This dictionary refers to current and obsolete Welsh. First of all, this dictionary refers to a former language, older than Sanskrit or old Persian: this is the former language, originating from a very former religion, born in northwest India around ten thousand years ago. I have called this language: the Vedic language, because its vocabulary and its mechanisms can be observed in the Rg-Veda. Briefly: this language is based on the division of the Universe in two parts: day and night. Personally, I have studied this language mainly in Sanskrit, this is a sort of primitive sanskrit, nevertheless I have found help in the Gaulish and Welsh languages. Through this book, I show many origins and etymologies in French, old French, English, old English, German, Basque, and many other languages that I know fairly well. Sometimes, unfortunately rarely, I refer to Arabic, Chinese, Japanese or African languages. The analysis of these languages, much closer than one says until now, will be another great phase for a better knowledge of the past.

Containing entries for more than 45,000 English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Cornish, and immigrant surnames, The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland is the ultimate reference work on family names of the UK. The Dictionary includes every surname that currently has more than 100 bearers. Each entry contains lists of variant spellings of the name, an explanation of its origins (including the etymology), lists of early bearers showing evidence for formation and continuity from the date of formation down to the 19th century, geographical distribution, and, where relevant, genealogical and bibliographical notes, making this a fully comprehensive work on family names. This authoritative guide also includes an introductory essay explaining the historical background, formation, and typology of surnames and a guide to surnames research and family history research. Additional material also includes a list of published and unpublished lists of surnames from the Middle Ages to the present day.

The compiler of this dictionary of word and phrase origins and history was not only a linguist and a philologist but also a man of culture and wit. When he turned his attention, therefore, to the creation of an etymological dictionary for both specialists and non-specialists, the result was easily the finest such work ever prepared. Weekley's Dictionary is a work of thorough scholarship. It contains one of the largest lists of words and phrases to be found in any singly etymological dictionary — and considerably more material than in the standard concise edition, with fuller quotes and historical discussions. Included are most of the more common words used in English as well as slang, archaic words, such formulas as "I. O. U.," made-up words (such as Carroll's "Jabberwock"), words coined from proper nouns, and so on. In each case, roots in Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse, Greek or Latin, Old and modern French, Anglo-Indian, etc., are identified; in hundreds of cases, especially odd or amusing listings, earliest known usage is mentioned and sense is indicated in quotations from Dickens, Shakespeare, Chaucer, "Piers Plowman," Defoe, O. Henry, Spenser, Byron, Kipling, and so on, and from contemporary newspapers, translations of the Bible, and dozens of foreign-language authors.