Etymology
Etymology is the study of the origins of
words. Through old texts and comparison with other
languages,
etymologists reconstruct the
history of words — when they entered a language, from what source, and how their form and meaning changed.
In languages with a long written history etymology makes use of
philology, the study of old texts. However, etymologists also apply the methods of
comparative linguistics to reconstruct information about languages that are too old for any direct information (such as writing) to be known. By comparing related languages with a technique known as the
comparative method, linguists can make inferences about their shared parent language and its vocabulary. In this way,
word roots have been found which can be traced all the way back to the origin of, for instance, the
Indo-European language family.
Even though etymological research originally grew from the philological tradition, nowadays much etymological research is done in
language families where little or no early documentation is available, such as
Uralic and
Austronesian.
The word
etymology itself comes from the
Greek "τυμον (
étymon, true meaning, from 'etymos' true) and
λόγος (
lógos, word). The term was originally applied to the search of supposedly "original" or "true" meanings of words, on principles that are rejected as unscientific by modern linguistics.
Pindar employed creative etymologies to flatter his patrons.
Plutarch employed etymologies insecurely based on fancied resemblances in sounds.
Isidore of Seville's
Etymologiae was an encyclopedic tracing of "first things" that remained uncritically in use in Europe until the fifteenth century.
Etymologicum genuinum is a grammatical encyclopedia edited at Constantinople in the ninth century, one of several similar Byzantine works. The fourteenth-century
Legenda Aurea begins each
vita of a saint with a fanciful excursus in the form of an etymology.
Etymological theory recognizes that words originate through a limited number of basic mechanisms, the most important of which are the following:
* Borrowing, i.e. the adoption of
loanwords from other languages.
*
Word formation such as
derivation and
compounding.
*
Onomatopoeia and
sound symbolism, i.e. the creation of imitative words.
While the origin of newly emerged words is often more or less transparent, it tends to become obscured through time due to:
*
Sound change: for example, it is not obvious at first sight that English
set is related to
sit (the former is originally a
causative formation of the latter), and even less so that
bless is related to
blood (the former was originally a derivative with the meaning "to mark with blood", or the like).
*
Semantic change: English
bead originally meant "prayer", and acquired its modern sense through the practice of counting prayers with beads.
The combination of sound change and semantic change often creates etymological connections that are impossible to detect by merely looking at the modern word-forms. For instance, English
lord which comes from Old English
hlāf-weard, meaning literally "bread guard". The components of this compound, in turn, yielded modern English
loaf and
ward.
Etymologists apply a number of methods to study the origins of words, some of which are:
*
Philological research. Changes in the form and meaning of the word can be traced with the aid of older texts, if such are available.
* Making use of
dialectological data. The form or meaning of the word might show variation between dialects, which may yield clues of its earlier history.
* The
comparative method. By a systematic comparison of related languages, etymologists can detect which words derive from their common ancestor language and which were instead later borrowed from another language.
* The study of
semantic change. Etymologists often have to make hypotheses about changes of meaning of particular words. Such hypotheses are tested against the general knowledge of semantic shifts. For example, the assumption of a particular change of meaning can be substantiated by showing that the same type of change has occurred in many other languages as well.
Main article: History of the English language
.As a language, English is derived from the
Anglo-Saxon, a
West Germanic variety, although its current vocabulary includes words from many languages. The Anglo-Saxon roots can be seen in the similarity of numbers in
English and
German, particularly
seven/sieben,
eight/acht,
nine/neun and
ten/zehn.
Pronouns are also cognate:
I/ich;
thou/Du;
we/wir;
she/sie. However,
language change has eroded many grammatical elements, such as the
noun case system, which is greatly simplified in Modern English; and certain elements of vocabulary, much of which is borrowed from
French. In fact, more than half of the words in English either come from the
French language or have a French
cognate. However, the most common root words are still of
Germanic origin. For an example of the etymology of an English irregular
verb of Germanic origin, see the etymology of the word
go.
When the
Normans conquered England in
1066 (see
Norman Conquest) they brought their
Norman language with them. During the
Anglo-Norman period which united insular and continental territories, the ruling class spoke
Anglo-Norman, while the peasants spoke the English of the time. Anglo-Norman was the conduit for the introduction of French into England, aided by the circulation of
Langue d'oïl literature from France. This led to many paired words of French and English origin. For example,
beef is cognate with the modern French
b"uf, meaning
cow;
veal with
veau, meaning
calf;
pork with
porc, meaning
pig; and
poultry with
poulet, meaning
chicken. In this situation, the foodstuff has the Norman name, and the animal the Anglo-Saxon name, since it was the Norman rulers who ate meat (meat was an expensive commodity and could rarely be afforded by the Anglo-Saxons), and the Anglo-Saxons who farmed the animals.
English words of more than two syllables are likely to come from French, often with modified terminations. For example, the French words for
syllable,
modified,
terminations and
example are
syllabe,
modifié,
terminaisons and
exemple. In many cases, the English form of the word is more conservative (that is, has changed less) than the French form.
English has proven accommodating to words from many languages. Scientific terminology relies heavily on words of
Latin and
Greek origin.
Spanish has contributed many words, particularly in the southwestern United States. Examples include
buckaroo from
vaquero or "cowboy",
alligator from
el lagarto or "the lizard", and
rodeo.
Cuddle,
eerie and
greed come from
Scots;
honcho,
sushi, and
tsunami from
Japanese;
dim sum,
gung ho,
kowtow,
kumquat, and
typhoon from
Cantonese Chinese;
behemoth from
Hebrew;
taiga,
sable and
sputnik from
Russian; and
lagniappe from American Spanish through American French;
ketchup,
kampong, and
amok from
Malay. See also
loanword.
The search for meaningful origins for familiar or strange words is far older than the modern understanding of linguistic evolution and the relationships of languages, with its roots no deeper than the 18th century. From
Antiquity through the 17th century, from
Pindar to Sir
Thomas Browne, etymology has been a form of witty wordplay, in which the supposed origins of words were devised to satisfy the etymologist's requirements. Analogously, since
Jane Ellen Harrison, one of the recognized functions of myths has been to explain archaic rituals that were no longer comprehensible. In his
Odes Pindar spins complimentary etymologies to flatter his patrons. One of the earliest philosophical texts of the Classical Greek period to deal with etymology was the
Socratic dialogue Cratylus by
Plato. During much of the dialogue,
Socrates makes guesses as to the origins of many words, including the names of the gods.
Plutarch (
Life of Numa Pompilius) spins an etymology for
pontifex ("bridge-builder"):
the priests, called Pontifices... have the name of Pontifices from potens, powerful, because they attend the service of the gods, who have power and command over all. Others make the word refer to exceptions of impossible cases; the priests were to perform all the duties possible to them; if any thing lay beyond their power, the exception was not to be cavilled at. The most common opinion is the most absurd, which derives this word from pons, and assigns the priests the title of bridge-makers. The sacrifices performed on the bridge were amongst the most sacred and ancient, and the keeping and repairing of the bridge attached, like any other public sacred office, to the priesthood.
Plutarch's etymology of "syncretism", involving
Cretans banding together, rather than a parallel to
concrete or
accrete, is uncritically accepted even today (see
Syncretism). Degrading and insulting pseudo-etymologies were a standard weapon of
Jerome's arsenal of sarcasm, and
Isidore of Seville compiled a volume of etymologies, some quite far-fetched, to illuminate the triumph of religion. Each saint's legend in
Jacob de Voragine's
Legenda Aurea begins with an etymological riff on the saint's name:
Lucy is said of light, and light is beauty in beholding, after that S. Ambrose saith: The nature of light is such, she is gracious in beholding, she spreadeth over all without lying down, she passeth in going right without crooking by right long line; and it is without dilation of tarrying, and therefore it is showed the blessed Lucy hath beauty of virginity without any corruption; essence of charity without disordinate love; rightful going and devotion to God, without squaring out of the way; right long line by continual work without negligence of slothful tarrying. In Lucy is said, the way of light. [1].
No desciption of etymology is complete without the mention of the
Sanskrit grammarians of ancient India, who were the first in the world to make such a comprehensive analysis of linguistics, and especially etymology. Indeed, it is only the study of Sanskrit etymology which has provided the Western scholars the basis of
Historical linguistics and modern etymology. Three of the most famous Sanskrit grammarians are:
*
, variously dated around 4th or 6th century BCE.
*
, dated around 2nd century BCE.
*
, dated around 2nd century BCE.
Note that they are not the earliest Sanskrit grammarians; however, they follow the line of more ancient grammarians of Sanskrit going many centuries back in time. The earliest of attested etymologies can be found in the Vedic literature itself " in the philosophical explanations of the
Brahmanas, the
Aranyakas and the
Upanishads.
The analyses of Sanskrit grammar of all the three involve extensive studies on the etymology (called
Nirukta or
Vyutpatti in Sanskrit) of Sanskrit words, because the ancient Indo-Aryans considered sound and speech itself to be sacred, and for them, the words of the sacred
Vedas contained deep encoding of the mystries of the soul and God.
A little later, in the 19th century, the philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche (a
philologist by academic training) used etymological strategies (primarily in
On the Genealogy of Morals) in the attempt to show that moral values have origins, using a form of proto-psychology as a foil against which to justify his claims. Although many of Nietzsche's etymologies are wrong, the strategy has gained popularity in the 20th century, with philosophers such as
Jacques Derrida using etymologies to indicate former meanings of words with view to decentring the "violent hierarchies" of Western
metaphysics.
*
Skeat, Walter W. (2000),
The Concise Dictionary of English Etymology, repr ed., Diane. (ISBN 0788191616)
*
Skeat, Walter W. (1963)
An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, (ISBN 0198631049)
*
C. T. Onions, G. W. S. Friedrichsen, R. W. Burchfield, (1966, reprinted 1992, 1994),
Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, (ISBN 0198611129)
*
Lists of etymologies*
Back-formation*
Cognate*
Company names etymology*
Country names etymology*
Computer terms origins*
English words of international origin*
Etymological dictionary*
False etymology**
Fake etymology**
Folk etymology*
Family name etymology*
False cognate*
False friend*
Given name etymology*
Latin verbs with English derivatives
*
Latin nouns with English derivatives
*
Placename etymology*
Proto-language*
Semantic progression*
Spanish etymology*
Suppletion*
Anatoly Liberman, etymologist and lexicographer
*
Neologism*
Malapropism*
Medical terminologyEnglish words and phrases
*
World Wide Words - online etymology newsletter*
Take Our Word - online etymology magazine**
TOW Bibliography of etymological dictionaries*
The Online Etymology Dictionary - reference*
Merriam-Webster Dictionary - etymology and meanings.*
Word Origins (and phrases) *
Words origins - long single page reference*
OriginTrail - Mediawiki-based site devoted to the study of origins*
The Oxford Etymologist at
The Oxford University Press BlogSpecialist
*
Curiosities of Biological NomenclaturePodcasts
*
Podictionary: the audio word-a-dayOther languages
*
Large Etymological Dictionary of Russian language*
The OOmnik Korneslov project: lexical roots and their derivatives of Russian language*
South Dravidian Etymology
