I am a college junior, and I have found no book more helpful in my studies than this one. It is a great reference work that can be used for so many topics and in so many contexts. It is a necessity in my reference collection. The etymlogies of so many roots and words are throroughly explained, and done so with amazing clarity.

Word Ninja

Among the 5,000 books in my library, 50 or 60 of them being dictionaries, this is one of the most erudite and entertaining -- a rare combination. The author's knowledge of literature and language is quite remarkable. Apart from being an invaluable serious reference work it is also a wonderful tome for reading in bed (and it's not too heavy!) It is somewhat too complex, too "deep", to buy as a birthday present for an Auntie or Uncle with everyday interests, but it would make a wonderful present for a gifted young nephew or niece who loves to explore and learn about the wondrous riches of our linguistic and literary heritage

Shipley is a scholar who wrote a study of Tolkien's language; his "discursive dictionary" shows the same mix of scholarship and fun. The book itself is organized by Indo-European roots. Shipley does not, however, expect you to know the IE root of an English word off the top of your head - he does provide an English to root index.

Tidbits of information come from an amazingly broad range of topics. For example, speaking of the root plumbum (lead) he mentions that it may come via Iberia because lead was mined in Spain as early as 2000 BC. In the entry on men (for math etc.) we get a quote from Dryden on Bacchus. In short, you get the information you need (the etmology and history of a word) along with fun tidbits.

The only complaint is that the dictionary is too fun ... looking up a word will always turn into an hour long browsing for enjoyment.

This is quite an interesting book! There will probably never be another book like this! Fun because of the adventurous stories behind the words. Funny because the cross-referencing is... well, unusual. For example, you'll look up 'centigrade' and it will tell you to look under 'congress'! Other examples include: 'glass' => 'electricity'; 'pectoral' => 'parrot'; 'scratch' => 'knick-knack'; 'town' => 'villain'; and my favorite 'ventriloquism' => 'necromancy'! But that's just the beginning! There are even more... And then we have the Appendices. Appendix I is "Doublets" which are "words that have arrived in our language by different routes from the same source." This list is very useful especially for English students. Next we have Appendix II: Words From Names. These are common, every-day words that originate from proper nouns. For example: Did you know that the word 'coach' (as in a carriage pulled by a team of horses) comes from the Hungarian town Kocs where they were first used? Or did you know that 'dollar' comes from Joachimsthal, Germany where silver was mined? Or did you know that the yellow-colored shrub known as 'forsythia' was named for British royal gardener William Forsyth (1737-1804) who brought them home from a trip to China? And many other fascinating origins! This brings us to the last part of the book Appendix III: Given Names, Their Sources and Meanings. Any lover of words will love this section. Appendix III gives us the origins of nearly 1000 given names. For example: Did you know that the name Ichabod means "God hath departed" in Hebrew? Or that Jennifer is Gaelic for "white wave"? Or that Xerxes is Persian for "lion king"? This and many more from a book I highly recommend to all English students and lovers of words!