<P>There are no direct records of the original Indo-European speech. By comparing the vocabularies of its various descendants, however, it is possible to reconstruct the basic Indo-European roots with considerable confidence. In <I>The Origins of English Words,</I> Shipley catalogues these proposed roots and follows the often devious, always fascinating, process by which some of their offshoots have grown.</P><P>Anecdotal, eclectic, and always enthusiastic, <I>The Origins of English Words</I> is a diverting expedition beyond linguistics into literature, history, folklore, anthropology, philosophy, and science. </P>