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THE GRAPH.
Find a modern word—or search sideways through reconstructed roots, historical forms, meanings, languages, scholars, sources, claims, disputes, and witnesses.
WIKTIONARY VIA KAIKKI / WIKTEXTRACT
Imported dictionary evidence
These are source reports, not reviewed *SET-U ancestry. A list of templates or numbered etymologies is not an ancestor chain. Scholarly disagreements remain in the original source text.
35,981 English word records · 45,491 etymology sections in this online subset
PARTIAL ENGLISH COVERAGE · FULL CORPUS REMAINS LOCAL9 source sections across 2 headwords matching “E”. These are separate from the reviewed results below.
EEnglish (en) · Etymology 1Source text
From Middle English and Old English upper case letter E and split of Æ, Ea, Eo, and Œ, from five 7th century replacements of Anglo-Saxon Futhorcs by Latin letters: * Old English letter E, from replacement by Latin letter E of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letter ᛖ (e). * Old English letter Æ from replacement by Latin ligature Æ of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letter ᚫ (æ). * Old English digraph Ea, from replacement by Latin digraph EA of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letter ᛠ (ea). * Old English digraph Eo from replacement by Latin digraph EO of Anglo-Saxon Futhorc ᛇ (eo). * Old English letter Œ from replacement by Latin ligature Œ of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letter ᛟ (œ).
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗EEnglish (en) · Etymology 2Source text
Abbreviation.
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗EEnglish (en) · Etymology 3Source text
From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 鄂 (È).
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗EEnglish (en) · Etymology 4Source text
From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 誒 /诶 (ê̄), from E ɛ⁵⁵.
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗EEnglish (en) · Etymology 5Source text
eEnglish (en) · Etymology 1Source text
The letter name is ultimately from Latin ē. Use of the Latin letter in (Old) English displaced, in whole or in part, five futhorc letters in the 7th century: ᛖ (e), ᚫ (æ), ᛠ (ea), ᛇ (eo), and ᛟ (œ).
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗eEnglish (en) · Etymology 1Source text
The letter name is ultimately from Latin ē. Use of the Latin letter in (Old) English displaced, in whole or in part, five futhorc letters in the 7th century: ᛖ (e), ᚫ (æ), ᛠ (ea), ᛇ (eo), and ᛟ (œ).
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗eEnglish (en) · Etymology 2Source text
From a deliberate apheresis of both he and she.
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗eEnglish (en) · Etymology 3Source text
From the common method of counting semiquavers as "one-e-and-a, two-e-and-a" and so on.
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗INDEPENDENT SOURCE LIBRARY
More sources for this spelling
These are spelling matches, not a claim of identical senses or agreement. Historical accounts retain their own editions and limits; none is automatically promoted into reviewed ancestry.
Mayhew–Skeat (1888)
1888; pinned HTML transcription updated October 28, 20240112
MODERN ENTRY POINTS
WORD DOSSIERS
nounheadword prefix
emoji
An English borrowing of Japanese 絵文字, literally a picture-character compound built from 絵 e “picture” and 文字 moji “written character.”
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗nounheadword prefix
emoticon
A keyboard-character sequence depicting a facial expression, posture, emotion, or attitude; an English compound of emotion and icon.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗nounheadword prefix
emotion
Feeling or affect; borrowed through French from a Latin movement family and first used in English for disturbance, agitation, or social movement.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗adjectiveheadword prefix
etymological
Of, relating to, or based on etymology; an Early Modern English adjective whose exact formation is described differently by major historical dictionaries.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗nounheadword prefix
etymologist
A specialist in etymology; an English agent noun formed on etymology with -ist.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗verbheadword prefix
etymologize
To discover, formulate, state, or study etymologies; an English verb formed from etymology with -ize.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗nounheadword prefix
etymology
The study of the true or original sense of a word—and of the changes that made it what it is.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗nounheadword prefix
etymon
A technical English noun for an earlier source form, a foreign donor, or a base used in composition or derivation.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗verbheadword prefix
exhume
To remove from burial or recover from obscurity; borrowed from Medieval Latin exhumare, literally a formation on ex, out of, and humus, earth.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗nounheadword prefix
étymologie
The French word for the study or historical explanation of word origins, attested in medieval forms long before its modern scientific scope stabilized.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗adjectiveheadword prefix
étymologique
A French adjective meaning either related to etymology or conforming to a word’s origin, borrowed from Latin etymologicus.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗nounheadword prefix
étymon
A French linguistic term for an attested or reconstructed form used to explain the historical development of one or more words.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗0212
ATTESTED / RECONSTRUCTED / BOUNDARY
HISTORICAL FORMS
●
Japanese / Japonic
絵
epicture; drawing
- DATE
- Modern Japanese
- MATCH
- exact transliteration
- DOSSIERS
- 0
Anglo-French / Indo-European
-erie
place or activity suffix
- DATE
- Anglo-French
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 0
Old French / Indo-European
embuier
to fetter
- DATE
- Old French
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Old French / Indo-European
embuié
person in fetters
- DATE
- Old French
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Present-Day English / Indo-European
emoji
a small image, symbol, or icon used in electronic communication
- DATE
- 1997–today
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Present-Day English / Indo-European
emoticon
keyboard characters depicting a facial expression, posture, emotion, or attitude
- DATE
- 1987–today
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Present-Day English / Indo-European
emotion
feeling; originally also disturbance, agitation, or social movement
- DATE
- 1579–today
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 2
Old French / Indo-European
emouvoir / esmovoir
to stir up, move, or agitate
- DATE
- Old French, 12th century onward
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 2
Old French / Indo-European
eschac / eschés
chess pieces; a check against the king
- DATE
- Old French period
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Anglo-French / Indo-European
eschec
a king in check; the warning in chess
- DATE
- Anglo-French period
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Anglo-French / Indo-European
eschec mat
the announcement that the opponent’s king cannot escape
- DATE
- Anglo-French period
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Anglo-French / Indo-European
escheks / eschez
the game of chess; literally plural chess terms
- DATE
- Anglo-French period
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
0324
WHERE INTERPRETATION IS TESTED
CLAIMS & DISPUTES
SCHOLARLY DISPUTES / 12
openestablishedword prefix
Was emoticon first used in 1987 or only by 1992?
Merriam-Webster reports first known use in 1987; Etymonline reports the word by January 1992 and quotes an August 1992 explanation.
openboundaryword prefix
Can icon be securely reconstructed beyond Greek eikōn?
Not from the reviewed evidence. Merriam-Webster calls the proposed deeper base uncertain and a Lithuanian comparison doubtful; Etymonline likewise stops at uncertain Greek prehistory.
openprobableword prefix
Was emotion first used in the 1570s or exactly 1579?
Etymonline gives the decade; Merriam-Webster gives 1579. These are compatible levels of precision, not proof of one first utterance.
openproposedword prefix
Can the movement family be pushed securely beyond *meue-?
Not from the reviewed evidence. Etymonline publishes *meue- for the movement root, but this dossier does not promote an older form without specialist comparative review.
openprobableword prefix
How was English etymological formed?
Merriam-Webster analyzes etymologic from Latin etymologicus and etymological as etymologic + -al; Etymonline analyzes etymology + -ical.
openprobableword prefix
Does the English record begin in 1588 or the 1590s?
The reports differ slightly: Merriam-Webster gives 1588 and Etymonline gives the 1590s. Neither date proves the word was coined then.
openprobableword prefix
Does the specialist title begin in 1604 or the 1630s?
Merriam-Webster reports 1604; Etymonline reports the 1630s. These are different source horizons, not necessarily irreconcilable claims about the same underlying object.
openproposedword prefix
Is *set-u- certain?
No. It is a serious published reconstruction, but the exact morphology and wider family are analyzed differently by scholars.
openprobableword prefix
When did exhume acquire the archival recovery metaphor?
The modern dictionary records the figurative sense, but the reviewed evidence does not date one secure semantic pivot.
openboundaryword prefix
Can the Greek-to-Latin adjective transfer be dated to one event?
Not from the reviewed sources. Merriam-Webster establishes Greek etymologikos behind Latin etymologicus, while CNRTL documents late Latin use in Diomedes; neither identifies one precisely dated borrowing event.
openprobableword prefix
Did French borrow étymon through Latin or directly from Greek?
CNRTL names Latin etymon as the immediate donor; the Académie calls the French word a learned borrowing from Greek. The graph preserves the Latin route as probable, not certain.
openproposedword prefix
Does the reduplicated form make *set-u- certain?
No. ἐτήτυμος is attested, but the *setu-mo- and *set-u- stages beneath ἔτυμος remain reconstructed and disputed.
CONTRARIAN TRUTHS / 12
RANK 8GRADE Aranked-word prefix
Etymology calls itself the “true account.”
Greek ἔτυμος “true, real” joined -λογία “account or study”; even that truth-word reaches a reconstructed root.
RANK 72GRADE Aranked-word prefix
Only one of emoticon and emoji contains emotion.
Emoticon is English emotion plus icon. Emoji is Japanese picture plus character: conceptual neighbors, unrelated formations.
RANK 81GRADE Aranked-word prefix
The etymon is not always the root of the root.
In technical use an etymon may be an earlier form, a foreign loan source, or a derivational word or morpheme—not necessarily the deepest reachable ancestor.
RANK 86GRADE Aranked-word prefix
Origin does not get the last word.
Calling something “etymological” describes its historical analysis; it does not make an obsolete sense more correct than a word’s established current meaning.
RANK 87GRADE Aranked-word prefix
The verb came before the science label.
Etymologize is reported from 1532 or the 1530s, while Etymonline dates etymology in the modern “science of linguistic analysis” sense to the 1640s.
RANK 130GRADE Aranked-word prefix
Exhume is literally built on out of plus earth.
Medieval Latin exhumare combines ex, out of, and humus, earth—the same Latin earth noun behind English humus.
RANK 141GRADE Aranked-word prefix
It has nothing to do with emotion.
Emoji is Japanese 絵 e “picture” plus 文字 moji “written character.” Emotion plus icon produced the separate word emoticon.
RANK 144GRADE Aranked-word prefix
Emotion first moved crowds before it named inner feeling.
English emotion begins in disturbance, agitation, and social movement; strong feeling emerges later from the same movement-out family.
RANK 148GRADE Aranked-word prefix
The ancient-looking title is Early Modern English.
Etymologist is a productive English formation on etymology + -ist, reported from 1604 or the 1630s—not an inherited Greek professional title.
RANK 1GRADE Acontrarian claim
A stranger became both guest and enemy.
The reciprocal outsider behind guest and host also became Latin hostis, “enemy.”
RANK 2GRADE Acontrarian claim
Truth began with firmness and fidelity.
Before truth centered factual correspondence, its family named what was firm, faithful, and steadfast.
RANK 3GRADE Acontrarian claim
Robot named forced labor before machinery.
The machine word begins in Czech robota: compulsory labor, corvée, or drudgery.
0412
BOOKS / DICTIONARIES / ARTICLES / DATABASES
SOURCES
historical dictionary33 CLAIM LINKS
eDIL — 1 cais, noun explained as both love and hate
Royal Irish Academy · eDIL editors / 2026
citation-key prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗etymological dictionary31 CLAIM LINKS
Etymologisch Woordenboek van het Nederlands — vijand
Marlies Philippa · Frans Debrabandere · Arend Quak · Tanneke Schoonheim · Nicoline van der Sijs / 2009
citation-key prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗research database28 CLAIM LINKS
Etygram: ἐτός / ἔτυμος dossier
Etygram Editors
citation-key prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗etymological dictionary28 CLAIM LINKS
Etymologisch Woordenboek van het Nederlands — vriend
Marlies Philippa · Frans Debrabandere · Arend Quak · Tanneke Schoonheim · Nicoline van der Sijs / 2009
citation-key prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗digitized primary source19 CLAIM LINKS
Lexicon technicum: or, an universal English dictionary of arts and sciences
John Harris / 1704
citation-key prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗scholarly dictionary18 CLAIM LINKS
Kuning — Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen V
Rosemarie Lühr / 2014
citation-key prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗historical dictionary15 CLAIM LINKS
Emotion — Origin and history
Douglas Harper / 2026
citation-key prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗historical dictionary10 CLAIM LINKS
Icon — Origin and history
Douglas Harper / 2026
citation-key prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗scholarly dictionary10 CLAIM LINKS
liuben; giliuben; liubi; liubî — Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen
Rosemarie Lühr / 2014
citation-key prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗historical dictionary9 CLAIM LINKS
Etymologize — Online Etymology Dictionary
Douglas Harper / 2026
citation-key prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗scholarly dictionary9 CLAIM LINKS
Kunni — Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen V
Rosemarie Lühr / 2014
citation-key prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗historical dictionary8 CLAIM LINKS
Arithmetic — Origin and history
Douglas Harper / 2026
citation-key prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗0512
FIRST USES & HISTORICAL OBJECTS
ATTESTATION WITNESSES
DIRECTLY INSPECTEDprinted book
John Harris’s Lexicon technicum prints ETYMOLOGY as a headword and defines it as the part of grammar concerned with words’ origins and true signification.
etymology / etymology / 1704
Lexicon technicum: or, an universal English dictionary of arts and sciencesattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
CNRTL historical first-attestation report for French ethimologie
ethimologie / étymologie / c. 1175
Étymologie: étymologieattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
English lexical record
etymology / etymology / late 14th century
Etymology — Word Historyattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Merriam-Webster first-known-use report
exhume / exhume / 15th century first known use
Exhume — Definition, Word History, and First Known Useattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Merriam-Webster first-known-use report for transitive etymologize
etymologize / etymologize / 1532
Etymologize — Merriam-Webster.com Dictionaryattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Merriam-Webster lexicographic first-use report for etymon
etymon / etymon / 1573
Etymon — Definition, Word History, and First Known Useattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Merriam-Webster source-reported English record
emotion / emotion / 1579
Emotion — Definition, Word History, and First Known Useattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Merriam-Webster first-known-use report for etymological
etymological / etymological / 1588
Etymological — Merriam-Webster.com Dictionaryattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Merriam-Webster first-known-use report for etymologist
etymologist / etymologist / 1604
Etymologist — Merriam-Webster.com Dictionaryattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Merriam-Webster source-reported English record
emoticon / emoticon / 1987
Emoticon — Definition, Word History, and First Known Useattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
English lexicographic first-use record for emoji
emoji / emoji / 1997
Emoji — Word Historyattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
Egill, Sonatorrek 24
fjándi / fjándi / poetic composition dated 960 by source; dating requires checking
Lexicon Poeticum — fjándi, noun masculine, enemy or devilwitness-title prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗06
SEARCH IS DISCOVERY, NOT PROOF
EVERY RESULT OPENS A PERMANENT EVIDENCE RECORD.
Matching text only locates a record. It does not raise confidence, settle a dispute, establish cognacy, or turn a source report into direct inspection. Follow the result into its citations and editorial limits.