A community is known by the language it keeps, and its words chronicle the times. Every aspect of the life of a people is reflected in the words they use to talk about themselves and the world around them. As their world changes — through invention, discovery, revolution, evolution, or personal transformation — so does their language. Like the growth rings of a tree, our vocabulary bears witness to our past.
—John Algeo, American linguist, Fifty Years Among the New Words, 1991