ISBN 0 7206 1243 8
Reference/Usage
208pp
Paperback Original
£9.95
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Word Routes

Alexander Tulloch

‘What about those runaway best-sellers? Alexander Tulloch’s Word Routes . . . could do the business’ - Publishing News

Why aren’t bald eagles bald? What’s the link between gnomes and being enormous? What connects a Christmas carol with the Russian for ‘street’? The answers can all be found in the history of the words themselves, and in Word Routes Alexander Tulloch gives us the fascinating stories behind more than five hundred of them.

Language sleuth (meaning ‘one who follows a path’) Tulloch traces the routes of more than five hundred English words through time and across the globe. He shows us the surprising, amusing twists, turns and encounters between words on their long journeys into modern English. For instance the Kêres, Greek goddesses of destruction who haunted Homeric battlefields dressed in blood-soaked robes, would probably be a little miffed to learn that the only decay with which they are today synonymous is tooth decay, or caries.

Neither a straightforward dictionary of etymology nor a linear history of language, Word Routes is an entertaining alphabetical guide to the stories behind many everyday words. It is an ideal book for journalists, teachers, historians or simply anyone who is interested in the fascinating story of the English language.

• An ideal gift for anyone interested in the history of English
• For all fans of ‘Notes and Queries’ or Call My Bluff
• No comparable book available


‘Of interest to writers, doctors, botanists and mere mortals, this A-Z reference book traces the history of many everyday words. Peeling away the layers Tulloch, a professor of linguistics, winds his way through the origins of each word, weaving a sinewy route from Sanskrit to English via Greek, Latin, and Anglo saxon . . . Smashing (from the Irish – is maith sin).’ - The Herald (Glasgow)

'The blushing bride may blush still more if she knew where the word 'bride' came from and what it really means. Similarly hay-fever sufferers might sneeze still more when they find what the bane of their lives has to do with fish. As for the word 'pornography', don't even ask. Tulloch has taken more than 500 common English words and delved into their origins and meanings. The result is both informative and entertaining – a linguistic 'Call my Bluff' in which the oddest explanations often turn out to be the truth.' - Good Book Guide

ALEXANDER TULLOCH is a writer, linguist and translator. He has lectured on Russian and Spanish for almost thirty years, and has published articles on the history of language, as well as translations of the work of Gogol and Galdós. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Linguists.