Word Stories: An Introduction to Etymology

We shouldn't be misled by the etymology of the word "etymology." The term comes to us (by way of Latin and Old French) from a Greek word that means "the true sense of a word." But that's not what "etymology" means today.

As noted in our Introduction to Etymology, the "etymology of a word refers to its origin and historical development: that is, its earliest known use, its transmission from one language to another, and its changes in form and meaning. Etymology is also the term for the branch of linguistics that studies word histories."

And so, because the meanings of words tend to change over time, and older senses of a word may grow uncommon or disappear altogether from everyday use, the etymology of a word is seldom its "true," contemporary meaning. If this were the case, a dream would mean "joy" or "music" (as it did in Old English); an assassin would be "a user of hashish" (its Arabic definition in the 11th century); a fanatic would be someone "inspired by orgiastic rites" or "possessed by a deity" (from the Latin); the devil would be nothing worse than "a slanderer" (from the Greek); and cretin would be a synonym for "Christian" (from the Latin).

So if a word's etymology is not the same as its definition, why should we care at all about word histories? If you're interested in finding out, please visit our Introduction to Etymology: Word Histories.