etymology

Chambers Dictionary of Etymology
$45.00
I have 5-6 different etymology reference books and this one, by far, is the easiest to spend time with. First, unlike many others, this one provides the definition as well as the history of the words. Second, the authors chose to use very few abbreviations. Consequently, you do not have to memorize a long list or constantly flip back to the intro to understand things. It is very convenient to see to see a source as "Old French" as opposed to "OF". Thirdly, this work includes a number of prefixes and suffixes and also takes the time to point out some of the words which appear to come from the same source but do not, as well as a number of different sources for words where the experts disagree.

For me, this is the book I pick up when I want an enjoyable time just browsing through to see what pops up. The language of the entries draws you in and seems to tell a story rather than to just report the facts.

Word Histories and Mysteries: From Abracadabra to Zeus (American Heritage Dictionaries)
$20.95
This paperback compendium of articles on the origins of words has been compiled by the editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Among the oddities revealed by its writers are that average derives from an Old French word meaning "damage to shipping", that caprice comes by a devious route from an old Italian word for a hedgehog, that in medieval times deer was the name for any creature, that in Middle English dinner could mean breakfast, that fawn and fetus are etymologically connected, that garage is from a French word whose first sense in that language was a place where one moors one's boat, that junk originally meant old rope ... and so on. Its writers have not shied away from discussing features of some of the most common words, such as a, it and they.
You will also be painlessly introduced to some of the terminology and ideas of etymology, such as back-formation (a word mistakenly formed from another by removing what looks like an ending), folk etymology (popular legends about word origins), metanalysis (a shift in the division between words, as a napron became an apron, metathesis (in which sounds are transposed inside a word, as wops turned into wasp), and melioration (in which over time a word becomes more elevated or positive in meaning). Though not all these terms are explained in the text, there is a glossary at the end of the book.

The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology
$89.95
This is a wonderful book of etymology. I don't understand why one person is complaining about abbreviations. If you have an interest at all in etymology, which I assume you do if you bought this book, then you should know F. stands for French, OF stands for Old French, OE, ME, are Old and Middle English, etc. Not hard. I never memorized anything and with no previous training, was quite capable of easily discerning word origins.
And for the guy that couldn't find police roots, what book were you looking in? The entry for police does give an alternate pronunciation, then gives the changes in definition from 16th century to modern times. Then it shows the formation of the word starting with F. back to medL. then to L. politia. Maybe he was confused because it did not show the relation to Greek -polis he seemed to be expecting. While they probably share a root much farther back, this book tends to stop at the Latin or OE root. Because to go any further I suppose you would be talking Indo-European.
I would also like to point out that English does not derive from Latin, that's why it stops at the OE root sometimes. We have borrowed many words from Latin, some which came into our language after the French. If you do not realize this, I suggest you get an introduction to English History. Otherwise, many things in this dictionary will apparently leave you frustrated.
I do not have the other dictionary recommended here. I was given the Oxford one as a Christmas present, and I love it. Certainly, there are not nearly enough words in it for me, but I feel that would be the case regardless. It is well written, and easy to read ,which is a plus as I have terrible eyes. Possibly the other is better, I plan to buy it anyway, because the more the merrier. Also, this ODEE now has a rather smart blue dust jacket, which looks much better than the picture shown here. Without a doubt though, this is the crown jewel of my reference selection.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (Oxford Paperback Reference)
$18.95
Excellently produced, it suffers from small print and inferior paper. Obviously this is why such a modest price point could be set, but for people without perfect eyesight, add the cost of a magnifying glass.