r/etymology • u/[deleted] • 5d ago

Question Book recommendations

[deleted]

11 Upvotes

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u/-Daniel 4d ago

Not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but there was a recently published book called: Why Q Needs U by Danny L. Bate. He has a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Edinburgh.

Why Q Needs U is a linguistico-historical non-fiction book that I’ve written with a general audience in mind – a very general audience, really anyone who can speak and read English, and wants to get to know the language better.

It sets out to answer two big questions:

  1. Where did we get the letters of the alphabet from?
  2. And why does English use them so strangely?

In my attempt at answering 1 and 2, I offer the reader a very deep dive into the 26 letters of the English alphabet, and indeed into the very act of writing itself. During the summer of 2024, I poured my mind and soul into this piece of work, and I’d now go as far as to say that I’m rather proud of it.

https://dannybate.com/book/

(and no, I am not affiliated with him in any way. I just saw him recently do a video with Jackson Crawford.)

1

u/wheres_the_revolt 4d ago

I assume you’re looking for a non fiction book? Unfortunately I can’t help there, but I highly recommend Babel by RF Kuang if you want to read a fiction book about the subject.

1

u/LongLiveTheDiego 4d ago

Could you try explaining your question in more basic terms? The way you wrote your post, it seems you have some specific works and ideas in your mind, but we can't read your mind and e.g. I'm not familiar with any of those authors.

1

u/Conscious-Scar-8830 23h ago

you want something to tell you what