Catalog / Etymology Tools Cheatsheet
Etymology Tools Cheatsheet
A quick reference guide to etymology tools and resources for tracing word origins and meanings. This cheatsheet covers online dictionaries, databases, and linguistic resources useful for etymological research.
Online Etymology Dictionaries
General Etymology Resources
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Online Etymology Dictionary |
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Wiktionary |
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The American Heritage Dictionary |
Specialized Etymology Resources
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Middle English Dictionary |
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Oxford English Dictionary (OED) |
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Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) |
Linguistic Databases & Tools
Proto-Language Databases
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Indo-European Etymological Dictionary (IEED) |
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Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database (ABVD) |
Comparative Linguistics Tools
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ASJP Database |
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Glottolog |
Etymological Analysis Techniques
Sound Correspondences
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Definition: Systematic relationships between sounds in related languages that indicate common ancestry. Example: Grimm’s Law, which describes sound shifts in Germanic languages compared to Proto-Indo-European. |
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Application: Identifying cognates (words with a common origin) by observing regular sound changes. |
Semantic Change
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Definition: The evolution of a word’s meaning over time. Types: Broadening, narrowing, amelioration, pejoration, metaphor, metonymy. |
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Example: ‘Nice’ originally meant ‘foolish’ but now means ‘pleasant’. |
Reconstruction
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Definition: The process of inferring the form of an ancestral word or language based on its descendants. |
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Method: Comparing cognates in related languages and applying sound correspondences to reconstruct the proto-form. |
Additional Resources
Academic Journals
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Journals specializing in linguistics and etymology often contain in-depth research and analysis. |
Online Communities
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Platforms like Stack Exchange (Linguistics) and Reddit (r/etymology, r/linguistics) can provide valuable insights and discussions. |
Books
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An Introduction to English Etymology by Gerald L. Cohen |