The Wordspotter's Guide

A rollicking, beautifully illustrated adventure through the history of the English language—from social media star Olivia Swarthout

English is, by many measures, the largest language in the world—and doubtless the unruliest. Over the last millennium, we’ve borrowed, stolen, conquered, and invented our way to a massive lexicon (a million words by some counts), filled with numerous untold stories.

Enter The Wordspotter’s Guide, a delightful tour through our etymological past. Did you know that the term silhouette comes from 18th century French finance minister Etienne de Silhouette, whose austerity measures caused his name to be associated with any low-quality work, such as the black paper cutouts that were a cheaper alternative to traditional portraits? That the word unfriend actually dates to the 17th century? Or that robe and robbed share an etymological root, dating to a time when constructing clothing was so labor-intensive that it was the most valuable thing in most people’s homes and thus likely to be stolen?

Olivia Swarthout tells a deeply-researched, authoritative story about the history of the English language—without losing sight of the fun. If you’ve ever wondered which meaning of cardinal came first (the direction, then the Church figure, then the bird) or lamented that we no longer give people names like John the Wifeless, Ralph the Haunted, and Hugh the Ass (all citizens of 11th century Britain), this is the book for you.