Item #21911 A new dictionary of Americanisms being a glossary of words supposed to be peculiar to the United States and the Dominion of Canada. Sylva Clapin.
A new dictionary of Americanisms being a glossary of words supposed to be peculiar to the United States and the Dominion of Canada

A new dictionary of Americanisms being a glossary of words supposed to be peculiar to the United States and the Dominion of Canada

New York: Louis Weiss & Co., n.d., [1902]. First edition, 8vo, pp. xii, [4], 581; fine copy in recent half black morocco, red morocco label on spine. "The preface is short and of no great interest; the glossary contains some 5,260 entries, which are clear and efficient, though with very few dates and etymologies; and there are three valuable appendices, the first containing lists of 'foreign words' (including Indian and Mexican) "either used in their original integrity, or derived from foreign languages, which may be classed as Americanisms," the second consisting of 'substantives classed according to analogy,' e.g. outdoor life, money, amusements, journalism and printing, bar-rooms, and the third consists of four reprints from periodicals: Dr. [William H.S.] Aubry's "Americanisms," Edward Eggleston's "Wild Flowers of English Speech in America," "E.B. Tylor's "The Philology of Slang," and Brander Matthews's "The Function of Slang." The first two are of little use for the student of slang, though of much for general colloquialisms … Tylor's essay deals with the etymology and semantics of selected groups of slang words … [and Brander Matthews's essay] is of primary importance, dealing with the principles in a refreshingly suggestive manner, and with what, at the time, was considerable courage" (Partridge, Slang Today and Yesterday, pp. 324-26). Item #21911

Price: $750.00

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