RECURSIVE ANCESTOR EXPLORER
GLOBAL GRAPH ↗NORTH-STAR FEATURE / ROOT OF THE ROOT
WORD → PARENT → PARENT → UNKNOWNGO TO
THE ROOT.
Do not stop at the first ancestor. Follow every cited route—through compounds, reconstructions, and disagreements—until human knowledge actually stops.
START / NODE 8Present-Day Englishlate 14th c.–today
etymology
The study of the true or original sense of a word—and of the changes that made it what it is.
“The name of etymology is itself an etymology: Greek “true” + “account.” Its own “true root” remains a reconstruction, not a certainty.”OPEN COMPLETE WORD DOSSIER ↗
EVERY REVIEWED PARENT, NOT ONE EDITORIAL PATH
FOLLOW EVERY BRANCH.
Compound components and competing routes stay separate. Every arrow retains its sound change, semantic change, scholar, confidence, and exact sources.
01
PARENT ROUTES1 REVIEWED RELATIONSHIP
Present-Day Englishetymology
the history and origin of a word
↑GO DEEPER
Old French · 14th c.ethimologiederivation of a word
- SOUND CHANGE
- English adapted the learned French form and later aligned spelling with the classical model.
- SEMANTIC CHANGE
- The technical term broadened into the modern historical discipline.
- SCHOLAR
- OED · historical lexicography
- CONFIDENCE
- established
THE ASTERISK IS A PROMISE
RECONSTRUCTION IS
NOT INSCRIPTION.
Crossing into a starred form changes the evidence class. The interface marks that crossing, preserves confidence, and never manufactures the next root to make the picture look complete.