Talk:Etymology

etymon

[etymon] redirects here but this page nowhere gives the meaning of the word etymon. Should this redirect be removed, or something added here? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.172.19.20 (talk) 15:00, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

See section: Etymology_of_etymology. The Cat and the Owl (talk) 19:37, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

The history of a word is one thing and the etymology of a word is another thing. The etymology of a word, unlike the history of it, breaks the word down into syllables and the syllables into elements and tries by this method to bring into light the true meaning of the word. (true meaning = etymon in Greek).--Nestanaios 11:01, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

I'm afraid you're mistaken. Yes, etymon means something like "true sense" in Greek, but here we come upon an important point about etymology: meanings change, and the origin of a word may be only very indirectly related to how it's used now. Etymology is not, in spite of its etymology, about finding the true meanings of words (whatever that would even be); it's about tracing the history of words. garik (talk) 12:41, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

names(nouns) are made out of syllables and syllables are made out of elements(letters). This is what I am saying. The process is called etymology. History is another thing. Historical names(nouns,words) if they are examined etymologicly, could be well synthesised (composed) or could not be well synthesised. Those that are well synthesised live longer than those that are not well synthesised. All theese things are well known for thousands of years in the Greek grammar. It is true that the true meaning of a word is related indirectly or partially directly with what it means now. When the word stops having some relation with the true meaning, then it dies.--Nestanaios 04:04, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

Etumon actually means "ready", as in a ready-meal. The point is metaphorical, in that you find all ready all the components in order to construct the complete meaning. If anyone else agrees I'd like to change this, as it is clearly a word that means precisely the same thing both in classical (OK, not ready-meals as such but you get the point) and modern GreekEugene-elgato (talk) 11:22, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

Do you have a reliable source for that? You may be thinking of etoimon, which I believe means "ready" in both modern and ancient Greek. Every source I've seen gives "true" as a translation of Classical Greek etymos. Take, for example, the OED. I think you'll need a good source to contradict that. garik (talk) 13:40, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

Excellent; you're actually right. Pardon me. Eugene-elgato (talk) 19:42, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

commas

I know this is really minor but the commas were a little messed up in this article and I just wanted to make sure this was right before I changed it and possibly got accused of vandalism. Am I correct in saying that no matter what, the comma comes before the close quotes? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Band geek13 (talk • contribs) 02:28, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Nazi???

"the Nazi word bitte (please) the Nazi word beten (to pray) and the Dutch word bidden (to pray) are related through sound and meaning to the English word bead." That doesn't quite seem neutral... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.123.68.154 (talk) 17:48, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Kamasutra?

Why is this in the "See Also" section? I see no reference to etymology in that article, nor any reference to it in this one. Vandalism at some point in the distant past? — Hiddekel (talk) 17:24, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Good call, Hiddekel! It's been there for 5 years or more, but there's surely no way it's relevant here! Bjenks (talk) 15:51, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

PRONOUNCIATION OF THE WORD "ETYMOLOGY"

I WENT ON HERE TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO PRONOUNCE IT SINCE I READ IT BUT NEVER HEARD THAT WORD IN REAL LIFE ADD IT. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.186.100.173 (talk) 02:35, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

If you continue to post requests in this manner, you will be blocked. But it's reasonable to include a pronunciation guide, so I've added one. garik (talk) 09:52, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

socio-cultural analysis as a methodology

this seems to be missing entirely from the article!--Meieimatai? 02:00, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

History of English ("English language" subsection) Out of Place here

The subsection "English language" is totally out of place in a general article dealing with etymology AS SUCH, NOT a history of English (which this subsection represents). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.245.71.241 (talk) 15:34, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

I totally agree. This should be moved to a new article detailing Etymology in English. Leasnam (talk) 18:18, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

Sofa

This article states that the etymology of sofa is arabic. In chinese comfortable is Shu Fu and may represent an earlier source. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.103.184.76 (talk) 17:56, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

"cognates"

The use of the word "cognate" in the "English Language" section is inaccurate-- cognates are words that have the same root but are specifically NOT directly borrowed from one language into the other, as was the case with Norman French words that were borrowed into English to name foods. The more appropriate word would be "borrowings." (An example of actual cognates would be the English "cheese" and the German "Käse"--cheese is derived from the same word as Käse, but it was subjected to the sound changes that occurred in the history of English instead of those that occurred in German, rather than being directly borrowed from German into English or vice-versa.) False dichotomy (talk) 17:12, 5 November 2010 (UTC)

You're quite right, and I've just changed it. Why didn't you make the necessary changes yourself? garik (talk) 18:16, 5 November 2010 (UTC)

ΕΤΥΜΟΝ = ΕΥΤΜΟΝ

ΕΤΥΜΟΝ does not mean true sense. ΕΤΥΜΟΝ means that which is well divided. We have ΕΤΥΜΟΝ = ΕΥΤΜΟΝ. The Y moves from the third place to the second and we have ΕΥ + ΤΜ + ΟΝ. ( the ellements are the same and therefore nothing changes). The ΟΝ syllable is the neutral suffix and it is not participating. So, we have ΕΥ = well and (ΤΜ- Ω) = I divide. Ω =verbal suffix. So, etymology is the study of dividing well the words to bring into light the true meaning. I do not know how well it can be done in english but I do know that it can be done very well in Greek.Nestanaios 13:58, 20 February 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nestanaios (talk • contribs)