I can give you some classics on word origin: Wildred Funk's WORD ORGINS AND THEIR ROMANTIC ORIGINS, Funk & Wagnalls Joseph Shipley's DICTIONERY OF WORD ORIGINS, NY: Philosophical Library J.L.Dillard's AMERICAN TALK: WHERE OUR WORDS CAME FROM, NY: Vintage and a really interesting book, which I'm sure is out of print but which you could probably get thru inter-library loan: Hannah Campbell's WHY DID THEY NAME IT...? Campbell's book tells you how Bourbon, invented by a Baptist minister, came to be called Bourbon; the romantic story behind the naming of "Dr. Pepper"; and why Weaties had to have been named by a woman. Lots of fun. Of course, nothing beats the OED. --Bill Murdick