The Etymologicon

The Etymologicon

By Mark Forsyth
Unabridged
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“Mark Forsyth is clearly a man who knows his onions.”

Daily Telegraph (London)

Do you know why…

…a mortgage is literally a death pledge? …why guns have girls' names? …why salt is related to soldier?

You're about to find out…

The Etymologicon (e-t?-'mä-lä-ji-kän) is:
*Witty (wi-te\): Full of clever humor
*Erudite (er-?-dit): Showing knowledge
*Ribald (ri-b?ld): Crude, offensive


The Etymologicon is a completely unauthorized guide to the strange underpinnings of the English language. It explains: how you get from "gruntled" to "disgruntled"; why you are absolutely right to believe that your meager salary barely covers "money for salt"; how the biggest chain of coffee shops in the world (hint: Seattle) connects to whaling in Nantucket; and what precisely the Rolling Stones have to do with gardening.