3.0
The Secret Life of Words
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Secret Life of Words Reviews
3.0
“Etymology is a fascinating subject. I really have enjoyed reading different books on where different words come from. The Secret Life of Words does not let down the reader in this regard. There are lots of different words which are studied. The book goes for a chronological approach on how English has evolved. The book claims that English is a “whore” of a language, taking lots of different words from other cultures. I didn’t particularly like that term as it is misogynistic but nevertheless it is true that the English language has grown from 50,000 words in Old English to between 700,000 and 2 million words depending on who is asked.
The Secret Life of Words shows that there is a lot of history behind different words and historical events bring significant linguistic development. For example, the Norman conquest brought a significant number of words from French to English. Trade is perhaps the most common way other languages bring words into English. The relationship between Muslim Arabs and Christian Europe was difficult throughout much of the Middle Ages. The Crusades were negative interaction between Christian Europeans and Muslim Arabs; but there were more positive interactions with trade. The Arabs brought words such as lemon, sugar and arsenals via the trade with the Italians. I was fascinated to learn that at the same time that Northern Europe was being raided by Vikings, was the first account of sugar being brought into Europe.
The Secret Life of Words also shows that there has been a constant stream of language influence from other cultures. Certain languages have connections to particular things; for example, navigation terms such as hull, brig, schooner, bow are connected with the Dutch as their navigational expertise was the best in the 17th and early 18th centuries. Likewise, intellectual influence from philosophy has had a direct influence over language. John Locke popularised first-person phrases such as “I think” “I take it” and “I suppose” whilst the word Zeitgeist was created by Georg Hegel. Shakespeare has created numerous words, which The Secret Life of Words lists around 1,700.
The Secret Life of Words is a book for word lovers and history buffs. There are lots of different words that are mentioned, with the different historic contexts behind each of the words. There were bits like the lack of analysis of Native American words and the lacklustre chapter on Japanese words which I wasn’t entirely impressed. I felt the Japanese words could have been put towards the end of the book, given that Japan cut itself off from the world for 300 years under the Edo period. Nevertheless, the book does give a good overview of the etymology of English.”
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