GRAPH-WIDE SEARCH
MEASURE THE GRAPH ↗NOT JUST A DICTIONARY LOOKUP
6 EVIDENCE COLLECTIONSSEARCH
THE GRAPH.
Find a modern word—or search sideways through reconstructed roots, historical forms, meanings, languages, scholars, sources, claims, disputes, and witnesses.
011
MODERN ENTRY POINTS
WORD DOSSIERS
021
ATTESTED / RECONSTRUCTED / BOUNDARY
HISTORICAL FORMS
035
WHERE INTERPRETATION IS TESTED
CLAIMS & DISPUTES
SCHOLARLY DISPUTES / 3
openproposedexact word
Does boy securely descend from a word for ox hide?
No. American Heritage offers a possible chain through a fettered person, fetter, Latin restraint collar, and Greek ox hide; Oxford labels the origin unknown.
resolvedestablishedexact word
Did boy begin as the ordinary word for a male child?
Not exclusively. American Heritage records Middle English boi as male servant, churl, and young male.
resolvedestablishedposition text
Did Middle English girl mean only a female child?
No. Girle could denote a child or young person of either sex and could even be specified as a boy.
CONTRARIAN TRUTHS / 2
RANK 202GRADE Bexact ranked word
Boy may reach ox—but only through a disputed trail.
One proposal runs from a fettered person through a shackle, restraint collar, ox hide, and ox; another major reference says the origin is unknown.
RANK 122GRADE Acontrarian claim
Girl could once refer to a boy.
Middle English girle could denote a child of either sex; later English narrowed it toward a female child or young woman.
043
BOOKS / DICTIONARIES / ARTICLES / DATABASES
SOURCES
historical dictionary13 CLAIM LINKS
Boy — American Heritage Dictionary
American Heritage Dictionary Editors / 2022
title prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗historical dictionary3 CLAIM LINKS
Boy — Definition, Word History, and First Known Use
Merriam-Webster Editors / 2026
title prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗historical dictionary3 CLAIM LINKS
Boy — Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, Word Origin
Oxford University Press Editors / 2026
title prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗051
FIRST USES & HISTORICAL OBJECTS
ATTESTATION WITNESSES
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.