The pioneering work on the roots & origins of the English language. The remarkable scholarship of Walter W. Skeat (1835-1912) was instrumental in the revival of the great works of early English literature, & he inspired later philologists & lexicographers. Skeats astonishing detective work into the origins & development of the worlds most widely used language provides an unsurpassed guide to its flexibility & richness. This edition of his larger Etymological Dictionary is not a mere abridgment, but was entirely rewritten by Skeat.