Coupled with my initial enchantment was a bit of discouragement brought on by the sheer volume of words that had changed surprisingly little over a century and a half. I still remember my first browse through one of these nineteenth-century lexicons, in which I failed to find a noteworthy entry for some time. Fortunately, before their quiet disappearance, many of these reflections of antiquity, the remnants of history which casually escaped the shipwreck of time, to use a phrase of Francis Bacon, were recorded in a variety of published and unpublished writings, including dictionaries and glossaries. The mind-expanding enjoyment of exhuming these forgotten meanings will 'manure' (to enrich the mind) your personal lexicon.The English language, as the largest and most dynamic collection of words and phrases ever assembled, continues to expand, absorbing hundreds of words annually into its official and unofficial rolls, but not without a simultaneous yet imperceptible sacrifice of terms along the way.

So indulge your fancy for linguistic 'escapades' (no longer the plunging and rearing of a horse). Study the altered meanings in this erudite but full book and you'll be able to 'razzle-dazzle' (originally, a daylong drinking bout) your friends and acquaintances. As he puts it, his goal is to 'leave the reader with a sense of where many modern usages may have come from, or in some cases have strayed, whether we choose to think of the changes as corruptions or improvements.' Then, 'improve' meant 'to make progress in that which is evil.' And there was no romantic 'tryst' with a man or woman then the word meant 'a fair for black cattle, horses, and sheep'Īuthor Jeffrey Kacirk, a man intrigued by words, has sifted through mountains of discarded meanings to arrive at almost 1,500 entries in this fascinating romp through the ever-changing world of lexicography. This process is a continuous one, as can be seen in today's word 'bad, ' whose meaning is now its own opposite: 'great.' As another example, consider England 500 years ago. Over the Centuries, innumerable English words have drifted from their original purposes and acquired vastly diferent meanings - some subtle and others not so. However still fine as a reading/reference copy. May have former owner's marks or be ex-library.

Book has significant signs of wear and usage, such as spine creases etc.

Jeffrey kacirk