For John Goldsmith,
with thanks.

The author would like to thank everybody involved with
the production of this book, but especially Jane Seeber and
Andrea Coleman for their advice, suggestions, corrections,
clarifications and other gentle upbraidings.

…they who are so exact for the letter shall be dealt with by the Lexicon , and the Etymologicon too if they please…

—JOHN MILTON

This book is the papery child of the Inky Fool blog, which was started in 2009. Though most of the material is new, some of it has been adapted from its computerised parent. The blog is available at http://blog.inkyfool.com, which is a part of the grander whole www.inkyfool.com. +AbxiBek1B7CWUkLWlJoMdCjqxCMww6EvzwuuWKPZHdLWBZ+yQwuteJuoc81gity