Haggard Hawks and Paltry Poltroons

Paul Jones

What do the following ten words all have in common - haggard mews codger arouse musket poltroon gorge allure pounce and turn-tail? All fairly familiar and straightforward words after a little digging into their histories it turns out that all of them derive from falconry: the adjective haggard described an adult falcon captured from the wild; mews were the enclosures hawks were kept in whilst moulting; codger is thought to come from 'cadger' the member of a hunting party who carried the birds' perches and so on.

This essentially is what Ten Words is all about - the book collects together hundreds of the most intriguing surprising and little known histories and etymologies of a whole host of English words. From ancient place names to unusual languages and obscure professions to military slang this is a fascinating treasure trove of linguistic facts.

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