Book Description

The main purpose of this etymological dictionary is to trace each Spanish word as far back as possible in order to acquaint the reader with the history of the evolution of the Spanish language; another of its aims is to help students learn vocabulary, e.g., the English word 'sky' does not help English speaking persons learn the Spanish work 'cielo' but the English word 'celestial' does. Etymology is the history of words, and, as words stand for things, it is also the history of things, and therefore of civilisation. The words analyzed in this dictionary cover every area of human endeavor, including science and technology; in addition to words, the book contains certain phrases, and many affixes. Although some Spanish words are not of Indo-European origin, most of them are. In view of the proportion of words with similar etymologies in certain languages, this Spanish etymological dictionary can also be used to find the origin of thousands of English, French, Italian and Portuguese words as well as that of many words from other languages. Many Indo-European roots are represented in Spanish words and therefore this dictionary forms a complete picture of Indo-European etymology. This etymological dictionary is of great value to all those working with, or interested in, the Spanish language. As a reference work it should be on the shelves of school, university and general public libraries as well as other appropriate reference libraries. It is of particular value to students and teachers of Spanish and to translators and conference interpreters.