The subtitle of this work is a clue to its nature – the book is not, in essence, a standalone etymological dictionary. Rather, it represents a few sample entries from what the author hopes may be a new way of presenting English etymology. In the work's substantial introduction, Liberman (professor of Germanic Philology at the University of Minnesota) shifts back and forth between reference to “the present dictionary” and “the proposed dictionary”, indicating this volume's function as a beachhead and base from which to proceed with a more extensive campaign. Given that the dictionary contains only 55 entries, there is clearly room for expansion in this vein.
Liberman's narrow‐and‐deep approach is born of dissatisfaction with one aspect of other English etymological dictionaries. He takes aim at the apparent finality of etymological information in other sources, writing that “the user of [other etymological dictionaries] learns little about researchers' and amateurs' doubts and almost nothing about their tortuous way to the truth” (p. xxi). Not only does this mask the process, it leaves little room for accountability, and gives no clue to how thorough or recent was the research that led either to a particular etymological claim or to an assertion that a word is “of unknown origin”. The aim of the volume is to demonstrate a new approach to presenting etymology, in which the dictionary reveals the history and debate over each word. “The purpose of the present dictionary is not only to discover the truth to the extent that we can do it with the information available today but also to expose all the false tracks” (p. xxvi).
Given the dictionary's focus on the history and debate of these etymologies, Liberman very sensibly chose in this test‐piece to include only words for which there has been significant debate, including words that are often listed as being of “unknown etymology”. Of this designation, he writes “the label unknown should not be taken literally. Most of such words have been at the center of attention for a long time, but unanimity about their origins is lacking” (p. xviii). The 55 entries in the dictionary include both common words (Cub, Fuck, Girl, Heifer, Witch) and odd or rare words (Fieldfare, Horehound, Ragamuffin, Skedaddle).
This focus on deliberation necessarily results in a work in which the entries are quite lengthy, generally two to ten pages each. To mitigate this overwhelming volume of information, the main body of the book is preceded by an Etymologies at a Glance section, offering a single paragraph for each word outlining the current‐best estimate of the word's origin, along with brief attention for any particularly notable or common explanations that the author has rejected. To the non‐specialist, these shorter entries will often be sufficient. The main section of the dictionary also endeavours to make its longer entries more accessible by key sentences in a bold typeface. Each main entry also begins with a brief summary of a few paragraphs; it is generally a bit more robustly useful than the Etymologies at a Glance entry, and a useful guide to the material that follows it.
The full form of these entries may be interesting to many lay readers, but are written mainly for the specialist. Although Liberman takes aim at other etymological dictionaries for their many abbreviations and specialized vocabulary (p. xii), there is a limit to how much it is possible for a work of this sort to avoid them. Such words as “hypocoristic” and “ablaut” (p. 42) are going to be barriers to non‐initiates. Abbreviations in this work are many (perhaps 500), mostly linguistic terms, names of languages, titles of books, and names of organizations. True to Liberman's intent, however, they are used more sparingly than in many other dictionaries; they are presented without periods (“ME” rather than “M.E.”), which makes the text somewhat more readable.
The book's greatest limitation is its scope. In the grand scheme of things, a dictionary with 55 entries is not especially useful as a dictionary per se. To the etymologist and lexicographer, this may become a valuable and oft‐referenced resource synthesizing research on some of English's most intractable words. For other users, it would be easy to neglect this book in favour of those with greater breadth if certainly less depth.
As a proof‐of‐concept, this dictionary succeeds in offering more scalable and nuanced information for difficult etymologies than is usual in dictionaries of English etymology. While its present form is limited in scope, it might reasonably be expanded to include a broader spectrum of words. Determining the appropriate scale for an expanded version could prove challenging. A multi‐volume work featuring a few hundred to perhaps a thousand words, with a more specific title that indicates its focus on contested etymologies, would be a substantial asset for specialists and for libraries. For general users, a single volume comprising condensed versions of these entries would be a welcome tool. This could also potentially make for an excellent online reference source, which would allow for easy updates and additions.
Until such a time as a more extensive version is available, this book should find a home with many libraries and all serious etymologists. For other language enthusiasts, it may find its highest use as a coffee table book – an intriguing read rather than an oft‐consulted reference work. No other source compares to the depth that this book provides. Clearly, its narrow scope means that it is no substitute for other etymological dictionaries, but for the words that it covers it is a magnificent supplement.
