Etymological dictionary

An etymological dictionary of information about the history of individual words and morphemes (word parts that have a meaning or grammatical function ). They represent the etymology of these words or parts of words, as far as it is known. With etymology is meant, on the one hand the phonetic development of linguistic units is presented, on the other hand, the development of their meaning.

For more information etymological dictionaries

Except for the sound and meaning development of words and parts of the etymological dictionaries contain some more information:

  • This gives, as far as possible, information as to how long a word or part of word can be detected in the language concerned. These data are given after centuries; in older vocabulary you will also find references to the speech period, who comes from a unit when more accurate data are not determinable.
  • This gives a wide range of indications in which related languages ​​a phonetically and semantically similar word is occupied and what exact form it has since.
  • In many cases, one also finds evidence of when a particular keyword which derivatives or composites have emerged.
  • In more recent edits etymological dictionaries more and more attention is being paid to the foreign words: We learn in many cases whole Entlehnungsgeschichten individual words as well as a date as to when the keyword in question is from which other language come into the receiving language. Basic information regarding the origin of borrowings but are also found in foreign words books.
  • Some etymological dictionaries ( eg, Kluge 2002) included on the individual keywords literature, so that you can pursue the research location if needed.

Notes on the use of etymological dictionaries

Etymological dictionaries cover only a relatively small part of the vocabulary of a language: the scope of the keyword mentioned below dictionaries of the German reached just over 20,000 ( Pfeifer 1995); which is less than 10 percent of the vocabulary of a language such as German or English. Basic information of the history of words and parts of words there is also the German Duden beyond. See German Universal Dictionary (2007).

A big problem is, despite the long tradition of research of etymology, that the details are uncertain for many keywords; which expresses itself in the fact that different information can be found on the same keyword in different etymological dictionaries.

Etymological dictionaries as source data for statistical surveys

In the quantitative linguistics, a hypothesis was developed that language change should follow a law that has already proven itself in many other sciences and in linguistics under the name Piotrowski - law is known. The systematic evaluation of etymological dictionaries afterwards, when, how many words are created or when the number of words which have been adopted from other languages ​​, gives the opportunity to test this hypothesis. Such studies have been performed with success in several etymological dictionaries of the German, especially to the borrowings, but also to the entire detectable vocabulary ( Best & Altmann, 1986; Best 2001; grains 2004; Ternes 2011).

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