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An Analytical Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction. 2008. Anatoly Liberman, with the assistance of J. Lawrence Mitchell. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Pp. xlvi + 359.

"{A Jhat a pleasure it is to review this magnificent volume. Liberman's VV encyclopedic grasp of the subject matter, together with that of
the relevant literature, shine through on every page. Moreover, Liberman's wit and eloquent writing skills make this volume a delight to read. This is the kind of work I wish had been available to me when I was doing research on distant linguistic relationship, and not just for English! Liberman began work on the dictionary in 1987. He is responsible for doing the research and for writing the etymologies. He was assisted by ]. Lawrence Mitchell, who prepared part of the volume for publication. This is the introductory volume to a projected, comprehensive etymological dictionary of the English language. In it, Liberman lists and discusses all of the proposed etymologies for fifty-five English words of obscure, unknown, or disputed origin. Among these are some very common words such as bird, boy, brain, ever, girl, key, man, understand, and yet, along with common animal names such as rabbit, robin, and toad. Also discussed are several slang terms such as filch, gawk, mooch, nudge, pimp, and skedaddle. Some of the words included in this vol" ume have been part of the English language for centuries: beacon, hemlock, ivy, oat, and toad. Still others are more recent: slang, kitty-corner, and jeep. The structure of the book is fairly straightforward. The book begins with a lengthy Introduction (pp. xi-xxxii) - fascinating in its own right followed by the Etymologies at a Glance (a summary of the etymologies for sixty-eight Modern English words, along with three Old English entries [jaxJel 'play actor,' ludgeat 'postern,' and myltestre 'prostitute'], listing the conclusions reached in this volume concerning the most likely derivation of the words under discussion) (pp. xxxiii-xlvi), then by An Analytical Dictionary of English Etymology (the in-depth etymologies for the fifty-five English words mentioned above) (pp. 1-231), next by a Bibliography (an exhaustive list of references) (pp. 233-312), and ending with various indices- Index of Subjects (pp. 313-316), Index of Words (pp. 317-348), and Index of Personal and Place Names (349-359). As is to be expected, the actual etymologies are of uneven length. Each entry consists of the head-word, capitalized and in boldface, followed by the date of first attestation. The first part is an introductory section in italics, followed by a thorough discussion of the various proposals concerning the possible origin of the word. Mter evaluating the strong points and weak points of each proposal, Liberman gives his own view of the most probable derivation of the word.

Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America 29 (2008), 81-84.

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As I was working my way through the volume, I noticed several minor typographical errors here and there (such as "Phrygeans" and "Phrygean" [p. 157], which should be "Phrygians" and "Phrygian," respectively) as well as some places where there are extra spaces in the text (such as in "non- Germanic" [p. xv], which should be "non-Germanic"), but, for the most part, this is a carefully edited and well laid out work. As an aside, I have long been humbled by how easy it is to find these types of errors in the work of others and how extraordinarily difficult it is for me to find them when I am proofreading my own work. Consequently, the injunction judge not, lest ye be judged" has special relevance here. Rather than go through every etymology, I would like to focus on two of the words discussed by Liberman, inasmuch as my own research into distant linguistic comparison may help to throw light on the ultimate origin of these words. The first is the English word man. I agree with Liberman's rejection of relationship to the Proto-Indo-European root *men- 'to think' (p. 156). It is instructive that Liberman thinks that Ruhlen's list, like that of Illic-Svityc, is more to the point. Ruhlen's list contains meanings such as 'man, male, father, boy; a phallic deity; herdsman; warrior; woman; people; kin.' I believe that the meanings given by Ruhlen can be considerably narrowed (setting aside 'herdsman,' 'warrior,' 'woman,' 'people,' and 'kin,' which are, at best, secondary) and that, in so doing, a better foundation can be laid for understanding the ultimate derivation of the English word man. When we look at other Nostratic 1 languages, we find that related terms are actually quite plentiful- cognates are found in Afroasiatic, 2 Dravidian, 3

1The Nostratic language family, or better "macrofamily,'' is a controversial grouping of languages assumed by some linguists to include the following branches: Afroasiatic, Dravidian, Kartvelian (also called South Caucasian), Indo-European, Etruscan (now extinct), Uralic-Yukaghir, Altaic (Mongolian, Turkic, and Manchu-Tungus), Eskimo-Aleut, Gilyak (also called Nivkh), and Chukchi-Kamchatkan. The Nostratic parent language is thought to have been spoken in the Near East some 15,000 (or more) years ago.
2This language family is known by various names Liberman uses HamitoSemitic. It includes languages such as Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Egyptian (now extinct), and many of the languages found in modern-day North Africa (Berber and Charlie languages), Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and on into northern Kenya (Cushitic and Omoticlanguages).

3 Dravidian languages are now found primarily in southern India. This language family includes languages such as Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Kannada, all of which have large numbers of speakers and extensive and ancient literary traditions.

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and Uralic, 4 not to mention those given by Liberman for IndoEuropean.5 Thus, by examining the full range of evidence from other Nostratic languages, the ultimate origin of the English word man is revealed - in the distant past, it came from a Proto-Nostratic root *maii- (- *m;1ii-) meaning 'progenitor, begetter, man, male; penis,' which, in turn, was a derivative of *maii- (- *m;1ii-) meaning '(vb.) to lust after, to desire passionately, to copulate with, to have sexual intercourse, to beget; (n.) ardent desire, passion, lust,' which is also widely represented in the Nostratic daughter languages, including Indo-European. Rather than give all of the supporting data here, readers who are interested in knowing more should consult entries 761 and 762 in my recently published book (Bomhard 2008). Thus, at least one of the English words discussed by Liberman in the volume under review here may have an ancient pedigree after all, going all the way back to the Nostratic parent language. The second English word I would like to look at is oat. This word may also have an equally ancient pedigree. First, I am extremely pleased that Liberman (p. 170) lists related forms in Frisian and Dutch - I was not able to find any relatives for English oat when I was doing my own research. Possible cognates are found in Mroasiatic and Dravidian. These allow us the posit a ProtoNostratic root *hay- (- *h;1y-) 'a kind of cereal or grain' ( cf. entry 606 in my book for more information). It has to be admitted here, however, that the evidence for this Nostratic etymology is not as rich as I would like. I would like to end this review by saying that this volume is always interesting, always challenging, and always rewarding, and I eagerly await the

4The Uralic language family extends across northern Eurasia, except for Hungarian, which lies in the heart of Europe. Finnish and Estonian belong to this language family.

Indo-European language family is the most widespread in the world today. The homeland of the Indo-European parent language was probably located in the area to the north of and between the Black and Caspian Seas. From there, Indo-European languages spread westward, eventually covering nearly all of Europe (Basque is the only non-Indo-European language to have survived to this day in western Europe), eastward into what is now the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang Weiwu'er Zizhiqii) of the Peoples' Republic of China, and southward into Anatolia, Iran, and northern India. Later colonization by European powers brought Indo-European languages to the far corners of the world. English is the most widely spoken Indo-European language. Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, and the modern Indo-Aryan languages of northern India also have large numbers of speakers. Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit are also important Indo-European languages.

5The

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publication of future volumes. When completed, Liberman's dictionary is destined to become the most authoritative resource on the origin of English words that has yet appeared in print. No doubt, it will retain that distinction for many, many years to come, if not indefinitely.
Allan R. Bomhard Charleston, South Carolina

References
Bombard, Allan R. 2008. Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic: Comparative Phonology, Morphology, and Vocalrulary, 2 vols. Leiden: E. J. Brill.