THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS: HOW ENGLISH BECAME ENGLISH
Book ID/图书代码： 11701208B25007
English Summary/英文概要： Communication is essential to our lives, but how often do we stop to think about where the words we use have come from? Have you ever thought about which words in English have been borrowed from Arabic, French or Dutch? Try admiral, landscape and marmalade just for starters. The Secret Life of Words is a wide-ranging account not only of the history of English, but also of how words witness history, reflect social change and remind us of our turbulent past. Henry Hitchings delves into our promiscuous language and reveals how and why it has absorbed words from more than 350 other languages many originating from the most unlikely of places, such as shampoo from Hindi and kiosk from Turkish. From the Norman Conquest to the present day, Hitchings narrates the story of English as an archive of our human experience and uncovers the secrets behind everyday words. This is a celebration of our language; after reading it, you will never again take the words we use for granted.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 本書不僅詳盡介紹英語的發展史，更重要是讓讀者瞭解語言對人類社會發展的密切關係。(VL)
Awards/获奖情况：Rights sold: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (USA) “Hitchings has teased out the stories lurking behind the language to provide a most satisfying whole”---Publishing News
“Hitchings’ excavations are a treat. He presents the best gleanings of academia in a winning, conversational style. Almost every spadeful yields an etymological nugget . . . elegantly and entertainingly written”---The Financial Times
“A fascinating exploration of the rich borrowings, exchanges and couplings of the language”---The Times
“Quite how Hitchings has managed to wrestle this dizzying mountain of dense information into such an elegant narrative . . . is a feat almost as admirable as that of the great lexicographer. His book is painstakingly detailed, closely argued and suffused with a contagious enthusiasm for the secrets woven into the fabric of our words”---The Daily Telegraph
“This clever, persuasive, delightful book is studded with entertaining observations”---Independent on Sunday
“Wearing his learning lightly, Hitchings has produced an impressive successor to his acclaimed account of Johnson’s dictionary”---The Independent
“A wonderfully detailed history of the English language”---Good Book Guide
About the Author/作者介绍： Henry Hitchings was born in 1974. Educated at Christ Church Oxford and University College London, he wrote his PhD thesis on Samuel Johnson. He is the author of DR JOHNSON’S DICTIONARY: The Extraordinary Story of the Book that Defined the World, which won the Modern Language Association’s prize for the best publication by an independent scholar in 2005. His second book, THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS, was published by John Murray in April 2008. He lives in London.
1974年生的Henry Hitchings畢業於倫敦大學，專攻英語文學，其博士論文的內容以英國最有名的文人山謬爾‧約翰生（Samuel Johnson）為題，之後出版其首部作品《約翰生博士的英語字典》（DR JOHNSON’S DICTIONARY）更於2005年榮獲「當代語言協會」（Modern Language Association）最佳出版品獎。
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Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)
Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：
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