Language & linguistics – The Bell Bookshop https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk Henley-on-Thames Fri, 30 Jan 2026 08:25:00 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cropped-Bell-Background-Blue-32x32.png Language & linguistics – The Bell Bookshop https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk 32 32 Why Q Needs U https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/why-q-needs-u/ Thu, 02 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/?post_type=product&p=51772 ‘A wonderful achievement! A breathtaking adventure through the alphabet – each letter a hero with a remarkable story to tell. An absolutely delightful read, filled with jewels of lightly worn scholarship and dazzling insight. I just couldn’t recommend it more highly.’ STEPHEN FRY

Every letter you’re reading right now has a fascinating story to tell, having been on a long linguistic, historical, political and social journey.

The English alphabet is a tool we’ve inherited down the centuries from ancient creators around the world. The alphabet hasn’t always had its present form, but rather has undergone all sorts of changes and evolutions to suit the needs of the time. Did you know that five English letters come from a single graphic grandparent? Or that we may know the specific person who invented the letter G? Do you know why Z is the sixth letter for the Greeks, yet the last for us? Or why Q needs to be followed by U?

Linguistic expert Danny Bate takes readers on a fascinating odyssey through the English alphabet, not just to share fun facts but to reveal the alphabet’s hidden mechanisms and inspire a newfound sense of wonder in this ancient tool. He will not only leave readers amazed by the letters they use every day but equipped to spot connections in languages across the world. He also aims to explain and defend the peculiar way English today uses these ancient symbols. Why does a silent final E turn hop into hope? Why are the Cs in circus pronounced differently? And why is there an L in salmon and a K in know?

Each chapter is a self-contained adventure into history, etymology, politics and more, but will also contribute to a general appreciation for how our alphabet developed, how it has changed and how it fits into a wider world of writing.

]]> Bookish words & their surprising stories https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/product/bookish-words-their-surprising-stories/ Thu, 10 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bellbookshop.co.uk/?post_type=product&p=47391 This book tells the fascinating stories behind 100 everyday words that have been influenced by writing, reading and publishing books.

]]> The world of books has played a striking role in the history of English vocabulary. Book itself is one of the oldest words in the language, originating from boc in Old English, and appears in many commonly used expressions today – by the book, bring to book and bookworm – to name a few.

With the arrival of printing, typesetting and the development of the newspaper industry came terminology that developed into commonly used phrases such as stop the press, front-page news and hit the headlines, and the emergence of the internet generated still more.

 

This anthology presents a selection of more than 100 words which show the influence of writing, reading and publishing books on our everyday vocabulary over the centuries, telling the stories behind their linguistic origins, and uncovering some surprising twists in the development of their meaning through time.

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