Review

"...fascinating and multifaceted...a paean to linguistic creativity. It is especially timely in the present historical context of rapid globalization and linguistic inter-influence."--James A. Matisoff, University of California, Berkeley
"The volume is extremely impressive. Zuckermann demonstrates a mastery of European and Hebrew lexicography...In addition to developing a rigorous analytical framework, he offers many detailed word (and compound) histories and carves out a well-defined position on issues of much significance."--Jeffrey Heath, University of Michigan
"This book will interest not only researchers and graduate students in the topic but also Hebraists. Moreover, any layman who loves words will find it absorbing and entertaining...it is both scholarly and original [and] an outstanding contribution to the science of etymology."--Geoffrey Lewis, St Antony's College, Oxford
"...This is the first time that anyone has drawn attention to the extent to which 'phono-semantic matching' applies in word formation . . . a most important contribution to the study of Israeli Hebrew word formation in particular and of language change in general."--Shmuel Bolozky, University of Massachusetts"The book is an outstanding piece of scholarship which undoubtedly represents a milestone in the field of lexicology. Zuckermann's attention to details has made the work a mini-encyclopaedia, much in the tradition of Jewish scholarship. Generally, his etymologies are well thought out and set a standard for current and future research." --Joseph T. Farquharson, Modern Israeli Hebrew

About the Author

Ghil'ad Zuckermann is Gulbenkian Research Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge. He teaches at the Faculty of Oriental Studies and is affiliated with the Department of Linguistics, University of Cambridge. He has published in English, Israeli, Italian, Yiddish, Spanish, German and Russian; has taught in Singapore, the USA and Israel; and has held research posts in Italy, Japan and Australia.