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START / NODE 622Present-Day English1588–today
etymological
Of, relating to, or based on etymology; an Early Modern English adjective whose exact formation is described differently by major historical dictionaries.
“Etymological does not mean “true by origin.” Etymology records how a form and meaning developed; it does not overrule the word’s established current meaning.”OPEN COMPLETE WORD DOSSIER ↗
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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 ROUTES3 REVIEWED RELATIONSHIPS
Present-Day Englishetymological
of, relating to, or based on etymology
↑GO DEEPER
Latin · Late Latin grammatical traditionetymologicusetymological; conforming to etymology
- SOUND CHANGE
- English drops Latin -us through the learned adjective etymologic and adds adjectival -al; a competing internal etymology + -ical analysis remains visible in the graph.
- SEMANTIC CHANGE
- A Latin adjective about word origins becomes the English adjective of relation or conformity.
- SCHOLAR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
- CONFIDENCE
- probable — Merriam-Webster and Etymonline segment the English formation differently.
- CHRONOLOGY
- Merriam-Webster reports first known use in 1588; Etymonline reports the 1590s.
2 CITATIONSEtymological — Merriam-Webster.com DictionaryWord History: etymological from etymologic + -al; etymologic from Latin etymologicus Etymological — Online Etymology DictionaryWord origin: etymology + -ical AUDIT CANONICAL EDGE 586 ↗
Supplies the preferred learned-formation analysis and Latin base.
ORIGINAL ↗Publishes a competing English segmentation.
ORIGINAL ↗Present-Day Englishetymological
of, relating to, or based on etymology
↑GO DEEPER
Present-Day English · late 14th c.–todayetymologythe history and origin of a word
- SOUND CHANGE
- English etymological is alternatively segmented as etymology plus -ical.
- SEMANTIC CHANGE
- The discipline noun becomes a relational adjective.
- SCHOLAR
- Douglas Harper
- CONFIDENCE
- proposed — This competes with Merriam-Webster’s etymologic + -al analysis.
- CHRONOLOGY
- Etymonline reports the 1590s.
Present-Day Englishetymological
of, relating to, or based on etymology
↑GO DEEPER
Present-Day English · Middle English–today-alof, like, related to, or pertaining to
- SOUND CHANGE
- The English adjective ends in productive -al under Merriam-Webster’s segmentation.
- SEMANTIC CHANGE
- The suffix marks relation or pertinence.
- SCHOLAR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
- CONFIDENCE
- established
- CHRONOLOGY
- The component is synchronic and historical evidence, not the lexical parent of etymology.
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.