Wordsmiths and Warriors: The English-Language Tourist's Guide to Britain

by David Crystal, Hilary Crystal

Overview

Wordsmiths and Warriors explores the heritage of English through the places in Britain that shaped it. It unites the warriors, whose invasions transformed the language, with the poets, scholars, reformers, and others who helped create its character.

The book relates a real journey. David and Hilary Crystal drove thousands of miles to produce this fascinating combination of English-language history and travelogue, from locations in south-east Kent to the Scottish lowlands, and from south-west Wales to the East Anglian coast. David provides the descriptions and linguistic associations, Hilary the full-colour photographs. They include a guide for anyone wanting to follow in their footsteps but arrange the book to reflect the chronology of the language. This starts with the Anglo-Saxon arrivals in Kent and in the places that show the earliest evidence of English. It ends in London with the latest apps for grammar. In between are intimate encounters with the places associated with such writers as Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Wordsworth; the biblical Wycliffe and Tyndale; the dictionary compilers Cawdrey, Johnson, and Murray; dialect writers, elocutionists, and grammarians, and a host of other personalities.

Among the book's many joys are the diverse places that allow warriors such as Byrhtnoth and King Alfred to share pages with wordsmiths like Robert Burns and Tim Bobbin, and the unexpected discoveries that enliven every stage of the authors' epic journey.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198729136
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/01/2015
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	440
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

David Crystal,Hilary Crystal

Table of Contents

1. Pegwell Bay: arrival2. Caistor St Edmund: the earliest known English word3. Undley Common: the first recorded English sentence4. Jarrow: Bede and the origins of English5. Lindisfarne: glossaries and translations6. Ruthwell: the finest runic inscription7. Stourton and Edington: King Alfred and the birth of English8. Maldon: the ultimate warrior wordsmith9. Winchester: the first standard English10. Cerne Abbas: AElfric and the first English conversation11. Ely: Wulfstan and Old English style12. Peterborough: the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle13. Battle and Normans Bay: the French connection14. Bourne: Orrm and English spelling15. Areley Kings: Layamon's English Chronicle16. Chester and Berkeley: Higden, Trevisa, and the rise of English17. Rhuddlan: the English language in Wales18. Manorbier: little England beyond Wales19. Dunfermline: the birth of Scots English20. Talbot Yard, London SE1: Chaucer and Middle English21. Canterbury: from ancient to modern22. Cursitor Street, London EC4: Chancery and standard English23. Tothill Street, London SW1: Caxton and printing English24. St Albans: Juliana Berners and collective nouns25. Paston: a family of letters26. Lutterworth: John Wycliffe and Bible translation27. North Nibley: William Tyndale and the English Bible28. Chichester: William Bullokar and the first English grammar29. Suffolk Lane and St Paul's, London EC4: Richard Mulcaster and the status of English30. Stratford-upon-Avon: Shakespeare and English idiom31. Park Street, London SE1: Shakespeare and linguistic innovation32. Oakham: Robert Cawdrey and the first dictionary33. Willoughby: John Smith and new Englishes34. East India Dock, London E14: the East India Company and global English35. Hampton Court Palace: King James and his Bible36. Black Notley: John Ray and English proverbs37. Aldwincle: John Dryden and an English Academy38. Old Broad Street, London EC2: the Royal Society and scientific English39. Rochdale: Tim Bobbin and local dialect40. Lichfield: Johnson and the dictionary41. Old St Pancras Church, London NW1: John Walker and pronunciation42. York: Lindley Murray and English grammar43. Alloway: Robert Burns and Scots44. Peebles and Edinburgh: the Chambers brothers and encyclopedic English45. Grasmere: William Wordsworth and poetic language46. West Malvern: Roget and the thesaurus47. Bath: Isaac Pitman and English shorthand48. Oxford: James Murray and the Oxford English Dictionary49. Winterborne Came: William Barnes and speech-craft50. Higher Bockhampton: Thomas Hardy and Wessex dialect51. Saltaire: Joseph Wright and English dialects52. Hinton St George: Henry Fowler and English usage53. Ayot St Lawrence: George Bernard Shaw and spelling reform54. Laugharne: Dylan Thomas and Welsh English55. Tilbury: the Empire Windrush and new dialects56. University College, London WC1: Daniel Jones and English phonetics57. University College, London WC1: the Survey of English UsageRegional GroupingIndex of PlacesGeneral Index

Editorial Reviews

12/09/2013
Linguist David Crystal (The Stories of English) and his wife, Hilary, a speech therapist, cover a lot of ground, literally and figuratively, in this ambitious journey through the evolution of the English language. In 2012, the couple motored across the British Isles starting at the tip of Kent, heading north to Edinburgh and continuing southwest to Wales in search of linguistic landmarks. Part personal travelogue, part linguistic history, the authors use their 57 roadside stops as occasions to elaborate the history of the English language beginning at the 8th century rune in Ruthwell church and ending at University College London, with the 1980s Survey of English Usage. Male warriors dominate the linguistic landscape with a lone female, Juliana Berners, making a cameo in 1486 as contributor to The Book of St Albans. With the lion's share of stops located in and around London, the roving reader can comfortably retrace much of the route as each chapter closes with a page of detailed directions. Armchair travelers, on the other hand, may need the actual trip to complete the experience. Color photos. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

"A delightful romp through the English countryside." —Sun News Miami

From the Publisher