Etymology

etymology

e·ty·mo·lo·gy
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Today it means: The scientific study of the origin and evolution of a word's semantic meaning across time, including its constituent morphemes and phonemes. Full definition →

Middle English ethymologie ← Old French ethimologie ← Latin etymologia
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*set-?
  2. Ancient Greekἐτεός (eteós)der.?
  3. Ancient Greekἔτυμος (étumos)
  4. Proto-Indo-European*leǵ-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*lóǵos
  6. Proto-Hellenic*lógos
  7. Ancient Greekλόγος (lógos)
  8. Ancient Greekἐτῠμόλογος (etŭmólogos)
  9. Ancient Greekἐτῠμολογῐ́ᾱ (etŭmologĭ́ā)
  10. Latinetymologia
  11. Old Frenchethimologie
  12. Middle Englishethymologie
  13. English todayetymology

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 or logic of”), from λόγος (lógos, “word; explanation”). By surface analysis, etymo- + -logy.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.