Haggard Hawks and Paltry Poltroons: The Origins of English in Ten Words

by Paul Anthony Jones

What do the following ten words all have in common - haggard, mews, codger, arouse, musket, poltroon, gorge, allure, pounce and turn-tail? All fairly familiar and straightforward words, after a little digging into their histories it turns out that all of them derive from the adjective haggard described an adult falcon captured from the wild; mews were the enclosures hawks were kept in whilst moulting; codger is thought to come from 'cadger', the member of a hunting party who carried the birds' perches, and so on.This, essentially, is what Ten Words is all about - the book collects together hundreds of the most intriguing, surprising and little known histories and etymologies of a whole host of English words. From ancient place names to unusual languages, and obscure professions to military slang, this is a fascinating treasure trove of linguistic facts.

Genres: Nonfiction, Linguistics

289 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 17, 2013

Reviews

[Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful.

[Billie O'Dwyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're a fan of etymology, this might be your thing. But then again it might not. It's a very surface level dive into the origins of various words. Some are quite interesting, but a lot aren't. Ultimately it feels like reading a dictionary, and I couldn't get into it at all.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

utterly entertaining

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots about where words came from, separated into chapters of 10 examples. Quite interesting!

[Tammy J Rizzo]

A very interesting read!

I knew of several of the words expounded on in this book, but most of the entries were brand new to me. As a lover of words, I found this book quite entertaining and informative. If you like words and their histories, you'll enjoy this book. It's very British, so don't be confused.

[Brian Faucher · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved reading the weird origins of strange words, can't wait to read his other books!