paleontology

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from French paléontologie,^[2][3][4][5] formed from paléo-, from Ancient Greek παλαιός (palaiós, “old, ancient”),^[2][3] a Greek plural meaning "existing things", formed from ὤν (ṓn, “being”), present participle of εἰμί (eimí, “to be”),^[4][6][7] and -logie, from -λογία (-logía).^[4][3] Barnhart sees it as patterned on ontologie (“ontology”),^[3] and Etymonline analyses it as the Greek adjective plus that word.^[2] Collins and the Oxford dictionaries describe the English word as formed from palaeo-, the Greek participle and -logy.^[8][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The science of the life of past geological periods, as preserved in fossils: 1833 in Etymonline,^[2] 1835 in Merriam-Webster Unabridged's first known use,^[4] and 1837 in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate.^[9] Barnhart and the 1989 edition of the OED give 1838, in Sir Charles Lyell's Elements of Geology.^[3][10]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its scientific meaning, the study of extinct animals and plants through their fossil remains.^[10][7][4] Merriam-Webster Unabridged adds that the science also gives information on the phylogeny of living organisms and on the chronology of the Earth's history, and that the word can name a treatise on the subject.^[4] Collins records it also as another name for palaeozoology.^[8] The adjectives palaeontologic and palaeontological are recorded from 1854 in the OED,^[10] and the agent noun paleontologist from 1836 in Etymonline,^[2] or 1871 in Barnhart.^[3]

Timeline

• 1833 – the study of fossil plants and animals.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates it to 1835,^[4] the 1989 edition of the OED and Barnhart to 1838, in Lyell.^[10][3]
• 1854 – the adjectives palaeontologic and palaeontological.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The science that studies the life of past geological periods through the fossil remains of animals and plants: She took a degree in paleontology and went to dig for dinosaurs.^[4][11][8]
2. Another name for palaeozoology, the study of fossil animals.^[8]
3. A book or treatise on this science.^[4]

Word family

• paleontologic
• paleontologist
• paleontologically
• micropaleontology

Related words

• paleo-
• ontology
• -logy
• fossil
• palaeontology

Usage notes

The British and Commonwealth spelling is palaeontology,^[8][7][1] and Etymonline lists it as an alternative form;^[2] the older palæontology is now dated.^[1][10] In British English the first syllable is often pronounced with the vowel of pal.^[4][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin