Verba Nominalia Or Words Derived From Proper Names

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Excerpt from Verba Nominalia: Or Words Derived From Proper Names It must, without any research, have been apparent to most people that many well-known words have had their origin in Proper Names; but whoever has made even a slight study of the various branches of etymology will have discovered that the number of words so derived is very large indeed. The ordinary reader of history may know that "to roam" is to wander about on the pretence of a pilgrimage to Rome; that the word calico is derived from Calicut; humbug from Hamburg; or that bayonets are supposed to have first seen the light at Bayonne. He will doubtless be further interested in finding dimity referred to Damietta, marigold to the Virgin, mayduke to Medoc, fuchsia to Dr. Fuchs, coffee to Kafa, quince to Cydonia. This latter class of names, however, not being usually met with in the narrative of great and exciting events, required an independent chronicler, and I determined to volunteer my services to investigate and register them. The chief difficulty lay in deciding where to stop. Should the work be confined to the most common words found in a dictionary of the English language? or should it embrace also those used in the Arts and Sciences? About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.