ENGLISH AND ITS VARIATIONS
Oxford English Dictionary The best there is, but not free.
r/etymology Currently the most useful place to begin.
English Language & Usage/Stack Exchange A question-and-answer site "for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts." I get more useful information here on a daily basis than anywhere else.
Old English Translator Works both ways (Old English to Modern, Modern English to Old).
Bosworth Toller's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary online, up to the 1921 supplement, hosted by the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague. Free and searchable.
Online version of the University of Michigan Middle English Dictionary "[D]escribed as 'the greatest achievement in medieval scholarship in America.' Its 15,000 pages offer a comprehensive analysis of lexicon and usage for the period 1100-1500, based on the analysis of a collection of over three million citation slips, the largest collection of this kind available."
Dictionaries of the Scots Language "Scotland’s independent lexicographical body for the Scots language."
English Synonyms Explained and Illustrated By J.H.A. Günther.
Languagehat A fine blog by a linguist whose interest reaches beyond the words. The "links" bar is one of the best for language resources.
Omniglot Language-related musings by Welsh blogger and linguist Simon Ager.
Things to be Happy About Website of linguist Barbara Ann Kipfer, who edited the most recent edition of the "Dictionary of American Slang."
The American Heritage Dictionary with Indo-European Roots Appendix The latest iteration of the Calvert Watkins list.
HISTORY
Talia Felix's blog of history and folklore Embark on a mystical journey filled with tales of wonder, supernatural beings, and age-old wisdom. Highlights include Antoine Wiertz's Severed Head Experiment, Four Thieves Vinegar History, and a Quick History of Zombies.
Quote Investigator This website records the investigations by Garson O’Toole into well-known quotations.
Work in food history "Historical linguistics, dialectology, sociolinguistics, and food history" by Anthony F. Buccini, Ph.D.
Early American Cookery Historical recipes cooked with historical tools and techniques, made into little films you can watch.
Roman Inscriptions of Britain Need to kill some time? Browse this collection of Roman inscriptions discovered around the UK.
A glossary and etymological dictionary of obsolete and uncommon words By William Toone.
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection Old time maps from around the world.
History Learning Site Does what it says on the can.
Digital Medievalist Celtic Studies Resources from a self-described "opinionated digital medievalist."
NON-ENGLISH DICTIONARIES AND ETYMOLOGY
Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru The standard historical dictionary of the Welsh language. The vocabulary is defined in Welsh, and English equivalents are also given. Detailed attention is given to variant forms, collocations, and etymology.
Chinese Characters Contains the complete text of "Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary," which uses the new (zipu) system of character trees.
An Etymological Dictionary of the French Language Digitized version of Auguste Brachet's book of 1873.
Italian Etymology A searchable online version of the 1907 "Vocabolario Etimologico della Lingua Italiana" by Ottorino Pianigiani.
English-Persian Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics "Aims at contributing to the Persian language by creating a comprehensive dictionary of astronomy and astrophysics."
The German etymological dictionary of the Brothers Grimm Das Deutsche Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm auf CD-ROM und im Internet.
Another German etymological dictionary, Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache.
Historische woordenboeken Nederlands en Fries (Dutch).
Latdict Kevin Mahoney's online Latin dictionary and grammar resource.
Logeion Latin and Greek dictionary which includes hard to find medieval vocabulary.
Dickinson College Commentaries Latin and Greek texts for reading, with explanatory notes, essays, vocabulary, and graphic, video, and audio elements.
English Words of Arabic Ancestry Thoughtful and thoroughly researched work (archive version, scroll down to get to the text.)
Lexilogos (English version) A comprehensive set of dictionaries and other online resources for the study of the languages of the world.
Verbix Free online verb conjugator in English, French, German, Italian, Arabic, Japanese, Latin, Spanish, and other languages.
Indo-European Lexicon: Pokorny Master PIE Etyma From the University of Texas Linguistics Research Center.
GEEK
Sonia Orin Lyris SFF author, pragmatist, worldwalker, and seeing-eye spirit animal of etymonline.
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.
The Primary Synopsis of Universology and Alwato By Stephen Pearl Andrews.
SearchReSearch "A blog about search, search skills, teaching search, learning how to search, learning how to use Google effectively, learning how to do research. It also covers a good deal of sensemaking and information foraging."
The Geek Hierarchy, according to The Brunching Shuttlecocks.
The Skeptical Inquirer You know Bigfoot isn't real, right?
ENTERTAINMENT
Lamebook.com Clever and sarcastic Facebook posts curated for your entertainment.
Engrish.com No doubt our attempts at Japanese are even more amusing.
Musical variations on Steamed Hams The Simpsons parody in musical and music video variants.
Must Rant. Anonymous angry rants.
Devil's Dictionary The acid wit of Ambrose Bierce.
Ladle Rat Rotten Hut An Anguish Languish lesson as originated by Professor Howard L. Chace, performed live by actor Drew Letchworth (Youtube.)
Kissthisguy.com A library of misheard lyrics.
Speculative Grammarian The premier scholarly journal featuring research in the neglected field of satirical linguistics.
The Good Little Boy and The Bad Little Boy Mark Twain's parody of children's literature.
Unlikely phrases from real phrasebooks For those moments when you absolutely, positively need to say "I play the clarinet" in Chinese ("Wô lá danhuángguân").
Baumgartner Restoration Youtube Documentaries depicting painting conservation.
Talk the Talk A weekly show about linguistics. Where wit meets wisdom.
