The meaning of the word etymology - Word и Excel - помощь в работе с программами

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

«Etymologies» redirects here. For the work by Isidore of Seville, see Etymologiae.

Etymology ( ET-im-OL-ə-jee^[1]) is the study of the origin and evolution of a word’s semantic meaning across time, including its constituent morphemes and phonemes.^[2]^[3] It is a subfield of historical linguistics, and draws upon comparative semantics, morphology, semiotics, and phonetics.

For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts, and texts about the language, to gather knowledge about how words were used during earlier periods, how they developed in meaning and form, or when and how they entered the language. Etymologists also apply the methods of comparative linguistics to reconstruct information about forms that are too old for any direct information to be available. 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 in many European languages, for example, can be traced all the way back to the origin of the Indo-European language family.

Even though etymological research originated from the philological tradition, much current etymological research is done on language families where little or no early documentation is available, such as Uralic and Austronesian.

Etymology[edit]

The word etymology derives from the Greek word ἐτυμολογία (etumología), itself from ἔτυμον (étumon), meaning «true sense or sense of a truth», and the suffix -logia, denoting «the study of».^[4]^[5]

The term etymon refers to a word or morpheme (e.g., stem^[6] or root^[7]) from which a later word or morpheme derives. For example, the Latin word candidus, which means «white», is the etymon of English candid. Relationships are often less transparent, however. English place names such as Winchester, Gloucester, Tadcaster share in different modern forms a suffixed etymon that was once meaningful, Latin castrum ‘fort’.

Diagram showing relationships between etymologically related words

Methods[edit]

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 variations between dialects, which may yield clues about its earlier history.
The comparative method. By a systematic comparison of related languages, etymologists may often be able to detect which words derive from their common ancestor language and which were instead later borrowed from another language.
The study of semantic change. Etymologists must often make hypotheses about changes in the 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 may be substantiated by showing that the same type of change has occurred in other languages as well.

Types of word origins[edit]

Etymological theory recognizes that words originate through a limited number of basic mechanisms, the most important of which are language change, borrowing (i.e., the adoption of «loanwords» from other languages); word formation such as derivation and compounding; and onomatopoeia and sound symbolism (i.e., the creation of imitative words such as «click» or «grunt»).

While the origin of newly emerged words is often more or less transparent, it tends to become obscured through time due to sound change or semantic change. Due to sound change, it is not readily obvious that the English word set is related to the word sit (the former is originally a causative formation of the latter). It is even less obvious that bless is related to blood (the former was originally a derivative with the meaning «to mark with blood»).

Semantic change may also occur. For example, the English word bead originally meant «prayer». It acquired its modern meaning through the practice of counting the recitation of prayers by using beads.

History[edit]

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, which began no earlier than the 18th century. From Antiquity through the 17th century, from Pāṇini to Pindar to Sir Thomas Browne, etymology had been a form of witty wordplay, in which the supposed origins of words were creatively imagined to satisfy contemporary requirements; for example, the Greek poet Pindar (born in approximately 522 BCE) employed inventive 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 sixteenth century. Etymologicum genuinum is a grammatical encyclopedia edited at Constantinople in the ninth century, one of several similar Byzantine works. The thirteenth-century Legenda Aurea, as written by Jacobus de Varagine, begins each vita of a saint with a fanciful excursus in the form of an etymology.^[8]

Ancient Sanskrit[edit]

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 with the basis of historical linguistics and modern etymology. Four of the most famous Sanskrit linguists are:

Yaska (c. 6th–5th centuries BCE)
Pāṇini (c. 520–460 BCE)
Kātyāyana (6th-4th centuries BCE)
Patañjali (2nd century BCE)

These linguists were not the earliest Sanskrit grammarians, however. They followed a line of ancient grammarians of Sanskrit who lived several centuries earlier like Sakatayana of whom very little is known. 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 done by the previously mentioned linguists involved extensive studies on the etymology (called Nirukta or Vyutpatti in Sanskrit) of Sanskrit words, because the ancient Indians 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[edit]

One of the earliest philosophical texts of the Classical Greek period to address etymology was the Socratic dialogue Cratylus (c. 360 BCE) 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, while explicitly dismissing the obvious, and actual «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 overall. Others make the word refer to exceptions of impossible cases; the priests were to perform all the duties possible; if anything lays beyond their power, the exception was not to be cavilled. 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.

Medieval[edit]

Isidore of Seville compiled a volume of etymologies to illuminate the triumph of religion. Each saint’s legend in Jacobus de Varagine’s Legenda Aurea begins with an etymological discourse 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.^[9]

Modern era[edit]

Etymology in the modern sense emerged in the late 18th-century European academia, within the context of the wider «Age of Enlightenment,» although preceded by 17th century pioneers such as Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn, Gerardus Vossius, Stephen Skinner, Elisha Coles, and William Wotton. The first known systematic attempt to prove the relationship between two languages on the basis of similarity of grammar and lexicon was made in 1770 by the Hungarian, János Sajnovics, when he attempted to demonstrate the relationship between Sami and Hungarian (work that was later extended to the whole Finno-Ugric language family in 1799 by his fellow countryman, Samuel Gyarmathi).^[10]

The origin of modern historical linguistics is often traced to Sir William Jones, a Welsh philologist living in India, who in 1782 observed the genetic relationship between Sanskrit, Greek and Latin. Jones published his The Sanscrit Language in 1786, laying the foundation for the field of Indo-European linguistics.^[11]

The study of etymology in Germanic philology was introduced by Rasmus Christian Rask in the early 19th century and elevated to a high standard with the German Dictionary of the Brothers Grimm. The successes of the comparative approach culminated in the Neogrammarian school of the late 19th century. Still in the 19th century, German 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») show how these ideas had changed over time—according to which value-system appropriated them. This strategy gained popularity in the 20th century, and philosophers, such as Jacques Derrida, have used etymologies to indicate former meanings of words to de-center the «violent hierarchies» of Western philosophy.

Notable etymologists[edit]

Ernest Klein (1899-1983), Hungarian-born Romanian-Canadian linguist, etymologist
Marko Snoj (born 1959), Indo-Europeanist, Slavist, Albanologist, lexicographer, and etymologist
Anatoly Liberman (born 1937), linguist, medievalist, etymologist, poet, translator of poetry and literary critic
Michael Quinion (born c. 1943)

Notes[edit]

^ The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) ISBN 0-19-861263-X – p. 633 «Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time».
^ Etymology: The history of a word or word element, including its origins and derivation
^ «Etymology». www.etymonline.com.
^ Harper, Douglas. «etymology». Online Etymology Dictionary.
^ ἐτυμολογία, ἔτυμον. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
^ According to Ghil’ad Zuckermann, the ultimate etymon of the English word machine is the Proto-Indo-European stem *māgh «be able to», see p. 174, Zuckermann, Ghil’ad (2003). Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1403917232.
^ According to Ghil’ad Zuckermann, the co-etymon of the Israeli word glida «ice cream» is the Hebrew root gld «clot», see p. 132, Zuckermann, Ghil’ad (2003). Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1403917232.
^ Jacobus; Tracy, Larissa (2003). Women of the Gilte Legende: A Selection of Middle English Saints Lives. DS Brewer. ISBN 9780859917711.
^ «Medieval Sourcebook: The Golden Legend: Volume 2 (full text)».
^ Szemerényi 1996:6
^ LIBRARY, SHEILA TERRY/SCIENCE PHOTO. «Sir William Jones, British philologist — Stock Image — H410/0115». Science Photo Library.

References[edit]

Alfred Bammesberger. English Etymology. Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1984.
Philip Durkin. «Etymology», in Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd edn. Ed. Keith Brown. Vol. 4. Oxford: Elsevier, 2006, pp. 260–7.
Philip Durkin. The Oxford Guide to Etymology. Oxford/NY: Oxford University Press, 2009.
William B. Lockwood. An Informal Introduction to English Etymology. Montreux, London: Minerva Press, 1995.
Yakov Malkiel. Etymology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Alan S. C. Ross. Etymology, with a special reference to English. Fair Lawn, N.J.: Essential Books; London: Deutsch, 1958.
Michael Samuels. Linguistic Evolution: With Special Reference to English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972.
Bo Svensén. «Etymology», chap. 19 of A Handbook of Lexicography: The Theory and Practice of Dictionary-Making. Cambridge/NY: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Walther von Wartburg. Problems and Methods in Linguistics, rev. edn. with the collaboration of Stephen Ullmann. Trans. Joyce M. H. Reid. Oxford: Blackwell, 1969.

External links[edit]

Look up etymology in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Media related to Etymology at Wikimedia Commons
Etymology at Curlie.
List of etymologies of words in 90+ languages.
Online Etymology Dictionary.

Источник

Definition & Examples
When & How to Use Etymology
Quiz

I. What is Etymology?

Etymology is not a rhetorical or literary device. “Etymology is the investigation of word histories.” Every word in every language has a unique origin and history; words can be born in many ways, and often their histories are quite adventurous and informative. Etymology investigates and documents the lives (mainly the origins) of words.

The etymology of a word may include many things. A word’s birthday is usually given as the date of the first known usage of the word in print. If a word, like “selfie” was created within historical times, it’s origin is described. Most words are developed over hundreds of years out of previous words, going back into the ancient past, so an etymology tries to trace that development back as far as it can, usually ending with the oldest dead language that we actually have records of. Most words had slightly or very different meanings in the ancient languages they came from, which is documented as well.

Etymologies can be simple or complex. Much like the lives of people, it depends upon how much a word has traveled and what adventures it has had. Here are examples of each:

Example 1

The etymology of the word ‘etymology’ is complex, as follows:

ethimolegia “facts of the origin and development of a word,”
from Old French etimologie, ethimologie (14c., Modern French étymologie)
from Greek etymologia “analysis of a word to find its true origin,” properly “study of the true sense (of a word)”

Example 2

The etymology of “show-and-tell” is much more simple:

show-and-tell (n.) elementary school teaching tool, 1948, American English.

III. Types of Etymology

Words are born and develop in many ways.

Many words begin with ‘roots’; a root’ is the central piece of most words, the part of the word that carries most of the meaning.

Example

The root of ‘English’ is ‘Engl’ which came from the ancient Germanic tribe, the Angles, who spoke a language that later became English. The -ish is just a suffix, that means “language of” in this case.

There are 1,000’s of word-roots in English (or any language). About half of English word-roots come from ancient Germanic languages, because those languages evolved into English, however the other half of English word-roots come from ancient Latin and French because England was conquered by the Norman French 1,000 years ago and English speakers had to learn most of their vocabulary, which became part of English. Contrary to what a lot of people think, though, English is not descended from Latin. It’s just that most of our more educated-sounding words were borrowed from Norman French, Latin, or Greek, because they were high-status languages.

As they grow, words can change physically and they can change in meaning. They can also give birth to new words or be adopted from far places and foreign languages. In an etymology, you will find the origins of a word and see when, where and why these changes took place.

Words develop through many processes. Here are four of the most general processes:

a. Modifications

Once people begin to use a word, they may change it, perhaps to make it easier to say, or to make it sound more different from other words, or other reasons. They may also form new words by modifying old words. ‘Selfie’ is a good example.

b. Semantic Changes

The meanings of words can change over time.

Metaphors: Technology gives us many new words through metaphor such as keyboard, mouse, and desktop.

Euphemisms: what is socially acceptable changes and then, words must, too.

Housecleaner instead of maid.
Server instead of waiter or waitress

Functional shift: how words get new parts of speech.

A soldier > to soldier on
A load > to upload
To drive > a drive

Generalization: extending the particular to the general.

Fanatic (religious zealot) to sports fanatic

Semantic shift: word meanings slide in meaning, as in . . .

Mood comes from Old English mod, which meant mind or spirit
Dream in Old English meant a festive atmosphere

c. Generation

As words are used, subtle differences become permanent changes and even new words, themselves:

Baby talk: Jammies, bye-bye, tummy
Blends or ‘portmanteau’ words: Spanglish, labradoodle
Coinages (purposely invented words): Workaholic, blog
Combining forms: Mini, clipped from miniature and added to everything: minicomputer, minivan
Compounding: Do and Undo
Eponyms (words named after people): Alzheimer’s disease
Nonsense words: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, jabberwocky
Onomatopoeia (words that sound like their meaning): Slam, crack, bump
Phrasal verbs (getting by, down, in, off, on, over, and out): Tune in, clean up, buzz off
Prefixing and suffixing: Pre-heat, legal-ize, re-educate-ion
Reduplication (the doubling of a syllable or word element to strengthen or emphasize meaning): Flip-flop

d. Borrowing

Words are frequently adopted from foreign languages, usually with some changes in their sound:

Many borrowed words are names of things or foods that have been brought into our culture from another: bar mitzvah, feng shui, yoga, taco, sushi.
There are also many words which you would not realize come from foreign cultures, such as slogan (Gaelic), coyote (Nahuatl), and avatar (Sanskrit)

IV. The Importance of Using Etymology

Etymology is important because by knowing it you can become a better wordsmith. If you understand where your words came from, you understand them better and may be able to sue them more effectively, precisely and beautifully. Knowing etymology will also often help you know the meanings of words you have never seen before. If you look at two people who are related, you can see their similar features and their family tree becomes obvious. In the same way, if you are familiar with word roots and know the etymologies of some words, you can infer the meanings of other words. In this way, your vocabulary can begin to grow on its own.

V. Examples of Etymology in Literature

This section might be more accurately entitled, “etymologists in literature.” The great literary writers created much of our language.

Example 1

No one has had quite the same influence on the English language as the playwright and poet William Shakespeare. His works are extensive examples of etymology at work. If you do a quick internet search, you will find pages and pages of websites devoted to words he created or adapted to more interesting purposes. It is said that he invented over 4,000 words! He could only do this by understanding the words he was borrowing from. By manipulating old words to new purposes and situations, he was able to creatively entertain his audiences in continually new ways. Here are just a few of the words he is credited with inventing:

assassination
bedroom
courtship
epileptic
fashionable
hob-nob
luggage
puking

Example 2

J.R.R. Tolkien was another of our language’s great etymologists. He is best known as the author of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit, but he was also a professor of linguistics and he used his knowledge of linguistics in a very different way from Shakespeare—to create realistic fictional languages, names, poetry, and cultures; much of them were closely based on Old English and Old Norse. He also worked on the staff of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Those are only a few examples. If you look at the works of any great author, you will find that they are masters of their language.

VI. Examples of Etymology in Popular Culture

Example 1

Journalism is a huge part of our popular culture, and the best journalists are excellent etymologists. They must understand both culture and language to do their jobs effectively. They must be able to communicate with people in all areas of society and make themselves understood.

Example 2

The technological field is one of the greatest fields for etymological development. New words are being invented every day to keep up with changing technology and its uses. Simply think of your computer and you will think of many new words and new ways words are being used: microchip, data processor, iPod, metadata, bandwidth, defrag, interface.

Example 3

Acronyms are one way that words are invented, which is incredibly popular in current culture. It seems that just about everything has to be shortened to fit into a text message or a two-second sound-bite: LOL, ROFL, OMG. In addition, every institution has its own acronym: UCLA, DOD, FDA. This trend is important to etymology because things that start out as acronyms often become normal words. The words scuba, laser, radar, awol and zip (zip code) are all acronyms that have been accepted as words. Here we can see etymology hard at work.

VII. Related Terms

There are a myriad of terms related to etymology. Go back to section III of this article and you will find an extensive list of them. But, in order to be thorough, here are a few more:

Linguistics – “the scientific study of language”
Lexicostatistics – “the statistical study of the vocabulary of a language, with special attention to the historical links with other languages”
Derivation – “the process whereby new words are formed from existing words or bases by affixation; “’singer’ from ‘sing’ or ‘undo’ from ‘do’ are examples of derivations”
Folk etymology – “change in the form of a words or phrase resulting from a mistaken assumption about its composition or meaning.” For example, cockroach did not come from cock+roach, but rather from the Spanish cucaracha.

Источник

: the history of a linguistic form (such as a word) shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found, by tracing its transmission from one language to another, by analyzing it into its component parts, by identifying its cognates in other languages, or by tracing it and its cognates to a common ancestral form in an ancestral language

Did you know?

The etymology of etymology itself is relatively straightforward. Etymon means «origin of a word» in Latin, and comes from the Greek word etymon, meaning «literal meaning of a word according to its origin.» Greek etymon in turn comes from etymos, which means «true.» Be careful not to confuse etymology with the similar-sounding entomology. Entomon means «insect» in Greek, and entomology is the study of bugs.

Example Sentences

Visible just beneath the entries are tantalizing glimpses of the lexicographer’s craft: scouring periodicals for fresh coinages, poring over competing dictionaries in search of elusive etymologies and hounding writers and scholars in the service of … «ear candy» or plain old «duh.»

—Margalit Fox, New York Times Book Review, 18 June 1995

Professionals have always tried to seal the borders of their trade and to snipe at any outsider with a pretense to amateur enthusiasm (although amateurs who truly love their subject, as the etymology of their status proclaims, often acquire far more expertise than the average time-clock-punching breadwinner).

—Stephen Jay Gould, Natural History, February 1991

True etymology, if there is such a thing, seeks to displace our attention back in time, to roots, whereas the «popular» variety tries to update words, to familiarize them where the so-called science estranges them.

—Walter Redfern, Puns, 1984

Several different etymologies have been proposed.

Recent Examples on the Web

In many European languages, the connections are harder to discern, having become hidden in the words’ etymologies.

—Melissa Mohr, The Christian Science Monitor, 3 Apr. 2023

Though the concept has its own (dystopian) etymology and internal literary meaning, as The New Yorker’s Kyle Chayka explored last year, the word has been mercilessly whipped into unrecognizability in the hands of contemporary technological hype.

—Vulture, 19 Jan. 2022

The phrase’s morbid etymology was obvious enough.

—Jeff Winkler, The Atlantic, 30 Dec. 2020

First, a little etymology.

—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 17 Jan. 2011

Drag is one of those terms whose etymology is tough to discern.

—Kevin Fisher-paulson, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 Mar. 2023

For days, the prosecution and defense dueled over the etymology of those seven words, at one point even debating the legacy of Malcolm X, the famed US civil rights leader .

—Mary Hui, Quartz, 28 July 2021

Strabo may have listened to people’s stories, done a bit of etymology, and started writing.

—Valerie Ross, Discover Magazine, 7 June 2011

While the etymology of this classic cake’s name might be slightly confusing, there’s nothing head-scratching about its flavor.

—Lauren Hubbard, Town & Country, 31 Jan. 2023

See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘etymology.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English ethimologie, from Anglo-French, from Latin etymologia, from Greek, from etymon + -logia -logy

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of etymology was
in the 14th century

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!

Dictionary Entries Near etymology

Cite this Entry

“Etymology.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/etymology. Accessed 14 Apr. 2023.

More from Merriam-Webster on etymology

Last Updated:
13 Apr 2023
— Updated example sentences

Subscribe to America’s largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Merriam-Webster unabridged

Источник

For etymology on Wiktionary, see Wiktionary:Etymology.

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English ethymologie, from Old French ethimologie, from Latin etymologia, from Ancient Greek ἐτυμολογία (etumología), from ἔτυμον (étumon, “true sense”) and -λογία (-logía, “study of”), from λόγος (lógos, “word; explanation”).

Pronunciation[edit]

(Received Pronunciation) enPR: ĕt’ĭ-mŏlʹə-jē; IPA^(key): /ˌɛt.ɪˈmɒl.ə.d͡ʒi/
(General American) enPR: ĕt’ə-mŏlʹə-jē; IPA^(key): /ˌɛt.əˈmɑl.ə.d͡ʒi/
Hyphenation: e‧ty‧mo‧lo‧gy
Rhymes: -ɒlədʒi

Noun[edit]

etymology (countable and uncountable, plural etymologies)

(uncountable, linguistics) The study of the historical development of languages, particularly as manifested in individual words.
(countable) The origin and historical development of a word; the derivation.
- 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎^[1], page 13:
  
  The etymology of the term Japlish is disputed and contentiously so.
Although written the same, the words lead (the metal) and lead (the verb) have totally different etymologies.
(countable) An account of the origin and historical development of a word as presented in a dictionary or the like.
(countable) The direct origin of a name, as in who someone was named after.
- 1996, The Rock:
  
  I’m sure you know the etymology of your name, Goodspeed.

Usage notes[edit]

Not to be confused with entomology (“the study of insects”) or etiology (“the study of causes or origins”).
Not to be confused with the origin of the object or person the word refers to.

Hyponyms[edit]

onomastics

Derived terms[edit]

etymological
folk etymology
global etymology
popular etymology
pseudoetymology
surface etymology

[edit]

etymologist
etymologize
etymon

Translations[edit]

study of the historical development of languages, particularly of individual words

Albanian: etimologji (sq) f
Arabic: تَأْثِيل‎ m (taʔṯīl)
Aragonese: etimolochía f
Armenian: ստուգաբանություն (hy) (stugabanutʿyun)
Aromanian: etimulughii (roa-rup) f
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܐܵܛܘܿܡܘܿܠܘܿܓ݂ܝܼܵܐ‎ f (āṭomoloḡīyā), ܡܲܒܗܘܼܬ ܡܸܠܹ̈ܐ‎ f (mabhut millē)
Asturian: etimoloxía (ast) f
Azerbaijani: etimologiya (az)
Basque: etimologia
Belarusian: этымало́гія f (etymalóhija), этымалёгія f (etymaljóhija) (taraškievica)
Bengali: শব্দতত্ত্ব (śobdotottto)
Breton: etimologiezh f
Bulgarian: етимоло́гия (bg) f (etimológija)
Burmese: ဗျုပ္ပတ် (my) (byuppat)
Catalan: etimologia (ca) f
Chinese:

Cantonese: 語源學／语源学 (jyu⁵ jyun⁴ hok⁶)

Mandarin: 語源學／语源学 (zh) (yǔyuánxué),词源学 (zh) (cíyuánxué)
Corsican: etimulugia (co) f
Czech: etymologie (cs) f
Danish: etymologi (da) c
Dutch: etymologie (nl) f, woordherkomst (nl) f
Esperanto: etimologio
Estonian: etümoloogia (et)
Faroese: orðaupprunafrøði f
Finnish: etymologia (fi)
French: étymologie (fr) f
Galician: etimoloxía (gl) f
Georgian: ეტიმოლოგია (ka) (eṭimologia)
German: Etymologie (de) f
Greek: ετυμολογία (el) f (etymología)

Ancient: ἐτυμολογία f (etumología)
Hebrew: אֵטִימוֹלוֹגְיָה‎ (he) f (etimológya)
Hindi: व्युत्पत्ति f (vyutpatti), व्युत्पत्तिशास्त्र m (vyutpattiśāstra)
Hungarian: etimológia (hu), szófejtés (hu), szótörténet (hu)
Icelandic: orðsifjafræði (is) f
Ido: etimologio (io)
Indonesian: etimologi (id)
Interlingua: etymologia (ia)
Irish: sanasaíocht f
Italian: etimologia (it) f
Japanese: 語源学 (ja) (ごげんがく, gogengaku)
Kannada: ಪದದ ಹಿನ್ನೆಲೆ (kn) (padada hinnele)
Kazakh: этимология (étimologiä)
Khmer: និរុត្តិសាស្ត្រ (niruttesaah)
Korean: 어원학(語源學) (ko) (eowonhak), 어원(語源) (ko) (eowon)
Kurdish:

Northern Kurdish: bêjenasî (ku) f
Kyrgyz: этимология (ky) (etimologiya)
Latin: etymologia f
Latvian: etimoloģija (lv) f
Lithuanian: etimologija (lt)
Luxembourgish: Etymologie pl
Macedonian: етимоло́гија f (etimológija)
Malay: etimologi (ms)
Malayalam: നിരുക്തം (ml) (niruktaṃ)
Maltese: etimoloġija (mt) f
Marathi: व्युत्पत्तीशास्त्र n (vyutpattīśāstra)
Mongolian:

Cyrillic: этимологи (etimologi)
Navajo: bizhiʼígíí
Norwegian:

Bokmål: etymologi (no) m

Nynorsk: etymologi m
Occitan: etimologia (oc) f
Pashto: اشتقاق پوهنه‎ f (ešteqãqрohǝ́na), فقه اللغت‎ f (fiqolluǧát), ګړيستنه‎ f (gǝṛyastǝ́na)
Persian: ریشه‌شناسی‎ (fa) (riše-šenâsi), واژه‌پژوهی‎ (vâže-pažuhi), علم اشتقاق‎ (‘elm-e ešteqâq), اتیمولوژی‎ (fa) (etimoloži)
Polish: etymologia (pl) f, źródłosłów (pl)
Portuguese: etimologia (pt) f
Romanian: etimologie (ro) f
Russian: этимоло́гия (ru) f (etimológija)
Sanskrit: व्युत्पत्ति (sa) f (vyutpatti)
Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic: етимологија f

Roman: etimologija (sh) f
Sicilian: etimoluggìa (scn) f
Sinhalese: නිරුක්ති විද්‍යාව (nirukti widyāwa)
Slovak: etymológia (sk) f
Slovene: etimologija (sl) f
Spanish: etimología (es) f
Swahili: etimolojia
Swedish: etymologi (sv) c
Tagalog: palamuhatan, panuysuyan, etimolohiya (tl)
Tajik: этимология (tg) (etimologiya)
Tamil: சொற்பிறப்பியல் (ta) (coṟpiṟappiyal)
Telugu: వ్యుత్పత్తి (te) (vyutpatti)
Thai: ศัพทมูลวิทยา (sàp-tá-muun-wít-tá-yaa)
Tigrinya: ፍልቀተ-ቃል (fəlḳätä-ḳal)
Turkish: köken bilimi (tr), etimoloji (tr)
Turkmen: etimologiýa
Ukrainian: етимоло́гія (uk) f (etymolóhija)
Uyghur: ئېتمولوگىيە‎ (ëtmologiye)
Uzbek: etimologiya (uz)
Vietnamese: từ nguyên học (vi) (詞源學), từ nguyên (vi) (詞源)
Volapük: tümolog (vo)
Welsh: geirdarddiad (cy) m, geirdarddeg f
Yiddish: עטימאָלאָגיע‎ (yi) f (etimologye)
Yoruba: ìmọ̀ orírun-ọ̀rọ̀, ẹ̀kọ́ orírun-ọ̀rọ̀

account of the origin and historical development of a word

Arabic: إِشْتِقَاق‎ m (ʔištiqāq), تَأْثِيل‎ m (taʔṯīl)
Armenian: ստուգաբանություն (hy) (stugabanutʿyun)
Breton: etimologiezh f
Bulgarian: етимоло́гия (bg) f (etimológija)
Burmese: ဗျုပ္ပတ် (my) (byuppat)
Catalan: etimologia (ca) f
Chinese:

Mandarin: 詞源／词源 (zh) (cíyuán), 語源／语源 (zh) (yǔyuán), 字源 (zh) (zìyuán),词根 (zh) (cígēn)
Corsican: etimulugia (co) f
Czech: etymologie (cs) f
Danish: etymologi (da) c
Dutch: etymologie (nl) f
Esperanto: etimo, vortodeveno
Estonian: etümoloogia (et)
Finnish: etymologia (fi)
French: étymologie (fr) f
Galician: etimoloxía (gl) f
Georgian: ეტიმოლოგია (ka) (eṭimologia)
German: Etymologie (de) f, Herkunft (de) f, Wortherkunft f
Greek: ετυμολογία (el) f (etymología)

Ancient: ἐτυμολογία f (etumología)
Hebrew: גיזרון גִּזָּרוֹן‎ (he) m (gizarón)
Hungarian: etimológia (hu), szófejtés (hu), származás (hu), eredet (hu), szóeredet, eredeztetés
Icelandic: orðsifjar f pl
Irish: sanasaíocht f
Italian: etimologia (it) f
Japanese: 語源 (ja) (ごげん, gogen)
Khmer: មូលសព្ទ (muullaʼsap), ដើមកំណើតពាក្យ (daəm kɑmnaət piək)
Korean: 어원(語源) (ko) (eowon)
Latin: etymologia f
Latvian: etimoloģija (lv) f
Luxembourgish: Etymologie n
Macedonian: етимологија f (etimologija)
Malayalam: പദോൽപ്പത്തി (ml) (padōlppatti)
Manx: bun-ocklaght f
Marathi: व्युत्पत्ती f (vyutpattī)
Norwegian:

Bokmål: etymologi (no) m

Nynorsk: etymologi m
Occitan: etimologia (oc) f
Pashto: اشتقاق‎ (ps) m (ešteqãq)
Persian: ریشه‌شناسی‎ (fa) (riše-šenâsi), واژه‌پژوهی‎ (vâže-pažuhi), علم اشتقاق‎ (‘elm-e ešteqâq), اتیمولوژی‎ (fa) (etimoloži), اشتقاق‎ (fa) (ešteqâq)
Polish: etymologia (pl) f, źródłosłów (pl) m inan
Portuguese: etimologia (pt) f
Romanian: etimologie (ro) f
Russian: этимоло́гия (ru) f (etimológija)
Sanskrit: व्युत्तपत्ति f (vyuttapatti)
Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic: етимологија f

Roman: etimologija (sh) f
Slovak: etymológia (sk) f
Slovene: etimologija (sl) f
Spanish: etimología (es) f
Swedish: etymologi (sv) c
Tagalog: etimolohiya (tl)
Tajik: иштиқоқ (ištiqoq), этимология (tg) (etimologiya)
Tamil: சொற்பிறப்பியல் (ta) (coṟpiṟappiyal)
Thai: ศัพทมูล (sàp-tá-muun), รากศัพท์ (th) (râak-sàp)
Turkish: köken bilimi (tr), etimoloji (tr), köken bilgisi
Ukrainian: етимоло́гія (uk) f (etymolóhija)
Venetian: etimoƚoxìa (vec) f
Vietnamese: từ nguyên (vi) (詞源)
Welsh: tarddiad (cy) m
Wolof: gongikubaat (wo)
Yoruba: orírun-ọ̀rọ̀

Translations to be checked

Afrikaans: ^{(please verify)} etimologie (af)
Estonian: ^{(please verify)} etümoloogia (et)
Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} etimologi (id)
Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} etymologia (ia)
Latin: ^{(please verify)} etymologia f
Sindhi: ^{(please verify)} بُڻڀياسُ‎ m (buṇ bhiyāsu)

References[edit]

“etymology”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
“etymology”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
«etymology» in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.

Источник

13 —
Etymology. What
makes it important for contemporary lexicology? The role and place of
borrowings in English word-stock.

Etymology
(Gr) — etymon («true science») + legein («speak»)

Etymology is the branch of Lexicology which studies the source of
borrowing and the origin of Ws, the processes of adopting new Ws.

Motivation for studying etymology: the memory can not be overloaded
with Ws, you may learn by associations.

The etymology of a word refers
to its origin and the historical roots of the term as a linguistic
form. Etymology, in general, is the theory and study of the origins
and history of linguistic form., it’s a science of true sense of a
w, studies the origin, history and changes in the meaning of the
word.

Studies the following
problems:

1) native ws and borrowings

2)
assimilation& its types and degrees

3) ways of enriching E
w-stock.

English
wordstock is rich and of mixed character: 70% of words are
borrowings!

e.g.
money < OFr monei < Latin. moneta

Chronological
periods of English:

—
Old English 5-11 c AD (Anglo-Saxon)

—
Middle English 1066 (The Norman conquest)* — 15 c AD

—
The New English (1475) — Modern English

According
to origin all the words are divided into 2 sets: native and borrowed.

Native
words fall into 3 layrs:

1)
wors of Indo-European stock have cognates (words of the same origin)
in different Indo-European languages

e.g.
members of family (mother, brother, son, daughter), parts of body
(arm, eye, foot, heart), periods of time (night, day), animals (cat,
wolf, goose), numerals.

2)
words of Germanic origin have parallels in German, Norwegian, Sweish,
Dutch, Icelandic… (cow, horse, fox, winter, summer, shop, iron,
deep, good, green..)

3)
words of Anglo-Saxon origin (later than the 5th century AD) have NO
cognates: bird (OE bridd), dog (OE dogca), boy, girl, daisy, lord,
lady, always.

These
are basic words in English, most frequent: 80% (be, have, i, you,
she, should..)

BORROWING
is the process and result of adopting words, word-groups and parts of
words always within the words

Borrowings can be classified according to different criteria:

a) according to the aspect which is borrowed,

b) according to the degree of assimilation,

c) according to the language from which the word was borrowed.

English
is called the recipient language as it «receives» the word
the «giving» language is sourse.

paper
(E) < papier (Fr.) < papyrus (Lat.) < papyros (Gr.) The
sourse of borrowing is French. The origin is Greek.

Loan
translations — words and expressions formed in the recepient language
acc to the pattern of the sourse:

mother
tongue < lingua materna (Lat)

sweet
life < dolce vita (It)

hand-to-hand
< mano a mano (Sp)

WHY
ARE WORDS BORROWED?

1)
to fill the gaps in the vocabulary (butter, plum, beet, karaoki,
sushi)

2)
to show a new shade of meaning > synonyms: love, like + admire,
adore (Fr)

3)
blind borrowings (no one knows why)

WHAT
HAPPENS TO BORROWINGS?

Assimilation

the
adaptation of borrowed words to the new linguistic environment

It
is determined by 3 factors:

1)
the nature of contacts

2)
the time of adoption

3)
the degree of genetic proximity

Type
of assimilation:

—
complete (perfectly assimilated)

—
partial

(name
objects which dont exist)

(not
assimilated grammatically: datum-data, nucleus — nucleai)

(not
assimilated phonetically: garage-party)

(not
graphically assimilated: cafe, queue, picturesque)

—
Barbarisms (not assimilated at all): curriculum vitae (Lat), carte
blanche (Fr), siloviki (R), ciao (It)

English continues to take in foreign words , but now the quantity of
borrowings is not so abundunt as it was before. All the more so,
English now has become a «giving» language, it has become Lingva
franca of the twentieth century.

Источник

Etymology[edit]

Methods[edit]

Types of word origins[edit]

History[edit]

Ancient Sanskrit[edit]

Ancient Greco-Roman[edit]

Medieval[edit]

Modern era[edit]

Notable etymologists[edit]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

I. What is Etymology?

Example 1

Example 2

III. Types of Etymology

Example

a. Modifications

b. Semantic Changes

c. Generation

d. Borrowing

IV. The Importance of Using Etymology

V. Examples of Etymology in Literature

Example 1

Example 2

VI. Examples of Etymology in Popular Culture

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

VII. Related Terms

Did you know?

Example Sentences

Word History

Podcast

Dictionary Entries Near etymology

Cite this Entry

Share

More from Merriam-Webster on etymology

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

Usage notes[edit]

Hyponyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

[edit]

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]