The Book of Babel: Words and the Way We See Things |
Common terms and phrases
adjective albatross American ancient appearance apple associated barnacle barnacle goose bird blue butterfly called Cameroons century chevaux de frise Chinese Christian clouds colloquial colour cowrie cuckoo dawn derived Dutch eggs English Eskimo etymology European example flour flower foam France freckles French French Revolution frise frizzy gawk German gold golden goose gowk grifo Guinea Pidgin hair Hesperides idea Indian Italian Jamaican English Japanese known language Latin literally lobster look Lusíadas Malay Max Müller metaphor migraine modern Greek Müller mushroom mussel myth once orange originally Oxford Dictionary Papua New Guinea pearl perceived perception perhaps perna pigs plough porcelain Portuguese primary meaning primrose refer resemblance Romans Romany root Russian Sanskrit Scuchardt sea shell seems semen sense slang someone Spanish spray star suggested Swahili term thing translated tree Varro Venus verb Virgin Waiting for Godot wheat woodpecker word wrote