Summary

"My favorite popular word book of the year" -William Safire,NY Times6/22/2008 A fun, new approach to examining etymology! Many common English words started out with an entirely different meaning than the one we know today. For example: The wordadamantcame into English around 855 C.E. as a synonym for 'diamond,'very different from today's meaning of the word: "utterly unyielding in attitude or opinion." Before the year 1200, the wordsillymeant "blessed," and was derived from Old Englishsaelig,meaning "happy." This word went through several incarnations before adopting today's meaning: "stupid or foolish." InSemantic Antics, lexicographer Sol Steinmetz takes readers on an in-depth, fascinating journey to learn how hundreds of words have evolved from their first meaning to the meanings used today.