Surprise Castle
Bookish Words & Their Surprising Stories

Bookish Words & Their Surprising Stories - Hardcover

$17.99
$25.00
-28%
Quantity
01

Pay over time for orders over $35.00 with

Availability:In StockContributor:David CrystalPublish date:2025-06-20Pages:176
Language:EnglishPublisher:Bodleian LibraryISBN-13:9781851246519ISBN-10:1851246517UPC:9781851246519Book Category:Language Arts & Disciplines, ReferenceBook Subcategory:Linguistics, DictionariesBook Topic:Historical & ComparativeSize:7.40 x 4.90 x 0.70 inchesWeight:0.6504Product ID:SC59ZFD5AX

Travel through time with words that have shaped the trajectory of the English language across centuries.

The world of books has played a striking role in the history of English vocabulary. "Book" itself is one of the oldest words in the language, originating from "boc" in Old English, and appears in many commonly used expressions today, including by the book, bring to book, and bookworm, to name a few.

With the arrival of printing and typesetting, and the development of the newspaper industry came terminology that birthed commonly used phrases such as "stop the press," "front-page news," and "hit the headlines." The emergence of the internet generated even more.

This anthology presents a selection of more than one hundred words that show the influence of writing, reading, and publishing books on our everyday vocabulary over the centuries, telling the stories behind their linguistic origins and uncovering some surprising twists in the development of their meaning through time.

Language:EnglishPublisher:Bodleian LibraryISBN-13:9781851246519ISBN-10:1851246517UPC:9781851246519Book Category:Language Arts & Disciplines, ReferenceBook Subcategory:Linguistics, DictionariesBook Topic:Historical & ComparativeSize:7.40 x 4.90 x 0.70 inchesWeight:0.6504Product ID:SC59ZFD5AX
David Crystal is a writer, editor, lecturer, broadcaster on language, and an honorary professor of linguistics at Bangor University, UK. His many books include The Cambridge Encyclopedia of English Language and A Date with Language, the latter also published by the Bodleian Library. You may find his website at davidcrystal.com.
Publisher: Bodleian Library

Contributor(s)

David Crystal

Free shipping on orders over $75. Standard shipping takes 3-7 business days. Returns accepted within 30 days of purchase.

Recently Viewed

View All