Useless Etymology
Offbeat Word Origins for Curious Minds
$52.61
- Hardcover
336 pages
- Release Date
19 January 2026
Summary
“A burst of delight on every page!”
- Mignon Fogarty, host of the Grammar Girl podcast
Did you know that an “astronaut” is literally a “star sailor,” that a thesaurus is, in fact, a “treasure trove” of words, and that someone who is “sinister” is actually just “left-handed”?
Have you ever wondered why English isn’t considered a Romance language if 60% of our words are Latin-derived?
Did Shakespeare really invent 1,700 words, and if not, why the heck …
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781399809184 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1399809180 |
| Author: | Jess Zafarris |
| Publisher: | John Murray Press |
| Imprint: | John Murray Publishers Ltd |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages: | 336 |
| Release Date: | 19 January 2026 |
| Weight: | 384g |
| Dimensions: | 196mm x 136mm x 32mm |
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About The Author
Jess Zafarris
Jess Zafarris is the author of the etymology books Words From Hell (Chambers, 2023) and Once Upon a Word (Rockridge Press 2020). Jess is an educational content creator and blogger who focuses on etymology and word-history-focused deep dives and explanations. She also co-hosts the Words Unravelled podcast.
She has appeared on podcasts including Dear Hank and John, Social Pros, Failing Writers, Yeah That’s Probably an Ad, and Author2Author. Previously a content and engagement director, journalist, editor, and social media strategist responsible for developing multimedia content for brands, publishers and media outlets such as Adweek, Ragan Communications, Writer’s Digest, and Script, Jess also contributed to the tabletop game League of the Lexicon and the Writer’s Digest Daily Calendar 2020, and both her master’s and undergraduate degrees focused on the development of English through literature, as well as journalism, anthropology and language studies.
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