Dubious Doublets: A Delightful Compendium of Unlikely Word Pairs of Common Origin, from Aardvark/Porcelain to Zodiac/Whiskey

Front Cover
Wiley, Mar 17, 2003 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 206 pages
Take an enchanting tour through the tangled roots of English

Quick, what is the common denominator of the following words: onion, twinkle, travel, squad, foist, semester, October, noon, and dicker? By the time you finish reading Dubious Doublets, the answer will be as obvious to you as the relationship between lettuce and galaxy, nostril and thrill, or witch and vegetable!

This surprising, enlightening, and entertaining guide uses a delightfully innovative approach to explore the evolution, lineage, and proliferation of words. Beginning with pairs of seemingly unrelated modern English words–dubious doublets–the author traces them back through the millennia to reveal not only their common roots, but also the living thoughts that form the true links between these improbable pairs.

You’ll discover, for example, why the words flamenco and flamingo are both related to the complexions of the Dutch, how the biblical son of Isaac is related to a French garment and a Halloween decoration, and what going berserk has to do with playing hopscotch. You'll also uncover the common roots of such seemingly incompatible dyads as bully/friar, muscle/mouse, and everyone’s favorite, feather/hippopotamus.

Richly supplemented with cultural anecdotes, literary excerpts, and lively discussions on a broad variety of relevant topics–not to mention a series of whimsical illustrations that offer intriguing clues to word origins–Dubious Doublets is, quite simply, a word buff’s delight.

From inside the book

 

Contents

aardvark porcelain
7
alcohol artichoke
14
asterisk disaster
20
Copyright

5 other sections not shown

Common terms and phrases

acronym American ancient Romans appeared Arabic became boot buck bully butterfly called common dance derive from Indo-European derives from Greek derives from Latin derives from Old Dictionary doublets Dubious Doublets Dutch earth eponymous etymologists etymology European root example fourteenth century German Greek word Grimm's law Hobson-Jobson hocus pocus horse humor Indo Indo-European root Italian J. K. Rowling Jack jack-o'-lantern joined the lexicon Jumbo king known language Late Latin Latin root Latin word less obvious letter literally means lynx meant medieval Latin Middle English Middle French modern Narcissus nineteenth century noun Old English Old French onomatopoeia originally palindrome patter person portmanteau words rebus recorded referred related word root evolved semordnilapic sense seventeenth century sixteenth century someone Spanish spelled stars suffix survives syllable term things vanity plates variant verb Vulgar Latin word evolved words based words derived York zero

About the author (2003)

STEWART EDELSTEIN is a practicing attorney who has studied etymology for more than thirty years, ever since his introduction to the subject as an undergraduate at Oberlin College. Edelstein has published two Op-Ed pieces in the New York Times and teaches a course in trial advocacy at Yale Law School.

Bibliographic information

TitleDubious Doublets: A Delightful Compendium of Unlikely Word Pairs of Common Origin, from Aardvark/Porcelain to Zodiac/Whiskey
AuthorStewart Edelstein
PublisherWiley, 2003
Original fromthe University of California
DigitizedMar 7, 2008
ISBN0471227641, 9780471227649
Length206 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics / Etymology
Social Science / Media Studies
  
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