A Thesaurus of English Word Roots

Аннотация

When you read these words you probably do not fully understand what you have in your hands. Were I to say that you have a whole dictionary in your hands, you might find that unremarkable; we often think of thesauri, those treasure-books of words, as mere extensions of dictionaries anyway. But if I were to say that you had a lexicographical library in your hands, you might first wonder at the meaning of 'lexicographical'—you may look it up in this book—and then express a note of incredulity at my claim. Yet that is what you do actually have in your hands: Dr. Danner has compressed into one volume all the knowledge of words and learning regarding their origins to be found in an entire library of foreign language dictionaries as well as related linguistic tools for the study of English developed by historians of the language. This is an altogether singular achievement.