Epistemology
The word "epistemology" is derived from the ancient Greek "epistēmē" meaning "knowledge" and the suffix "-logy", meaning "logical discourse" (derived from the Greek word "logos" meaning "discourse"). It is analogue to the German "Wissenschaftslehre" (literally, theory of science) which was introduced by philosophers Johann Fichte and Bernard Bolzano in the late 18th century. The word first appeared in English in 1847 as a translation of the German in New York's "Eclectic Magazine" review of a philosophical novel by German author Jean Paul:
Mark Forsyth
While "The Etymologicon" falls into the category of edutainment, the examples Forsyth includes in the book are well researched and supported by evidence. His goal was to include as much scholarly information as "lightly" as possible. Forsyth researches words and phrases as far back to their original sources as he can find. "Often, the joy of the research," he said in a "Chicago Tribune" interview, "is finding examples of the original usages that have been lost for centuries. For example, humble pie used to be umble pie because the umbles were the innards of a deer (so it was the poor man's equivalent of venison pie). I actually found a recipe book from 1727 deep in the bowels of the British Library that gave instructions on how to make it. So I did. And it was delicious."