Henriette Walter is an emeritus professor of linguistics and member of the Superior Council of the French Language. She has published numerous works with Robert Laffont including Les Français dans tous les sens, L’Aventure des langues en Occident, L’Aventure des mots français venus d’ailleurs, and L’Aventure de la langue arabe en Occident.
Pierre Avenas was director of research and development in the chemical industry. Being interested in natural sciences as well, he had the idea of an etymological and multilingual project, with Henriette Walter, which led to the publication of L’Étonnante Histoire des noms de mammifères (2003) and La mystérieuse Histoire des oiseaux (2007).