Author: Charles Earle FunkPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
Thereby Hangs a Tale
Author: Charles Earle FunkThereby Hangs a Tale
Author: Charles E. FunkPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 336
Book Description
Thereby Hangs a Tale
Author: Charles Earle FunkPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 336
Book Description
Thereby Hangs a Tale. Stories of Curious Word Origins
Author: Charles Earle FUNK (the Elder.)Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 303
Book Description
Thereby Hangs a Tale
Author: Charles E. FunkPublisher: Harper Paperbacks
ISBN: 9780062720498
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
The Greek root of school means leisure. A language where hearse and rehearse have the same root and the word dunce comes from a great philosopher, English has hundreds of every day words that originated or acquired their meaning in unusual ways. Dictionaries don't have the space to tell us all the mysteries, but now Dr. Funk, with humor and insight, tells us the strange and intriguing stories of hundreds of words and how they came to be a part of our language.
Thereby hangs a tale
Author: Charles Earle FunkPublisher:
ISBN: 9780060018009
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
English has hundreds of everyday words that originated or acquired their meanings in unusual ways. Dictionaries don't have the space to tell all the mysteries but Dr. Funk, with humor and insight, tells the strange and intriguing stories of hundreds of words and how they came to be a part of the language.
Thereby Hangs a Tale - Stories of Curious Word Origins
Author: Charles Earle FunkPublisher: Read Books Ltd
ISBN: 1447495853
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 350
Book Description
THIS book is the outcome of a collection of material that has been slowly accumulating over the past thirty years or so, since the time when, under the guidance of the late Dr. Frank H. Vizetelly, I began to work as his associate in the editorial department of the Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary. The ancestry of most of the words that we now use glibly or find in books or other current literature, is prosaic. We can trace their lines of descent back to Old English, or Old French, or Latin, or Greek, or other ancient source, but beyond the bare bones supplied by etymologists, which indicate those sources, and the steps by which they became English words, the dictionaries tell us little—for there is little more that can be told. The ancient Roman or Greek, say, who may have been the first to use a word that has strayed on to us, perhaps could have told the story of its origin. It may have been picturesque, based upon some historic episode, like the word anecdote; it may have come from a tale in some older language, for the languages that we consider ancient were themselves based upon still more ancient sources, but that story, if any, cannot now be determined. Thus what we know about the origins of the great majority of the words in our present language can be found in an unabridged dictionary or in a work dealing with etymologies, such as that compiled by W. W. Skeat about seventy years ago, or the one more recently prepared by Ernest Weekley.
2107 Curious Word Origins, Sayings & Expressions from White Elephants to a Song & Dance
Author: Charles Earle FunkPublisher:
ISBN: 9780883658451
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 988
Book Description
This fascinating reference includes four previously published best-selling titles--A Hog on Ice, Thereby Hangs a Tale, Heavens to Betsy! and Horsefeathers and Other Curious Words.
Horsefeathers
Author: Charles E. FunkPublisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
ISBN: 9780060513375
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
Oh, horsefeathers! If you've ever wondered why the candy is called butterscotch; why a certain southern food is called a hush puppy; why tog supports in a fireplace are known as andirons, or sometimes firedogs, you'll be fascinated by the origins of the more than 600 words discussed in "a book that gets curiouser and curiouser as it goes along" (Son Francisco Chronicle).
Horsefeathers and Other Curious Words
Author: Charles E. FunkPublisher: Harper Paperbacks
ISBN: 9780062733535
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
The serious purpose of this book is, then, to supplement the dictionary, to fill gaps where filling seems to be warranted and to supply explanations for many of the curious words the significance of which is not evident from the parts that compose them. But as I do not think that a reference work need be a dry-as-dust compilation; it has been my aim to provide a little fillip of entertainment