Ἐπεα πτεροεντα; or, The Diversions of Purley. 2 vols

John Horne Tooke

Ἐπεα πτεροεντα; or, The Diversions of Purley. 2 vols

London

For the author

1786–1805

2d ed. 

Few philological books have had more influence on lexicography than Horne Tooke’s Diversions of Purley—and none have had a worse influence.  At the heart of his book, with two volumes published almost two decades apart, is a fundamentally misguided theory of language development. Tooke held that (1) every word has one and only one meaning; (2) a word’s meaning is determined by the meaning of its etymon, or origin; and (3) a word’s etymon can be found in virtually any of the world’s languages on the basis of superficial similarities.

Ex coll. Karolyne & Bryan A. Garner. HHD no. 55