A leading British linguist will speak in Luxembourg at a special event entitled “The Story of English in 100 Words”.

Professor David Crystal will be at the Forum Geesseknäppchen on October 12 where he will offer a closer look at 100 words from the English language.

The words covered range from the old, for example “roe”, the oldest word for “deer” to the ultra-modern like “Twittersphere”.

His presentation will provide an etymological and historical look at the origins of these words through entertaining stories and raises awareness about how meaning changes in the course of time.

Professor David Crystal is a writer, editor, lecturer, and broadcaster. He published the first of his 100 or so books in 1964, and became known chiefly for his research work in English language studies.

He held a chair at the University of Reading for 10 years, and is now Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor.

He has widely published on Shakespeare, often in collaboration with his son Ben, an actor, author and producer. David Crystal is currently patron of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) and the Association for Language Learning (ALL).

He received an OBE for services to the English language in 1995, and was made a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 2000. He now lives in Holyhead, Wales.

The public event starts at 7pm and is free to attend.