Aan die hand van uitgebreide dokumentasie wat korrespondensie, e-posbriewe en koerantartikels insluit, teken die skrywer die verhaal van Afrikaans op Stellenbosch op en bespreek die taaldebat van verskillende kante en vra ook indringende vrae oor die manier waarop die taalkwessie in die toekoms hanteer behoort te word.

What do three murderers, Karl Marx's daughter and a vegetarian vicar have in common? They all helped create the Oxford English Dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary has long been associated with elite institutions and Victorian men; its longest-serving editor, James Murray, devoted 36 years to the project, as far as the letter T. But the Dictionary didn't just belong to the experts; it relied on contributions from members of the public. By the time it was finished in 1928 its 414,825 entries had been crowdsourced from a surprising and diverse group of people, from archaeologists and astronomers to murderers, naturists, novelists, pornographers, queer couples, suffragists, vicars and vegetarians. Lexicographer Sarah Ogilvie dives deep into previously untapped archives to tell a people's history of the OED. She traces the lives of thousands of contributors who defined the English language, from the eccentric autodidacts to the family groups who made word-collection their passion. With generosity and brio, Ogilvie reveals, for the first time, the full story of the making of one of the most famous books in the world - and celebrates to sparkling effect the extraordinary efforts of the Dictionary People.

In this book Adrian Koopman details the complex relationship between plants, the Zulu language and Zulu culture. Zulu plant names do not just identify plants, they tell us a lot more about the plant, or how it is perceived or used in Zulu culture. For example, the plant name umhlulambazo (what defeats the axe’ tells us that this is a tree with hard, dense wood, and that usondelangange (come closer so I can embrace you) is a tree with large thorns that snag the passer-by. In a similar vein, both umakuphole (let it cool down) and icishamlilo (put out the fire) refer to plants that are used medicinally to treat fevers and inflammations. Plants used as the base of love-charms have names that are particularly colourful, such as unginakile (she has noticed me), uvelabahleke (appear and they smile) and the wonderfully named ungcingci-wafika-umntakwethu (how happy I am that you have arrived, my sweetheart!). And then there are those plant names that are just plain intriguing, if not mystifying: umakhandakansele (the heads of Mr Ratel), isandlasonwabu (hand of a chameleon), intombikayibhinci (the girl does not wear clothes) and ukhuningomile (piece of firewood, I am thirsty).

Dictionary of the language spoken in Tunisia -French-Arabic-, designed for the benefit of beginners and more experienced learners, the fruit of years of research. The vocabulary is in Arabic, and the transliteration helps with the pronunciation. References to literary Arabic make interesting comparisons possible. Dictionnaire de la langue parlA (c)e en Tunisie -franAais-arabe-, destinA (c) aux dA (c)butant et aux plus chevronnA (c)s, fruit da annA (c)es de recherches. Le vocabulaire est rA (c)digA (c) en arabe et la translitA (c)ration en facilite la comprA (c)hension. Les rA (c)fA (c)rences A la langue littA (c)raire permettent des comparaisons intA (c)ressantes.

This volume looks at the legacy of British history in the way we talk and the things we say. It takes us from the departure of the Romans from Britain up to and including the Middle Ages.

This volume looks at the impact of evergreen activities - sports, games and gambling - upon the way we talk and the things we say. Peter Ryding takes us from cricket to roulette via some very tricky and diverting tangents.

The author presents a humorous journey through the English language, exploring the fascinating facts and phrases that make English so rich and exciting.