Oxford Dictionary Of English Etymology

The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology is the most comprehensive dictionary of the English language ever published. It is based on the original edition of the Oxford English Dictionary but much augmented by further research on the etymology of English and other languages. Providing a fascinating insight into the development of English, it describes 38,000 words in 24,000 articles which include: current meanings of each word; date of first recorded appearance in English; chronology of the development of each word's senses; earliest written form in English; related words in other languages; pronunciation. Review: ODEE is going to be, as it deserves to be, the standard etymological dictionary of the English language. * Times Literary Supplement * This is a very fine etymological dictionary, as aromatic a piece of lexicography as the great Onions (who, sadly died while the work was going through the press) ever achieved Anyone who wants to take journeys back through the mazes of the fickle human mind cannot very well do without this volume. * Anthony Burgess, Observer * Author Biography: The lexicographical labours of the late Dr C.T. Onions began when he joined the staff of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1895. His astringent yet humane scholarship in this field was well known from his work as co-editor (with J. A. H. Murray, Henry Bradley, and W. A. Craigie) of the OED, and later of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. His life work was crowned with his new etymological dictionary, based on the OED but embodying further research on the etymology of English and of the other languages concerned.