Hmm - now sure how to form my question...

[SereneHome]

My kids have been increasingly asking me why certain things are called these things.  So, why are a knife called a knife, why a tree called a tree, etc etc etc

 

I have English from the Roots up - but it doesn't really help.

 

Are there any websites that have that information?  Books? 

[Alessandra]

http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/08/ten-things-you-might-not-have-known-about-the-english-language/

 

A fun blog.

 

Dictionary.com app is good too and has etymology.

 

You could have some talks about how languages differ. Inuits many words for snow is a trite, but good example. Japanese bring dependent on relative social status of speakers. Etc.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Alessandra

[mommymonster]

I read your post last night and stumbled across this today. I thought your kiddos might enjoy it. The link is from Nova, The Secret LIfe of Scientists: Jean Berko Gleason is a psycholinguist who studies how we acquire and use language.

[rutheart]

For a non-academic approach, try reading aloud Frindle to the kids.

 

Ruth

[Jandy]

On the one hand, it sounds like you're looking for etymology - how our current words have evolved over time from other languages and roots. Here's the entry for "knife" on the Online Etymology Dictionary. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=knife&allowed_in_frame=0
 

The Story of English is a great book/video series about how English has changed over time, thanks to Roman, Saxon, Viking, and French invasions, as well as the continual borrowing from other languages since then. It's particularly helpful to see why English often has two or more words for the same thing (often because Saxons used a Germanic word for it and the French conquerors used a French word for it, and both have become common in English).

But ultimately you're going to get to the end of the etymology chain and it's going to say "from the Proto-Germanic knibaz of uncertain origin" (that's knife) or "from the Greek whatever" and there's no info before that. If the question is more existential than "where did this English word come from" I'm not sure how to answer that. Sometime back before recorded history someone started calling a thing some name and it stuck and everyone else started using it, and over time it became the word we know today - and of course, in other parts of the world, things have different names because either their ancestors came up with different names initially, or because their languages have evolved differently over time from a common source.

[Tanaqui]

What Jandy said. I'll second her recommendation of the Online Etymological Dictionary - it's amazingly accurate and comprehensive given that it's a one-man job. Most quality dead tree dictionaries will give a quick etymological sketch of entries as well.

 

The study of etymology is fascinating, and it was for me a segue into a general study of linguistics. You can't encourage it enough :)

 

You could have some talks about how languages differ. Inuits many words for snow is a trite, but good example. Japanese bring dependent on relative social status of speakers. Etc.

 

Well, it would be a good example if it wasn't basically false as presented.

 

Those languages don't have any more word roots for snow or snow-like conditions than we do in English. (Snow, powder, slush, sleet, blizzard, flurry....) What they DO have is a polysynthetic structure, which allows complex words to be formed that are analogous to sentences in English. But just because they can make an utterance that translates to "there is snow falling on the tree outside" and can be written as one word if you're so inclined, that doesn't mean it IS one word in any conventional sense. A more detailed explanation is given here.

[SereneHome]

Thanks everyone!!!!!!

 

I bookmarked etymology site and will be going through other suggestions as well.

 

 

[Holly]

We often just look these things up on Wikipedia...although my DC usually ask me about figures of speech.  

[Tanaqui]

We often just look these things up on Wikipedia...although my DC usually ask me about figures of speech.

 

There's websites devoted to explaining the origins of proverbs as well. If you're interested, I'll dig through my bookmarks and find the one I most often refer to.

 

[LMD]

My kids loved the word spy, which touches on some similar topics - https://www.amazon.com/Word-Spy-Dubosarsky-Ursula/dp/935009813X

[Lucy the Valiant]

King Alfred's English is written more for a little bit older kids than your signature suggests, but it is a GREAT read, and written in a narrative fashion (with funny little comments sprinkled heavily throughout). For a word-kid, I'd totally read it with a 7yo; it weaves the etymology of the language into the actual (fascinating) HISTORY of English.

 

Good stuff.