Schuessler (emeritus, Wartburg College, Iowa) provides information on the origin of Old Chinese words, including possible word family relationships within Chinese and outside contacts. His focus on words contrasts with Chinese etymology, which is concerned with the history, uses, and perhaps variant pronunciations of Chinese written characters. Though the history of Old Chinese is less understand than that of typical Indo-European languages, he says, enough has been learned about Chinese and related Tibeto-Burman languages over the past few decades that some historical insights can be suggested. He includes competing alternatives if they seem plausible to him. The arrangement is by word families. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)