Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

A short etymological dictionary of modern english.

Item Description

xxix + [1]+ 972 pp. Bound in maroon cloth, gilt, in unclipped dust wrapper with sunned spine. A little edge sunning of boards, but otherwise a very good copy. Book club edition of Origins containing the 12,000 commonest words in modern English. According to the blurb, ' many entries are terse and almost telegraphic,' but all the longer ones 'are written in continuous narrative or descriptive English.' First published in 1958, this is a reprint of the revised fourth edition of 1966. Eric Partridge (1894-1979) was a New Zealand born lexicographer of the English language, particularly of slang.