17 Books on phrase origins (Recommended books - alt.usage.english)
Description
This article is from the alt.usage.english FAQ, by Mark Israel misrael@scripps.edu with numerous contributions by others.
17 Books on phrase origins (Recommended books - alt.usage.english)
Be warned that every book on phrase origins so far published
has etymologies that are more speculative and less rigorous than
those in general dictionaries.
Christine Ammer "Have a Nice Day -- No Problem! : A Dictionary of
Cliches" Plume Penguin, 1992, ISBN 0-452-27004-9
Robert Hendrickson "The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and
Phrase Origins" Facts on File, 1987, ISBN 0-86237-122-7 (The
paperback reprint, "The Henry Holt Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase
Origins", is no longer available.)
Nigel Rees "Bloomsbury Dictionary of Phrase and Allusion"
Bloomsbury, 1991, ISBN 0-7475-1217-5
Ivor H. Evans, ed. "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable"
14th ed., Harper & Row, 1989, ISBN 0-304-31835-3
Charles Earle Funk "2107 Curious Word Origins, Sayings, and
Expressions from White Elephants to Song & Dance" (an omnibus of
four earlier books, 1948-58) Galahad, 1993, ISBN 0-88365-845-3
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