Origins of the English Language

This is an excellent textbook by a former University of Chicago professor.

I didn't like the book at all. The book did not meet my expectations of a book about etymology. I have returned the book.

Joseph Williams's Origins of the English Language: A Social & Linguistic History accurately highlights the history of the English language from the evolution of man clear through to Modern English that we speak today, providing enough knowledge for anyone to completely understand the origin of English. Intended for use as a textbook in college-level English history classes, Williams style is one that is conservative yet informative when he touches on many of the major aspects of the evolution of English, backing each up with references that make for a quite impressive bibliography with over 200 references. By reinforcing the facts that he mentions, Williams's style is one that is hard to misinterpret yet very informational and easy to follow. Some of this may be due, in part, to the assistance that Williams received from various university professors while writing this piece. Although at times Williams repeats his theories and arguments, he warns of this in his preface so that the reader is aware that this repetition is only to emphasize major points. Overall, I feel that this book is one of the most indepth yet comprehensible books on the history of the English language.

Out of date (1986) and unmpressive to begin with. It tries to cover too much (the second part of the book is about grammar and pronounciation), has too many long word lists and reads like an elementary introductory text -- lots of questions to the reader. Much less in on what is promised in the subtitle (a social and linguistic history) than I hoped: for example, the issue of what happened to Celtic is barely mentioned.