A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principal Indo-European Languages: A Contribution to the History of Ideas [Paperback]

Carl Darling Buck (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226079376 | ISBN-13: 978-0226079370 | Publication Date: June 15, 1988 | Edition: First Edition

Originally published in 1949 and appearing now for the first time in a paperbound edition, Buck's Dictionary remains an indispensable tool for diachronic analysis of the Indo-European languages. Arranged according to the meaning of words, the work contains more than 1,000 groupings of synonyms from the principal Indo-European languages. Buck first tabulates the words describing a particular concept and then discusses their etymological and semantic history, tracing changes in meaning of the root words as well as presenting cases indicating which of the older forms have been replaced by expressions of colloquial or foreign origin.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; First Edition edition (June 15, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226079376
• ISBN-13: 978-0226079370
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #961,135 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate Bathroom Book!, August 3, 2001

By 

Cinna the Poet (Zeeusche Uytkyk, Svalbard) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principal Indo-European Languages: A Contribution to the History of Ideas (Paperback)

You can pick this book up and flip to any page at random and learn something that will make you go "huh!". I recommend this book for anybody at all interested in language or thought, either just getting into linguistics or a tenured professor.

The entries are from basic vocabulary, grouped by topic (food, familial relations, etc.), though there's an alphabetical index in the back. For each entry, Mr. Buck gives the word (sometimes a couple different words) in Ancient Greek, Modern Greek, Latin, the Romance languages, the Celtic languages, the main Germanic languages (incl. Old, Middle, and Modern English), Balto-Slavic, and usually Indo-Iranian (occasionally Armenian).

But the cool thing is that then he gives an always-enlightening discussion below on how they are related, what ideas lie behind different word-choices, how they've changed, and so forth. This discussion is usu. about 2-3 times the length of the list and is the best part.

This book used to be a big hefty lieberry book, but the University of Chicago has reprinted it into a handy paperback, with four of the old pages on each new one. One reviewer said you'd need a magnifying glass, but I have terrible vision and I can read it just fine.

It's a great book to read on the toilet, or whenever you're just sittin' around waitin' for somethin' to happen. You'll learn something every time you read it, and at this price it's one of the best book-deals you'll get anywhere.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive Dictionary of All IndoEuropean Languages, May 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principal Indo-European Languages: A Contribution to the History of Ideas (Paperback)

This is the classic work in comparative IndoEuropean words, word origins, expressions, semantic change, and the development of lexemes. A comprehensive survey of up to 80 current and dead IndoEuropean languages in over 1,000 groupings. The groupings are organized into 22 chapters, with each chapter dealing with a concept, such as: the physical world, agriculture, time, mind (thought), law, warfare, etc. As good or better than Porkorny's, at 1/20th the price. NOTE: Prospective uses should be aware that THERE is a significant downside to this edition (and thus my 9 rating). The book is printed with 4 reduced pages from the original text onto one page. The result is that you are looking at slighlty less than 4 point print for the explanatory text (and the IndoEuropean synonyms are in 2.5 point italics!). A magnifying glass is definitely required (I have 20:20, and it is a serious strain trying to read the italics).

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Should come with a STRONG MAGNIFYING GLASS, April 19, 2007

By 

tepi "tepi" - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principal Indo-European Languages: A Contribution to the History of Ideas (Paperback)

Far be it from me to suggest that those who claim this book is not difficult to read must work for the U of C Press but, of the many thousands of books I have read and consulted, this is the first I've ever seen that required a magnifying glass for me to be able to read it. Even with a strong magnifying glass I still find it extremely difficult to make out some of the words, especially the Greek.

I can't think what made the U of C Press take the 1515 pages of the original edition of this book, reduce them to microscopic size, and cram 4 of these reduced pages on each single page of this cheaply produced (though not cheaply priced) glued spine paperback. Is there a world shortage of paper I haven't heard about?

If Hackett Publishing Company can give us a clothbound 1808-page 'Complete Works of Plato' (ISBN 0872203492), a book in a clear and legible typeface which is not a mere reprint and which is sewn in the traditional manner so that it opens flat, and do all this for little more than the price of this U of C paperback - what's wrong with the U of C Press?

Unlike Hackett Publishing, the U of C Press didn't have to pay anything for editing, typesetting, proof-reading, etc., since all they've done is to run off extremely poor reduced copies of a book first published almost sixty years ago. All they really had to pay for was the paper and ink.

Content-wise the book is interesting enough and deserves 5 stars, but since the format is atrocious and an insult to readers and the world of learning I have given it only 1 star and I will be returning my copy to Amazon today for a refund.

If you are the sentimental and absent-minded masochistically inclined proud owner of a powerful magnifying glass which used to belong to your grandfather before he went blind and that you carry with you at all times since you'd hate to lose or misplace it you may conceivably find a use for this book.

As for those who do not fall into this category:

CAVEAT EMPTOR - "Let the buyer beware".