Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics
etymology [Grk étymos ‘true’; logós ‘word’]
The study of the origin, basic meaning, and development of individual words as well as of their relationship to words in different languages of the same origin. In ancient times the search for the original semantic motivation of a word was essentially the search for the essence and origin of the thing denoted by the word, which was believed to be revealed in the original meaning of the word. Diachronic studies in comparative linguistics in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries used the study of etymological relationships to reconstruct a common proto-Indo-European language or as evidence for the relationship of individual languages or words. The existence of lexeme correspondences in different languages was founded on sound laws, processes of word formation and conceptual relationships, historical and sociocultural facts as well as their systematic placement in the given vocabulary. Seebold (1981:316–22) provides a useful list of reference works for individual languages. (
also borrowing, folk etymology, semantic change)
References
Guiraud, P. 1964. L’Etymologie. Paris.
Malkiel, Y. 1993. Etymology. Cambridge.
Pisani, V. 1947. L’etimologia. Brescia.
Seebold, E. 1981. Etymologie: eine Einführung am Beispiel der deutschen Sprache. Munich.
Reference works
English
Holthausen, F. 1927. Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Heidelberg. (Repr. 1963.)
Murray, J. 1898–1936. A new English dictionary on historical principles. Oxford.
Onions, C.T. et al. (eds) 1977. The Oxford dictionary of English etymology. Oxford.
Partridge, E. 1990. Origins: an etymological dictionary of Modern English, 4th edn. London.
Skeat, W.W. 1882. A concise etymological dictionary of the English language. Oxford. (Rev. edn 1976.)
French
Bloch, O. and W.V.Wartburg. 1960. Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française. Paris. (5th edn 1968.)
Dauzat, A., J.Dubois, and H.Mitterand. 1971. Nouveau dictionnaire étymologique et historique. Paris.
Gamillscheg, E. 1928. Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache. Heidelberg. (2nd edn 1969.)
Wartburg, W.V. 1922–. Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Bonn, Basle and Tübingen. (Vol. 25, 1992.)
German
Drosdowski, G. (ed.) 1989. Duden: das Herkunftswörterbuch. Etymologie der deutschen Sprache. Munich. (2nd rev. and exp. edn Mannheim.)
Grimm, J. and W.Grimm. 1854/1954. Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. Leipzig.
(Repr. in 33 vols, Munich, 1984.)
Hirt, H. 1909. Etymologie der neuhochdeutschen Sprache. Munich. (2nd edn 1921.)
Kluge, F. 1883. Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache. Berlin. (22nd rev. edn, ed. E. Seebold, Berlin, 1989.)
Pfeifer, W. (ed.) 1989. Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen. 3 vols. Berlin.
Gothic
Feist, S. 1939. Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd edn. Leiden.
Lehman, W.P. 1986. A Gothic etymological dictionary. Leiden
Schulze, E. 1847. Gotisches Glossar. Magdeburg.
Greek
Chantraine, P. 1968–80. Dictionnaire de la langue grecque: histoire des mots. 4 vols. Paris.
Frisk, H. 1954–72. Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols. Heidelberg.
Indo-European
Buck. C.D. 1949. A dictionary of selected synonyms in the principal Indo-European languages. Chicago, IL.
Pokorny, J. 1948–59. Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2 vols. Bern. (3rd edn Tübin-gen 1994.)
Italian
Cortelazzo, M. and P.Zolli. 1990. Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana. Bologna.
Pfister, M. 1979–. Lessico etimologico italiano. Wiesbaden. (Vol. IV 1994.)
Latin
Alessio.G. 1976. Lexicon etymologicum.Neapel.
Ernout, A. and A.Meillet. 1959. Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine, 4th edn. Paris.
Thesaurus linguae latinae. 1900–58. Leipzig.
Walde, A. and J.B.Hofmann. 1959. Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 4th edn. Heidelberg.
Russian
Vasmer, M. 1953–8. Russisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Heidelberg.
This is the complete article, containing 515 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
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