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"My favorite popular word book of the year"-William Safire, NY Times 6/22/2008A fun, new approach to examining etymology!Many common English words started out with an entirely different meaning than the one we know today. For example:The word adamant came into English around 855 C.E. as a synonym for 'diamond,' very different from today's meaning of the word: "utterly unyielding in attitude or opinion."Before the year 1200, the word silly meant "blessed," and was derived from Old English saelig, meaning "happy." This word went through several incarnations before adopting today's meaning:…
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Editions
3 editions- Ebook · English · 2009Diversified Publishing · 9780307497789
- Other · English · 2009Random House Information Group · 9781299115217
- Other · English · 2008Random House Reference · 272 pages · 9780375426124
English languageEtymologyNonfictionReferenceSemanticsBedeutungswandelSemantikEtymologie