The world in so many words

"In this book, Metcalf, a lifelong student of the English language, takes us on a tour of the world's languages that have contributed words to our own. From each language Metcalf selects and examines a representative word that we have accepted as one of our own and then reports on the culture that produced it. The result is a linguistic tour that demonstrates how English is a world language in more ways than one."--BOOK JACKET.