English Dictionaries & Thesauri, English Language Reference - General & Miscellaneous

The Endangered English Dictionary: Bodacious Words Your Dictionary Forgot

Name: The Endangered English Dictionary: Bodacious Words Your Dictionary Forgot
Author: David Grambs
ISBN: 9780393036237

by David Grambs

Write a review

Overview

We often hear about the richness of the English language, how many more words it contains than French or German. And yet modern desk dictionaries are the result of a paring away of that glory, so that merely standard, functional, current words remain. The price we pay for such convenience is the thousands of delightful words we never see or hear.

This book is an effort to save some of those words applicable to everyday life and countless word games from extinction. The resultant treasure trove of exotic verbal creatures is an indispensable resource for every lover of language.

A selection:

egrutten: having a face swollen from weeping
numquid: an inquisitive person
sardoodledum: drama that is contrived, stagy, or unrealistic
mimp: to purse one's lips

About the Author, David Grambs

David Grambs has worked as a dictionary definer for American Heritage and Random House, translator, encyclopedia writer, magazine copy editor, and travel-guide journalist. Among his books on words and language are The Describer's Dictionary and The Endangered English Dictionary. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Log in to write one.

Editorials

Library Journal

Grambs (The Describer's Dictionary, LJ 2/ 15/93) includes entries here not usually found in smaller paperback dictionaries- for example, ``habile,'' which means able or skillful, and ``uvid,'' which means moist or wet. His book is arranged in standard dictionary form with simplified meanings and usage illustrations, such as ``dangerously esquillous lumber'' (meaning splintery). The work also includes an easy pronunciation system and a reverse glossary that allows the user to look up words by definition. The entries have been largely compiled from the OED, the second and third editions of Webster's New International Dictionary, and Funk & Wagnall's Standard Dictionary. Libraries that already own several of these dictionaries or at least one good one and a thesaurus will have little need for this title. Recommended only for libraries that collect heavily in this area.-Neal Wyatt, Mary Washington Coll. Lib., Fredericksburg, Va.

Booknews

A dictionary celebrating obscure words from the history of the English language. Words such as circumbendibus (a roundabout process), glaciarium (ice skating rink), and unasinous (equally stupid) are arranged in two sections--a standard dictionary with pronunciation and sample usage phrases, and a reverse dictionary of modern words and their endangered synonyms. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)