Bookish words & their surprising stories
Crystal, David, 1941-2025
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The world of books has played a striking role in the history of English vocabulary. 'Book' itself is one of the oldest words in the language, originating from 'boc' in Old English, and appears in many commonly used expressions today - by the book, bring to book and bookworm - to name a few. With the arrival of printing, typesetting and the development of the newspaper industry came terminology that developed into commonly used phrases such as stop the press, front-page news and hit the headlines, and the emergence of the internet generated still more. This anthology presents a selection of more than 100 words which show the influence of writing, reading and publishing books on our everyday vocabulary over the centuries, telling the stories behind their linguistic origins, and uncovering some surprising twists in the development of their meaning through time.
Main title:
Bookish words & their surprising stories / David Crystal.
Author:
Imprint:
Oxford : Bodleian Library Publishing, 2025.Oxford : Bodleian Library Publishing, 2025.
Collation:
160 pages ; 19 cm
ISBN:
9781851246519 (hbk)
Dewey class:
422
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
3050130