IV 



ADVERTISEMENTS 



AN ETYMOLOGICAL 



DICTIONARY 

 OF MODERN ENGLISH 



BY ERNEST WEEKLEY, M.A. 



Author of The Romance of JVords, The Romance of Names, etc. 



This is somewhat of a new departure in etymological dictionaries. 

 It embraces a much larger vocabulary than has been handled by 

 previous etymologists and pays special attention to the colloquialisms 

 and neologisms. 



The origin and cognates of each word are given as concisely as 

 possible, but " etymology " has been taken in its widest sense as a 

 science dealing not only with the phonetic elements of which words 

 are composed, but also with the adventures which they have met with 

 during their life in the language and the strange paths that many of 

 them have followed in reaching a current sense or use often widely 

 remote from the original. 



So far as possib e the date or epoch of the first appearance of each 

 word is noted, and the book will be found to contain much curious 

 information for which earlier etymological dictionaries would be 

 ransacked in vain. 



"One knows from experience that Mr. VVeekley 

 would contrive to avoid unnece sary dullness even if 

 he were comjriling a railway guide : but he would also 

 get the trains right." — J. C. ii quire in The Observer 



"It is as really and truly a book, with personality 

 in every line of it, as Johnson's Tactionary." 



E, B. Csborn in The Morning Post 



" His book is an amazing curiosity-shop of the 

 Engli h language. There is r.ot one of his 1.059 pages 

 which does not contain somethijig to fascinate the 

 collector of odds and ends of speech " 



Robert Lynd in The Daily News 



" Full of entertainment for the lover of word-lore." 



Yorkshire Post 



" The needs of the plain man are constantly kept in 

 view .... It must not be supposed, however, that 

 the volume does not contain a good deal of sound 

 etymological matter." 



II. B- in The ^Manchester Guardian 



" Undoubtedly the chief value of the dictionary lies 

 in the bringing together of an enc rmous mass of 

 interesting and curious information about words, their 

 ancestry, family history, and particular fortunes." 



Aberdeen Free Press 



Crown 4to. Pp. xx + 832. £2 2s. net 

 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, LONDON, W.i 



