A review by theomnivorescientist
How Dead Languages Work by Coulter H. George

challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.25

The book is a wonderful deconstruction of the joys of a polyglot study, how languages share similarities and dissimilarities in their construction and usage, and what ancient languages can teach us about culture, history, and the evolution of modern languages. Greek, Latin, Old English and Germanic languages, Sanskrit, Old Irish and Celtic, and Hebrew are the seven divisions of this book. They have a general format consisting of discussing sounds, forms or morphology, and then few examples from ancient texts with translations and their grammatical and etymological dissection. This work is one of its kind because usually all these languages are treated separately in other books. The author here has tried to bring various strands together while appreciating the fluidity of our languages. A powerful and informative companion for people interested in etymology, phonology, ancient classics, and languages in general.