International Word Origins
The World in So Many Words: A Country-by-Country Tour of Words That Have Shaped Our Language, by Allan Metcalf, published by Houghton Mifflin Company
A survey of the words contributed by each country and language to the English lexicon, from adobe (Egypt) to zouk (Guadeloupe). Your eyes will be opened to the international flavors that have melted into English — for example, chocolate (Nahuatl) and lekvar (Slovakia). These fascinating glimpses of other cultures and traditions will turn you into a language maven (Yiddish), though it might not help you with algebra (Arabic).
On this page: mahala to muntjac.
