Have you ever wondered about the origin of the English language? I have. I haven’t necessarily been motivated enough to actually do any research to figure it out, but I’ve been curious about it in the past.
Yay for me, Laurie J. White has already done all the work for me! King Alfred’s English is a history of the language we speak. Here’s the into bit from the website:
Do you remember the first time you looked under the hood of a car or popped off the back of an electric toy to see the inner workings? Well, most of us go through our entire life speaking a highly complex and organized set of sounds we call language without ever getting a glimpse under its hood. So come have a look at some of the hidden springs and gears that have steered and energized English over the centuries. King Alfred’s English provides a guided tour of forces and events, conquerors and writers that have shaped, simplified, matured and expanded English into what it is today—the first truly global language in history.
This book is so comprehensive, even the table of contents takes four pages to detail. The book begins with Pre-English Britain from 55BC-500AC, moves into Old English from 500-1066, then Middle English from 1066-1500, and works its way to Middle-Modern English from 1400-1600(ish). She even covers the making of the English Bible, and there is a section on Shakespeare and Modern English.
Laurie’s website, The Shorter Word, also offers a bunch of free extra resources to go along with it including:
• Chapter Worksheets
• Unit Tests
• Links to related online literature and primary sources
• Links to articles, images, and videos that expand the topics in each
chapter
• Suggested movies
King Alfred’s English is 170 pages in length. The paperback version retails at $16.95, but is available for discounted rates on Amazon, CBD, Rainbow Resource, and others. The Kindle Edition
For a limited time, I’m able to offer five of you a wholesale discount code that will allow you to purchase the paperback version of this book for only $8.47. If you are interested in this offer, leave a comment letting me know. I will give it to the first five people to ask, but please – don’t request the code unless you actually plan to buy the book! This offer expires at the end of September 2012, or when I’ve already given it to five people.
See what others had to say about King Alfred’s English right here.
Disclaimer: The product was provided for the purpose of review. No other compensation was received. All thoughts are my own. I keep a proper disclosure statement available here.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Hola! I’d love a code for 50% off this book – Jimmy loves this stuff and it would make a great present for him.
And I’d probably read it too! Thanks Megan!
This sounds like a very interesting read!!! I’ve fallen in love with understanding the roots of our language (for example, gymnasium literally means a place to train naked.) I find myself Googling “etymology” more often than “definition”!
I love etymology and would enjoy this book.
I would love to read this book! I will pass it on to Debbie R. when I’m done – she would love it, too!
Okay! I’ve officially given the code to four of you. I can hand it out one more time.
DONE!!! I just finished the book… it was an awesome insight into the roots of our language!!! I don’t think I’ll ever read the same again!
Kind of like when your friend gets a new car and you start seeing them everywhere, I’ll be walking down the written lines going “ooh, that word’s original Anglo-Saxon… and THAT one’s Old French.” Along with, “If the word is rosso in Italian and rojo in Spanish, I wonder what the word was in Proto-Indo-European?”
I do have one (relatively minor) complaint about the book. It may be a little difficult to share with some of my friends because it is heavily interspersed with the assumption that the reader is (more or less) a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant and regularly touts creationistic apologetics. Some readers may get distracted from the wonder of the Language and the rich history she presents.
I’m seriously impressed you finished it already! I love your insights and appreciate your important caveat on assumption. Thanks, Matthew!