links

LANGUAGE, ETYMOLOGY, WORD FRIENDS

English Language & Usage/Stack Exchange A question-and-answer site "for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts." I get more useful information here on a daily basis than anywhere else.

Sonia Orin Lyris SFF author, pragmatist, worldwalker, and seeing-eye spirit animal of etymonline.

Talia Felix's blog of history and folklore Embark on a mystical journey filled with tales of wonder, supernatural beings, and age-old wisdom.

Quote Investigator This website records the investigations by Garson O’Toole into well-known quotations.

Wordwizard A venerable (in Internet terms) full-service site devoted to origins of English words and phrases and English usage. The forum is helpful and newbie-friendly.

Talk the Talk A weekly show about linguistics. Where wit meets wisdom.

Languagehat A fine blog by a linguist whose interest reaches beyond the words. The "links" bar is one of the best for language resources.

Omniglot Language-related musings by Welsh blogger and linguist Simon Ager.

Things to be Happy About Website of linguist Barbara Ann Kipfer, who edited the most recent edition of the "Dictionary of American Slang."

Digital Medievalist Celtic Studies Resources from a self-described "opinionated digital medievalist."

Lexilogos (English version) A comprehensive set of dictionaries and other online resources for the study of the languages of the world.

Verbix Free online verb conjugator in English, French, German, Italian, Arabic, Japanese, Latin, Spanish, and other languages.

Oxford English Dictionary The best there is, but not free.

SPECIFIC

The American Heritage Dictionary Indo-European Roots Appendix The latest iteration of the Calvert Watkins list.

Indo-European Lexicon: Pokorny Master PIE Etyma From the University of Texas Linguistics Research Center.

Old English Translator Works both ways (Old English to Modern, Modern English to Old).

Bosworth Toller's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary online, up to the 1921 supplement, hosted by the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague. Free and searchable.

Online version of the University of Michigan Middle English Dictionary "[D]escribed as 'the greatest achievement in medieval scholarship in America.' Its 15,000 pages offer a comprehensive analysis of lexicon and usage for the period 1100-1500, based on the analysis of a collection of over three million citation slips, the largest collection of this kind available."

Latdict Kevin Mahoney's online Latin dictionary and grammar resource.

Logeion Latin and Greek dictionary which includes hard to find medieval vocabulary.

English Words of Arabic Ancestry Thoughtful and thoroughly researched work.

Work in food history "Historical linguistics, dialectology, sociolinguistics, and food history" by Anthony F. Buccini, Ph.D.

Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction. 

The Anglo-Norman Online Hub.

Dictionaries of the Scots Language "Scotland’s independent lexicographical body for the Scots language."

Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru The standard historical dictionary of the Welsh language. The vocabulary is defined in Welsh, and English equivalents are also given. Detailed attention is given to variant forms, collocations, and etymology.

Chinese Characters Contains the complete text of "Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary," which uses the new (zipu) system of character trees.

Chinese Etymology.

An Etymological Dictionary of the French Language Digitized version of Auguste Brachet's book of 1873.

A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language.

Italian Etymology A searchable online version of the 1907 "Vocabolario Etimologico della Lingua Italiana" by Ottorino Pianigiani.

English-Persian Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics "Aims at contributing to the Persian language by creating a comprehensive dictionary of astronomy and astrophysics."

Svenska Akademiens Ordbok  Svenska Akademiens Ordbok Svenska Akademiens Ordbok Excellent online Swedish etymology source.

The German etymological dictionary of the Brothers Grimm Das Deutsche Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm auf CD-ROM und im Internet.

Another German etymological dictionary, Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Alphabetical list of German surnames and explanations of their origin and meaning.

Historische woordenboeken Nederlands en Fries (Dutch). 

Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew Web site for a book on etymologies of multisourced words in various languages, e.g. English, Israeli, Hebrew, Mandarin, Japanese, Turkish, Yiddish and Arabic.

The Jargon File Hacker slang, hacker culture, techspeak, and more.

Sumerian Language Page English Synonyms Explained and Illustrated By J.H.A. Günther.

SearchReSearch "A blog about search, search skills, teaching search, learning how to search, learning how to use Google effectively, learning how to do research. It also covers a good deal of sensemaking and information foraging."

FOR WRITERS

Word Stuff Writing Links and Links for Writers.

The King's English A classic work on usage by H.W. Fowler.

Just About Write An excellent site full of good advice on writing and publishing.

DIVERSIONS

The Eggcorn Database A collection of unusual English spellings of the sort that have come to be called "eggcorns." A spin-off from Language Log. 

Wikipoem. 

The Public Domain Review.

Ladle Rat Rotten Hut An Anguish Languish lesson as originated by Professor Howard L. Chace, performed live by actor Drew Letchworth.

Baumgartner Restoration Youtube Documentaries depicting painting conservation.

Speculative Grammarian The premier scholarly journal featuring research in the neglected field of satirical linguistics.

The Good Little Boy and The Bad Little Boy Mark Twain's parody of children's literature.

Unlikely phrases from real phrasebooks For those moments when you absolutely, positively need to say "I play the clarinet" in Chinese ("Wô lá danhuángguân").

Awful Library Books The funhouse of deaccessioning.

Snopes.com You didn't really forward that e-mail, did you?

Early American Cookery Historical recipes cooked with historical tools and techniques, made into little films you can watch.

Engrish.com No doubt our attempts at Japanese are even more amusing.

Devil's Dictionary The acid wit of Ambrose Bierce.

Kissthisguy.com A library of misheard lyrics.

Gadsby The greatest novel ever written without using the letter "E."

A glossary and etymological dictionary of obsolete and uncommon words By William Toone.

The Primary Synopsis of Universology and Alwato By Stephen Pearl Andrews.

Lamebook.com Clever and sarcastic Facebook posts curated for your entertainment.

Musical variations on Steamed Hams The Simpsons parody in musical and music video variants.

Must Rant. Anonymous angry rants.