Title
The life of words : etymology and modern poetry / David-Antoine Williams.
ISBN
9780191892585 (ebook) :
Publication
Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2020.
Physical Description
1 online resource (320 pages).
Local Notes
Access is available to the Yale community.
Notes
Also issued in print: 2020.
Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on June 4, 2020).
Access and use
Access restricted by licensing agreement.
Summary
For centuries, investigations into the origins of words were entwined with investigations into the origins of humanity and the cosmos. With the development of modern etymological practice in the 19th century, however, many cherished etymologies were shown to be impossible, and the very idea of original 'true meaning' asserted in the etymology of 'etymology' declared a fallacy. Structural linguistics later held that the relationship between sound and meaning in language was 'arbitrary', or 'unmotivated', a truth that has survived with small modification until today. On the other hand, the relationship between sound and meaning has been a prime motivator of poems, at all times throughout history. This book studies a selection of poets inhabiting our 'Age of the Arbitrary', whose auditory-semantic sensibilities have been motivated by a historical sense of the language.
Variant and related titles
Oxford scholarship online.
Other formats
Print version :
Added to Catalog
June 18, 2020
Series
Oxford scholarship online
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.