Please welcome the newest addition to the Bookgeeks crew, Ben Parker, who kicks off by reviewing a book that takes as its subject the very tools of the reviewer’s trade – words…

We are currently experiencing the fastest pace of neologisms, adoptions and coinages since the time of Shakespeare, thanks in part to the popularity of English as a second language, as well as to the rapid development of technology. This growth is bringing English close to a million words, with the Global Language Monitor currently estimating that the milestone will be reached on the morning of 10^th June 2009. It seems, therefore, an ideal moment to look back at the story of English.

The Secret Life of Words by Henry Hitchings has the subtitle ‘How English became English’ and is the best account of this story that I have read so far. It is more in-depth than Melvyn Bragg’s The Adventure of English and less academic than David Crystal’s The Stories of English, both excellent books in their own right. What makes Hitchings’ book stand out is the easy balance he has achieved between historical narrative and celebration of language.

The framework of the book is a relatively straightforward account of English, from its Celtic origins, through Anglo, Saxon, Viking and Norman invasions and on to the influence of French, Latin, Dutch, Arabic and the hundreds of other languages which have all played their part. This is an entertaining story, and a fantastic potted history which deals not with kings and queens, but with culture, society, politics, battles, food, literature and everything in-between. On this framework Hitchings hangs a love of words: their origins, their usage, their development

This discussion of words is often in parenthesis or mentioned seemingly as an aside, allowing the narrative to flow without awkward interruption and presenting their ‘secret lives’ almost as incidental gems as opposed to the core of the book. Yet these gems are so frequent that they are given their own supplementary index. And well they should, for Hitchings’ reveals the poetry hidden in words that have grown quotidian with use. Even if you read the book once only, you will certainly want to refer back to the fact that window comes from the Norse ‘vind-auga’ (eye of the wind), that ‘mortgage’ comes from ‘death-grip’, or to defend your use of ‘arse-ropes’ for ‘intestines’. As with the mortgage example, much of what is revealed seems so obvious once you read it that your eyes and ears will be permanently opened to the buried sources of everyday words. This is a book which will stay with you long after you have finished it.

If there is one message that runs throughout, it is this: variety is the strength of English. From the very beginning change has been the one constant, and to attempt to fossilise the language is not only foolish, it is also futile. Where would we be without ‘alcohol’, ‘amateur’, ‘anorak’ and ‘awkward’? Words which come, respectively, from Arabic, French, Inuit and Norse. But words are not examined just for their etymology, or for the synonyms that different users have adopted, rather they lead to fascinating digressions that take in myriad aspects of life. For example, the adoption into English of ‘cappuccino’ leads Hitchings’ onto the coffee-shop culture that is now such big business in Britain’s towns and cities. It is this all-encompassing approach which makes this book such a joy.

The Secret Life of Words is written with relaxed eloquence, and Hitchings comes across as an enthusiastic hoarder of knowledge, rather than an academic. There is enough humour to ensure that the book is never hard-going, but enough erudition to ensure that every paragraph contains a startling fact or revelation. Highly recommended.

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