Not to be confused with
Entomology, the scientific study of insects,
despite similar etymology.
Etymology is the study of the history of words
- when they entered a language, from what source, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.
In languages with a long written history, etymology makes use of philology, the study of
how words change from culture to culture over time. 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 analyzing 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.
Etymology of etymology
The word etymology itself comes from the Greek ἔτυμον (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.
Types of word origins
Etymological theory recognizes that words originate through a limited number of basic mechanisms, the most important of which
are the following:
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.
Most often combinations of etymological mechanisms apply. For example, the German word bitte (please) the German word
beten (to pray) and the Dutch word bidden (to pray) are related through sound and meaning to the english word
bead.
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 comes from Old English hlāf-weard, meaning
literally "bread guard". The components of this compound, in turn, yielded modern English loaf and ward.
Methods of etymology
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.
English etymology
-
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. Though more than
half of the words in English either come from the French language or have a French
cognate, most of the common words used 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 bœuf, 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, ketchup, and typhoon from Cantonese
Chinese; behemoth, hallelujah, Satan, jubilee, and rabbi from Hebrew; taiga, sable and sputnik from Russian; Cornea, algorithm, cotton, hazard, muslin, jar,
sofa and mosque from Arabic; kampong and amok from
Malay; and boondocks from the Tagalog word bundok. See also loanword.
History of etymology
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 Pāṇini to Pindar to Sir Thomas Browne, etymology has been a form of witty wordplay,
in which the supposed origins of words were changed to satisfy contemporary requirements.
Ancient Sanskrit etymology
-
The Sanskrit linguists and grammarians of ancient
India were the first to make a comprehensive analysis of linguistics and etymology. The study of Sanskrit etymology has
provided Western scholars the basis of historical linguistics and modern
etymology. Four of the most famous Sanskrit linguists are:
Though they are not the earliest Sanskrit grammarians, they follow a line of more ancient grammar people of Sanskrit dating
back up to several centuries earlier. The earliest of attested etymologies can be found in Vedic
literature, in the philosophical explanations of the Brahmanas,
Aranyakas and Upanishads.
The analyses of Sanskrit grammar of the previously mentioned linguists 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 mysteries of the
soul and God.
Ancient Greco-Roman etymology
One of the earliest philosophical texts of the Classical Greek period to deal with etymology was the Socratic dialogue Cratylus (c. 360 BC) by
Plato. During much of the dialogue, Socrates makes guesses as to
the origins of many words, including the names of the gods. In his Odes Pindar spins complimentary
etymologies to flatter his patrons. 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.
Medieval etymology
-
Isidore of Seville compiled a volume of etymologies 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].
Modern etymology
A little later, in the 19th century, the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche used
etymological strategies (principally, and most famously, in On the Genealogy of
Morals, but also elsewhere) to argue that moral values have definite historical (specifically cultural) origins where
modulations in meaning regarding certain concepts (such as "good" and "evil") showed how these ideas had changed over time,
according to which value-system appropriated them. 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.
Bibliography
- Skeat, Walter W. (2000), The Concise Dictionary of English Etymology,
repr ed., Diane. (ISBN 0-7881-9161-6)
- Skeat, Walter W. (1963) An Etymological Dictionary of the English
Language, (ISBN 0-19-863104-9)
- C. T. Onions, G. W. S. Friedrichsen, R. W. Burchfield, (1966, reprinted 1992, 1994), Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, (ISBN 0-19-861112-9)
- Liberman, Anatoly (2005) "Word Origins...and How We Know Them: Etymology for
Everyone", (ISBN 0-19-516147-5)
See also
External links
Large-scale online reference sources (English language)
Other reference sources (English language)
Specialist
Podcasts
Other languages
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