‘Any book that contains the line, ‘Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it was a sausage-maker who disposed of the body’ is OK by me’
Posted on 2011/11/01 , tagged as
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Icon’s Editorial Director Duncan Heath on The Etymologicon:
Mark Forsyth’s brilliant and compelling new book, subtitled a ‘circular stroll through the hidden connections of the English language’ is published by Icon this Thursday.
And circular it is! Stemming from Mark’s successful Inky Fool blog on the derivations of words and phrases, the book has a highly original linked narrative that finds a connection between each entry, eventually looping back on itself to end where it began. This circularity emphasises the hidden and unexpected links between words in a very unusual and effective way – and this is what excited me most when first mapping it out with Mark.
For me as editor, and I’m sure this will be true for all its readers too, this is a book that stands out from the crowd. Almost as soon as you open it you become aware that – easy-going and readable as it may be – it’s all based on serious and comprehensive research. It’s also extremely funny. Mark Forsyth’s dry, laconic wit winds its way through the text like a particularly languorous serpent, tempting you with unimagined knowledge at every turn. This is much more than another compendium – it has a real authorial voice behind it, and a wonderfully droll one at that.
As a result The Etymologicon is fiendishly difficult to stop reading. You’ll want to stay in Mark’s company once you start. Even if you think you aren’t interested in word derivations, you’ll find that some of these are irresistible. More than just dinner party or pub table trivia, they actually make you think about the words you speak, and so give you a keen sense of living history, and a charmingly eccentric and unpredictable history at that.
These were some of my favourite revelations:
• The Rolling Stones aren’t named after rocks rolling down hillsides without gathering moss, but after the mundane garden roller used to smooth out your lawn.
• Science is linked etymologically to shit, schism and shed.
• Bluetooth technology is named after the Viking ruler Harald I.
• Cynics are really dog-like.
• ‘Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo’ is the longest grammatically correct sentence in the English language that uses only one word. I promise it does make sense!
• There’s a link between a small stream near Harrogate, the novel Moby-Dick and the most famous coffee brand in the world.
• People who use Botox are beautifying themselves with sausage-poison.
• The drink punch comes from the Hindi for five, panch, because that’s how many ingredients it should contain.
• Lord and lady both come from the word for Anglo-Saxon word for bread.
• There’s a symbol for a codpiece on your computer keyboard, right next to the letter P.
And finally, any book that contains the line, ‘Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it was a sausage-maker who disposed of the body’ is OK by me.
Duncan Heath
Editorial Director
There’s more about the book here.
