etymology

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌɛtɪˈmɒləd͡ʒi/, /ˌɛtəˈmɒləd͡ʒi/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ethimologie,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French ethimologie,^[2][4][5] from Latin etymologia,^{[2][4][5][3][6]} from Ancient Greek ἐτυμολογία (etumología, “analysis of a word to find its true origin”),^[2][4][5] from Ancient Greek ἔτυμον (étumon, “true sense of a word”), the neuter of étumos “true”, and -logía “study”.^[2][4][5][6] Cicero rendered the Greek word in Latin as veriloquium.^[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The facts of the formation or derivation of a word (1398);^[7][4] Etymonline dates the English word to the late 14th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In classical times the word referred to the original, “true” meaning of a word,^[5][6] and an obsolete English sense is “original meaning” (before 1592).^[7] The sense “an account of the formation of a particular word” is recorded from 1460,^[7] and as the name of the branch of linguistics concerned with word origins it dates from 1646.^[7][5] In older grammars etymology was also the part of grammar dealing with individual words and their inflections (1592).^[7]

Timeline

• 1398 – the facts of a word's formation or derivation.^[7][4]
• 1460 – an account of the origin of a word.^[7]
• 1588 – the process of tracing out the elements of a word.^[7]
• 1592 – the part of grammar dealing with individual words.^[7]
• 1646 – the branch of linguistics concerned with word origins.^[7][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The origin and historical development of a word or other linguistic form, traced through its earliest use, its changes in form and meaning, its passage from one language to another, and its cognates.
2. An account of the history of a particular word.
3. The branch of linguistics that studies the origins of words.

Word family

• etymological
• etymologically
• etymologist
• folk etymology

Related words

• etymon
• etymologize

Usage notes

Not to be confused with entomology, the study of insects, or etiology, the study of causes.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press