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Gilbert, Sir William Schwenck 1836-1911.

British playwright and lyricist known for a series of comic operas, including H.M.S. Pinafore (1878) and The Pirates of Penzance (1879), written with composer Sir Arthur Sullivan.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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