The Origin of Names, Words and Everything in Between: Volume II

by Patrick Foote, Jonathan Cowley (narrator), Tantor Audio (publisher)

From the person behind the popular YouTube channel NameExplain comes the second volume of his best-selling book The Origin of Names, Words and Everything in Between. This new book is a fun, interesting, and educational journey through the world of etymology. It covers a huge array of names from a variety of topic areas and includes a bunch of random facts behind the names. From first names, to bodies of water - there's no name big or small, important or obscure that won't be explained.

Find fun facts. Presented in a light and entertaining manner, The Origin of Names compels you to learn a ton of things you didn't know you wanted to know. Unlike a dictionary, everything in this book is easy to understand and can be listened to from start to finish, or in short bursts. It's also a lot more fun - Patrick explains each name with jokes and quips you're bound to enjoy. Be the know-it-all you always wanted to be.

In The Origin of Names you'



Learn fascinating word origins and bizarre name meanings Be able to entertain yourself and friends with random facts Gain honor and renown for your unrivaled knowledge of etymology

Genres: Audiobook, History

Audible Audio

Published October 12, 2021

Reviews

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

As good as the first. I love etymology, being a geeky word lover. I hope there'll be a third one!

[Kathleen Garber · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love language but don’t like stuffy, highly intellectual books on language, this may be more your style. Of course if you do like those kinds of language books, that’s okay too. So do I.

The author of the book has a YouTube channel devoted to word origins. If you are more of a auditory learner, you may prefer his channel. However if you prefer to read your information, this book (and book 1) is a perfect beginner’s guide to word origins. This isn’t a treatise on how word origins work or anything like that. This is just simple explanations of the origins of specific words.

This volume has the subjects of first names, historic places, bodies of water, plants, trees, buildings, occupations, websites, bands, drinks, colours, body parts, elements, adjectives and last names. The elements section was really interesting to my daughter who knows the names of almost all the elements of the period table. I found the first and last names sections really interesting. The colours section talked about the colour orange which I’ve posted about on my other blog. But it was nice to read about a few other colours.

The book, under websites, lists the way Amazon got it’s name. I already learned about this in this book about Amazon. But I didn’t know the history behind the other ones.

This is a fun, lighthearted book. It’s perfect for a bathroom book as each section is short.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 3 out of 5]

"A deeper dive into word origins," an amateur enthusiast looks into the meaning of words.

This is essentially what I did when writing a history segment for a podcast. I would look subjects up in books or on the Internet. Then I would convey an interesting or humorous story to the listeners. I am not an expert. I am an history enthusiast. I did my best to be accurate just like the author in this book tries very hard to be accurate and humorous. On the whole he did a good job. Just keep in mind that he is not a linguist... not an expert. He is just really, really interested and is self-taught. He says so in the beginning so you know what you are getting. No surprises.

I didn't catch any errors (not that I am an expert either) but I did notice he would occasionally leave something out. Perhaps this was due to editing. Books have limits. You can't go down the rabbit hole forever.

He splits the book up into subjects such as the origins of first and last names, the origins of various adjectives... even for the word adjective which is a noun. Overall he keeps it fun and seems to love puns. He doesn't overdo it... at least for my tastes.

The narrator of the audiobook has a British accent. It worked well for this presentation and it was easy enough to understand.

I might read this book but probably only for reference.

[Julius · Rating 2 out of 5]

Acres of fluff to wade through before finding a modest kernel of interest. Half of this book reads like it was written using ChatGPT. Extremely amateurish-your time will be spent well with another book.

[Arash Ahsani · Rating 1 out of 5]

A piece of propaganda filled with more lies.

[Michael A. Simmons, Sr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting info

Wondering how a name came about? Wonder no more as the author takes you on a tour through the areas in the globe where the words/names were created.

[Alayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this 3 and a half stars. Although it was interesting, it was poorly written. It used clauses as sentences constantly, which drove me mad. Could do better!

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was awesome and would probably read it again.