This and That

[Alan H. Hartley]

This Germanic sideline has been very interesting. Most of you may be
familiar with _The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots_,
but if not, plunk down the $16 or so for the new (pb) edition and get
sucked in. It's an offshoot of the big _Amer. Her. Dict._ (now in 4th
ed.), so it stresses the Germanic roots (and in fact cites only roots
with reflexes in Eng.), but it's loaded with fascinating general IE
stuff. The big dict., incidentally, is an excellent etymological
resource. It and the Random House Unabridged (along with Onions' _Oxf.
Dict. of Eng. Etym._) are my favorites for etymology. The OED leaves
much to be desired as to etym., but that is being rectified in spades in
the present revision. And don't forget the OED Online
(http://www.oed.com/) which is being updated quarterly. Most
universities have (or should have!) institutional subscriptions.