Etymology - English Word Histories - Stories of Words - Definition of Etymology - 0 views
grammar.about.com/...Etymologywords.htm
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shared by izz aty on 21 Feb 12
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A definition tells us what a word means and how it's used in our own time. An etymology tells us where a word came from (often, but not always, from another language) and what it used to mean.
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The word etymology is derived from the Greek word etymon, which means "the true sense of a word." But in fact the original meaning of a word is often different from its contemporary definition. The meanings of many words have changed over time, and older senses of a word may grow uncommon or disappear entirely from everyday use. Disaster, for instance, no longer means the "evil influence of a star or planet," just as consider no longer means "to observe the stars."
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New words have entered (and continue to enter) the English language in many different ways. Here are some of the most common ways.
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Borrowing The majority of the words used in modern English have been borrowed from other languages. Although most of our vocabulary comes from Latin and Greek (often by way of other European languages), English has borrowed words from more than 300 different languages around the world.
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Neologisms or Creative Coinages Now and then, new products or processes inspire the creation of entirely new words.
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Blends A blend (also called a portmanteau word) is a word formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two or more other words.
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Conversion or Functional Shift New words are often formed by changing an existing word from one part of speech to another
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Transfer of Proper Nouns Sometimes the names of people, places, and things become generalized vocabulary words.
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Imitation of Sounds Words are also created by onomatopoeia, naming things by imitating the sounds that are associated with them
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If a word's etymology is not the same as its definition, why should we care at all about word histories? Well, for one thing, understanding how words have developed can teach us a great deal about our cultural history. In addition, studying the histories of familiar words can help us to deduce the meanings of unfamiliar words, thereby enriching our vocabularies. Finally, word stories are often both entertaining and thought provoking.