Changes

Derived from the ''Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins'', the Little Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins tells the stories behind a thousand words, divided into a hundred themes from ''Adventure'' through to ''Writing'' by way of the rest of the alphabet. For each word within a theme we're told in which language the it originated and its original meaning - thus for ''Infant'' we find that it comes from the Latin ''in'' meaning ''not'' and ''fari'' for ''speaking''. The two parts put together to tell of someone who has not yet reached legal majority rather than a child who has not yet learned the value of the word 'Why?' In Italian ''infante'' means ''youth'' as well as ''foot soldier''. From this came ''infanteria'', which English adopted as ''infantry'' in the sixteenth century.

I opened the book at random for that example, but you can see the quality of what's on offer. It's not just the ''origin'' of the word which we're given, but how it developed into other areas. It's wide -ranging in the themes covered: you can find the origins of some favourite insults (''loon'' comes from a North American waterbird and ''po-faced'' refers back to a chamber pot), consider your marriage (''conjugal'' comes from the Latin ''jugum'', meaning ''yoke'' and a ''trousseau'' was originally a bundle or package) or even revert to your school days. A bully used to be someone we all liked, and was derived from an old Dutch word meaning ''lover''. By the end of the seventeenth century , it meant ''admirable'' or ''jolly'' and then came to mean ''first -rate'' which exists even today in the phrase ''bully for you''.

They're gems, aren't they? The editor, Julia Cresswell is a language researcher and she has the ability to convey her message in an accessible, jargon-free language which engages and interests the reader. It's easy to use too, with the themes arranged alphabetically through the book, as are the words within the themes and there's an index at the end which tells you in which theme you'll find the word.

I'd like to thank the publisher for sending a copy to the Bookbag. We're going to shelve it next to [[Oxford Dictionary of Quotations by Elizabeth Knowles (Editor)]].

If this book appeals then you might also enjoy [[An Unkindness of Ravens: A Book of Collective Nouns by Chloe Rhodes]]. You might also appreciate [[A Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases by Tad Tuleja]].