What do the following ten words all have in common - haggard, mews, codger, arouse, musket, poltroon, gorge, allure, pounce and turn-tail? All fairly familiar and straightforward words, after a little digging into their histories it turns out that all of them derive from falconry: the adjective haggard described an adult falcon captured from the wild; mews were the enclosures hawks were kept in whilst moulting; codger is thought to come from 'cadger', the member of a hunting party who carried the birds' perches, and so on. This, essentially, is what Ten Words is all about - the book collects together hundreds of the most intriguing, surprising and little known histories and etymologies of a whole host of English words. From ancient place names to unusual languages, and obscure professions to military slang, this is a fascinating treasure trove of linguistic facts.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Little, Brown Book Group
ISBN-13
9781472108067
eBay Product ID (ePID)
189664373
Product Key Features
Book Title
Haggard Hawks and Paltry Poltroons: the Origins of English in Ten Words
Author
Paul Anthony Jones
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Publication Year
2013
Genre
Humor
Number of Pages
288 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height
140mm
Item Width
205mm
Item Weight
328g
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
Paul Anthony Jones
Country/Region of Manufacture
United Kingdom
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