Definition of etymology

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Definition of etymology

In classical times, with reference to meanings; later, to histories. Classical etymologists, Christian and pagan, based their explanations on allegory and guesswork, lacking historical records as well as the scientific method to analyze them, and the discipline fell into disrepute that lasted a millennium. Flaubert ["Dictionary of Received Ideas"] wrote that the general view was that etymology was "the easiest thing in the world with the help of Latin and a little ingenuity. As a modern branch of linguistic science treating of the origin and evolution of words, from s. As "an account of the particular history of a word" from midc. Related: Etymological ; etymologically. Related: Etymologically. Plural is etymologica. Log in. As practised by Socrates in the Cratylus , etymology involves a claim about the underlying semantic content of the name, what it really means or indicates.

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Commonly Confused: Etymology and Entomology. 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. Entomon means "insect" in Greek, and entomology is the study of bugs. These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'etymology. Send us feedback about these examples. Accessed 2 Mar.

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Definition of etymology

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Read more…. Related: Etymologically. See more words from the same century. Click on the arrows to change the translation direction. The section ends with a brief note on etymology , including one or two pointers to etymological abbreviations and conventions found in dictionaries. Commonly Confused: Etymology and Entomology. Each saint's legend in Jacobus de Varagine 's Legenda Aurea begins with an etymological discourse on the saint's name:. Isidore of Seville 's Etymologiae was an encyclopedic tracing of "first things" that remained uncritically in use in Europe until the sixteenth century. Dictionary Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English. Tools to create your own word lists and quizzes. Articles Related to etymology. Word Lists. Time Traveler.

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The origin of modern historical linguistics is often traced to Sir William Jones , a Welsh philologist living in India , who in observed the genetic relationship between Sanskrit , Greek and Latin. Science Photo Library. Quiz French confusables. Read about the team of authors behind Collins Dictionaries. It claims 75, 'clear and authoritative definitions of words and phrases, with pronunciations and etymologies', plus 6, encyclopedic items and a range of general-knowledge appendices. Palgrave Macmillan. 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. Isidore of Seville 's Etymologiae was an encyclopedic tracing of "first things" that remained uncritically in use in Europe until the sixteenth century. Their etymology alone can tell us a great deal about how thinking is perceived in terms of our interaction with the physical realm. 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. 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.