etymology

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etymology

(ĕt″ĭ-mŏl′ō-jē) [L. etymon, origin of a word, + logos, word, reason]

The science of the origin and development of words. Most medical words are derived from Latin and Greek, but many of those from Greek have come through Latin and have been modified by it. Generally, when two Greek words are used to form one word, they are connected by the letter “o.” Many medical words have been formed from one or more roots—forms used or adapted from Latin or Greek—and many are modified by a prefix, a suffix, or both. A knowledge of important Latin and Greek roots and prefixes will reveal the meanings of many other words.

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References in periodicals archive ?

Though a slim volume, this book by Dr Sheikh Inayatullah (1901-1977), a professor at Punjab University's Arabic department, gives a very rich and long bibliography, mentioning Arabic, Latin, German, Turkish and Arabic works on etymologies and word histories.

Literary notes: Urdu books on etymologies and word histories

--2006, New and Old Samoyed Etymologies. Part II.--FUF 59, 5-34.

Studies in Uralic etymology III: Mari etymologies

The Etymologies are a vast treasure-trove of Classical learning and information on almost every conceivable subject, loosely organized into twenty thematic chapters.

Henderson, John, The Medieval World of Isidore of Seville: Truth from Words

But there are also many spurious acronymic etymologies presented for new words.

Bacronymic etymythologies

This should explain why there are many dates post-1961 appearing in the definitions and etymologies.

Webster's Third and the 20th century

The Russianist will find here the etymologies of a selection of common words (idti but not ekhat'), including well-known intriguing cases such as sorok, 'forty', derived from 'bag containing 40 sable or squirrel skins', and vokzal 'mainline station', ultimately from the pleasure-gardens at Vauxhall on the Thames (1661-1859).

Russian Etymological Dictionary

Of course, Tooke produces many examples for his etymologies that are political only in the most ordinary sense.

John Horne Tooke and the Grammar of Political Experience

Here I do not wish to criticise specific etymologies per se, since all lexicographers are limited by their sources, and must occasionally be tentative and conjectural.

Lexicography from below. (1)

Breeze, 'Celtic Etymologies for Middle English hurl "rush, thrust" and fisk "hasten"', Leeds Studies in English, xxiv (1993), 123-32; 'Old English cursung "curse'", N&Q, ccxxxviii (1993), 287-9: 'Middle English tirve "strip, flay; overthrow'", ibid., 295-6; 'A Brittonic Etymology for luche "throw" in Patience 230', SELIM, iii (1993), 150-3; 'Celtic Etymologies for Middle English brag "boast", gird "strike", and lethe "soften'", Journal of Celtic Linguistics, iii (1994), 135-48: 'A Celtic Etymology for glaverez "deceives" at Pearl 688', N&Q, ccxl (1995), 160-2.

Torres 'towering clouds' in Pearl and Cleanness

Night is inherently dangerous, as its etymologies in both Greek ([Greek Words Omitted]) and Latin (nox < noceo) indicate.

Virgil, 'Aeneid' 5.835-6

Fulgentius is the author of the Mythologiarum libri iii,containing allegorical interpretations of myths supported by absurd etymologies, and of an Expositio Virgilianae continentiae , in which he makes Virgil himself appear in order to reveal the mystic meaning of the Aeneid.