word-forming element meaning "a speaking, discourse, treatise, doctrine, theory, science," from Greek -logia (often via French -logie or Medieval Latin -logia), from -log-, combining form of legein"to speak, tell;" thus, "the character or deportment of one who speaks or treats of (a certain subject);" from PIE root *leg- (1) "to collect, gather," with derivatives meaning "to speak (to 'pick out words'). Apart from the health warning that this book will inhibit your ability to have normal conversations, The Etymologicon is quite a delightful read. Any accompanying smell quickly peters out, but did you know that the French word for fart is peter, and that from peter comes petard, which means a little explosive?

It’s an occasionally ribald, frequently witty and unerringly erudite guided tour of the secret labyrinth that lurks beneath the English language, taking in monks and monkeys, film buffs and buffaloes, and explaining precisely what the Rolling Stones have to do with gardening. Viewed like this the language is a zoo, it’s a church, it’s a kitchen, it is all human history running off our tongue every day, and we barely see it. and I couldn't wait to get home and tell my wife the funny little snipped that had stuck in my mind that day. This was around the time that the first train station opened in Kensington - what is now known as Olympia, but then simply Kensington, in 1844.As James says: There can be few better recommendations for any book than that you continuously feel the need to read excepts out to those around you, no matter what they are doing (or what else they are trying to read themselves). Here is a quick description and cover image of book The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language written by Mark Forsyth which was published in 2011-11-. So many authors try to make a serious academic subject funny, but few succeed as admirably as Mark Forsyth. Small fry compared to Jamie Oliver perhaps, admits Icon MD Philip Cotterell, but significant for an independent publishing house.

Etymology is fun," Forsyth said in a Skepticality interview, "Some people talk about the true meaning. Kensington was listed in the Doomsday Book as 'Chenisitun', while other ancient records record it as Kenesitune and Kensintune.Each chapter digs into the origin of a word or phrase, starting with the phrase "a turn up for the books", and exploring it's meaning, it's origin, other words or phrases that share the same origins and wandering around in a sort of a rambling conversation that is interesting, funny, and by chance also educational. London-based author Mr Forsyth, 44, first released his alternative Tube map online in July last year, and it forms part of his new book 'The Illustrated Etymologicon' which was published by Icon Books last week. Some of it would be well loved by schoolboys, really, with conclusions about how we're orbiting the sun on a giant testicle.

We decided that all this looked very like a dastardly Catholic plot and that we weren't going to fall for it, and Brexit meant Brexit, and we were quite happy with the old system, thank you very much. And that's why San Francisco bay contains the island of Alcatraz, because alcatraz is just Spanish for pelican.

When, it was May 1st in Dover, it was May 11th in Calais, even though France is (alas) only 26 miles away. Cynsige' is portrayed as Kensi, 'ing' means 'family of' and 'ton' is for farm' – overall giving the 'farm of the family of Cynsige'. It will also get you to make that sound we all make when we learn something that seems almost too good to be true. If you appreciate learning about words and where they come from then you will deeply appreciate this very entertaining and humrous book.