The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities: A Yearbook of Forgotten Words

The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities is a collection of obsolete etymological weirdness, linguistic dead ends, and other fascinating features of the English language. Due out 14th Oct 2019 from the University of Chicago press, it's 384 pages and will be available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats.

I'm a self avowed word nerd. I love language and the way it has shaped (and been shaped by) human culture and interaction. This book was a gold mine of interesting tidbits of which I was previously unaware. The format of the book is simple. It's set up in a 'word a day' calendar format with a word and some of its etymology related in a conversational and informal short essay of roughly 1-2 pages. I was truly impressed with how few of these words were previously known to me. There are worthy words here and a fair bit of related linguistic history.

The book also includes an alphabetical word list of the included words and a short bibliography (several of which are now on my to-be-read pile).

I enjoyed the book, loved the format, and think this would make a really superlative holiday gift for anyone with an appreciation for linguistics as well as a cracking addition to the home (or public) library.

Five stars, a truly fun book.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.