Etymology

What is it???

• Someone invented every word we know.

• Etymology is the study of a word’s history or origin.

In a dictionary entry, the etymology usually appears just

before the definitions.

If you look up the word corral in a dictionary the etymology that follows looks like this:

[SP< corro, a circle, ring<L currus, cart< currere, to run]

[SP< corro, a circle, ring<L currus, cart< currere, to run]

• This means that corral comes from a Spanish word, corro, meaning “a circle or ring.”

• The Spanish word came from a Latin word, currus, meaning “cart,” which in turn comes from the Latin word currere, meaning “to run.”

• SP = Abbreviation for Spanish• < = “comes from”

How do I make sense of all of the information?

Dictionaries often have a guide in the beginning that explains all language abbreviations and other symbols.

Be careful, though - Not all dictionaries symbols are the same.

Other examples:

The Ancient Greek word hippos means horse, and the word potamus means river. Hence hippopotamus literally means river horse.

Weird, huh???

Oxford English DictionaryOED

• Created in 1857 because an extensive dictionary of the English language did not exist.

• The dictionary traces every word back to its first appearance in the English language.

• The history of some words are gathered from hundreds of years of literature.

More OED fun facts

• This dictionary is constantly revised.

• New words are considered by the OED and some are added to our language each year.

• Recently the OED selected to add the words celebutante, crunk, and hoodie.

• The OED provides extensive etymologies for every word in the English language.

WOW!