Amorous or Loving?: The Highly Peculiar Tale of English and Its Vocabulary
Conquest, trade and printing left the language with two or three words for everything. Gavin reads that surplus as evidence about economics rather than as trivia.
Gavin asks why English carries two or three words where other languages manage with one, and traces the answer through conquest, trade, empire and printing. Vocabulary becomes evidence for economic and social history rather than a curiosity, and the detours take in the importance of London and some unexpectedly Straussian readings of Macbeth.
Recommended by 1 Person
Tyler Cowen
An excellent book that will make my best of the year list. How did the English language come to be so diverse and also have so many words? Along the way you get decent insights into economic history, the importance of London, and the Straussian readings of Macbeth.
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