Language: History & General Works

This book tells a history of Ireland through the examination of 100 key words from the Royal Irish Academys Dictionary of the Irish Language, the m...

A lively, intelligent and persuasive history of speech...Expertly and patiently explained The TimesWhy are human beings the only animals that can s...

This lively account of the making of Canadian English traces the variety's conceptual, social and linguistic developments from the twentieth centur...

Following the success of the first edition, this new edition has been expanded and improved with additional images and enhanced drawings. The subje...

This book is the first of its kind on the socio-political history of Urdu. It analyses the historiography of the language-narratives about its name...

In this richly entertaining book, Jonathon Green traces the development of slang and its trajectory through society, and offers an impassioned argu...

This story of the life of Jesus is told in Gaelic by an author whose love of God and of the Gaelic language shine through every page. Suitable for ...

Did you know that the word 'prestige' derives from the Latin word for 'illusion'? Or that 'infantry' stems from a Latin word meaning one who could ...

A funny and entertaining history of printed books as told through absurd moments in the lives of authors and printers, collected by televisions fav...

Bestseller & Winner of the Popular Non-Fiction Irish Book Award. 'Thought-provoking, irreverent and often laugh-out-loud hilarious' Irish Inde...

The Irish language has made a huge contribution to the English language as its spoken in Ireland and beyond. Micheál Ó Conghaile's 'Colourful Iris...

Irish history and folklore is rich with proverbs and sayings of old, full of timeless wisdom that still has resonance and truth today. This beautif...

Did you know that . . . a soldier's biggest social blunder is called jack brew - making yourself a cuppa without making one for anyone else? That t...

Matthew Battles explores the questions of why writing exists and what it means to those who write. Born from the interplay of natural and cultural ...

This textbook provides a step-by-step introduction to the history of the English language (HEL), offering a fresh perspective on the process of lan...

This textbook provides a step-by-step introduction to the history of the English language (HEL), offering a fresh perspective on the process of lan...

A charming and indispensable tour of two thousand years of the written word, Shady Characters weaves a fascinating trail across the parallel histor...

'Stuffed with entertaining detail ... Horrible Words is lively, provocative, witty and enlightening' The TimesNothing inflames the language purists...

How many languages are there? What differentiates one language from another? Are new languages still being discovered? Why are so many languages di...

A collection of essays, originating from papers given at the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies conference held at the University of Manche...