intriguing list of the meaning of cities, actor names, music artist etc. Overall compelling book and got totally fascinated by the amount of research work had been done behind this masterpiece work.
Few Snippets from the book:
1) How 'Moron' converted from medical term to scornful word.
2) What buck has to do with money?
3) Interesting story revolving around Edison and bug.
4) Relation between SPAM and Python.
And many more intriguing facts.
Author: Mark Forsyth
Two things I've ticked off from my wish list; One is my long time wish to read The Etymologicon: A Circular stroll through the hidden connections of the English language and the second one is updating my blog with other than music review.
I came to know about Mark Forsyth through his Inky fool blog, such a thought provoking posts regarding origin of English language words which kindles interest makes me to read his Etymologicon. He astonishes with so many wonderful at the same time eccentric facts about the origin of words by digging deep into the history . One may misinterpret by title that book may be preachy and drab with just list of words and their origin. In contrast, Markk forsyth discuss about the origin of words with each description linked with the next word and that too he construed each word spiced with his sense of humour. Another beauty is that Forsyth started the book with origin of the phrase 'A Turn-up for the books' and ends with etymology of 'book'. In Appendix of the book, he added quite intriguing list of the meaning of cities, actor names, music artist etc. Overall compelling book and got totally fascinated by the amount of research work had been done behind this masterpiece work.
Few Snippets from the book:
1) How 'Moron' converted from medical term to scornful word.
2) What buck has to do with money?
3) Interesting story revolving around Edison and bug.
4) Relation between SPAM and Python.
And many more intriguing facts.
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