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.
019
MODERN ENTRY POINTS
WORD DOSSIERS
nounexact headword
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 ↗nounexact historical form
etymologist
A specialist in etymology; an English agent noun formed on etymology with -ist.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗verbexact historical form
etymologize
To discover, formulate, state, or study etymologies; an English verb formed from etymology with -ize.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗adjectivecontrarian claim
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 ↗Old Saxon adjectivedossier summary
hōti
Old Saxon hōti is a normalized adjective headword supported by three Heliand loci and five reported witness readings: nominative plural hotie in manuscript M and huotia in C at line 5183; accusative singular hotean in M and huotian in C at line 5246; and nominative singular huoti in C at line 5285. The Munich forms hotie and hotean are directly visible in Cgm 25 scans 150 and 152; the three Cotton readings remain source-reported. Köbler nevertheless prints hōti* with a trailing star, so the mark cannot be reduced to “no nominative exists”: the same entry explicitly reports nominative huoti. The deeper genealogy splits. UT groups hōti with the inherited hate family under Pokorny's k̑ād- “hate, displeasure, uneasiness”; Köbler cross-references hatōn as a headword but gives the adjective a distinct etymology through Germanic *hwōtja- beside *hwōtō “threat” and Pokorny's *kʷē̆d- / *kʷō̆d- complex “bore, prick, stab,” whose wider reflexes include whetting and inciting. The graph preserves both lanes. It does not turn hostile intent into a timeless essence, infer exact pronunciation from spelling, or pretend that a dictionary cross-reference settles ancestry.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗nouncontrarian claim
kayak
An English borrowing recorded in 1757 from Inuit qayaq, the name of the Indigenous Arctic watercraft; the reviewed English source does not identify one specific Inuit language variety.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗nounhistorical form
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 ↗adjectivedossier summary
étymologique
A French adjective meaning either related to etymology or conforming to a word’s origin, borrowed from Latin etymologicus.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗adjective · later substantivized neutercontrarian claim
ἔτυμος
An Ancient Greek adjective meaning true, real, or actual; its neuter later supplied a technical noun for a word’s true sense according to its origin.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗027
ATTESTED / RECONSTRUCTED / BOUNDARY
HISTORICAL FORMS
●
Present-Day English / Indo-European
etymology
the history and origin of a word
- DATE
- late 14th c.–today
- MATCH
- exact historical form
- DOSSIERS
- 3
Latin / Indo-European
etymologia
etymology; explanation by origin
- DATE
- Classical Latin–medieval learned Latin
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Present-Day English / Indo-European
etymological
of, relating to, or based on etymology
- DATE
- 1588–today
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Latin / Indo-European
etymologicus
etymological; conforming to etymology
- DATE
- Late Latin grammatical tradition
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 2
Present-Day English / Indo-European
etymologist
a specialist in etymology
- DATE
- 1604–today
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 1
French / Indo-European
étymologique
related to etymology; conforming to a word’s origin
- DATE
- c. 1550–today
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Ancient Greek / Indo-European
ἐτυμολογικός
etymologikósbelonging to or based on etymology
- DATE
- post-Classical Ancient Greek, broad horizon
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 2
0320
WHERE INTERPRETATION IS TESTED
CLAIMS & DISPUTES
SCHOLARLY DISPUTES / 12
openproposedexact word
Is *set-u- certain?
No. It is a serious published reconstruction, but the exact morphology and wider family are analyzed differently by scholars.
resolvedestablishedexact word
Did etymology originally mean modern science?
No. Ancient etymology pursued a word’s “true sense”; the modern comparative discipline developed much later.
openprobableposition text
How was English etymological formed?
Merriam-Webster analyzes etymologic from Latin etymologicus and etymological as etymologic + -al; Etymonline analyzes etymology + -ical.
openprobableposition text
Does the etymology prove one exact moment when low became morally humble?
No. The lexical formation is secure, but the sources do not date a single physical-to-social-to-moral transition.
openestablishedposition text
Does Köbler's headword cross-reference to hatōn settle the ancestry?
No. “See hatōn” is a lexical cross-reference; the same entry's E field supplies the distinct *hwōtja- etymology. Cross-reference, semantic neighborhood, and parent edge are separate claim types.
openprobableposition text
Can the English donor be narrowed to one Inuit language?
Not from the reviewed English etymology. It gives only Inuit qayaq. Official Greenlandic qajaq evidence proves a related living form, not that Greenlandic was uniquely the immediate donor.
openprobableposition text
Does persōna securely mean a mask through which sound passes?
No secure reviewed etymology derives it as Latin per plus sonāre. The historical sources instead report a probable Etruscan connection and treat the origin as difficult.
openprobableposition text
Was Greenlandic qajaq the unique direct donor of English kayak?
The reviewed English etymology says only Inuit qayaq. Greenlandic qajaq proves a living related form, but not one uniquely identified borrowing event.
openprobableposition text
Did English tea pass through Dutch?
WALS describes a Dutch-mediated European route, while Merriam-Webster compresses the etymology to borrowing from Xiamen Chinese dé. The displayed Dutch stage is probable, not silently declared unanimous.
resolvedestablishedposition text
Was the second element of bridegroom always groom?
No. The inherited form had guma or gome, man; groom replaced the opaque element by folk etymology.
resolvedestablishedposition text
Does eDIL make the deep etymology settled?
No. eDIL says it is generally not an etymological dictionary and supplies etymologies selectively. The deeper graph route therefore rests on separately cited comparative scholarship.
resolvedestablishedposition text
Is the Roman tenth-member story invented?
No. The Latin and historical punishment sense is real; the error is using etymology to ban later English meanings.
CONTRARIAN TRUTHS / 8
RANK 8GRADE Aexact ranked word
Etymology calls itself the “true account.”
Greek ἔτυμος “true, real” joined -λογία “account or study”; even that truth-word reaches a reconstructed root.
RANK 50GRADE Aranked reveal
The hostile adjective may belong to whet and threat, not hate—and its starred lemma still has a nominative.
Köbler's Old Saxon entry reports five written readings at three Heliand loci, including nominative hotie, huotia, and huoti, yet heads the entry hōti*. The asterisk therefore cannot be explained away as “no nominative survives.” More radically, the sources split at the root. UT groups hōti with hatōn and heti under the inherited hate etymon k̑ād-. Köbler's same entry cross-references hatōn but reconstructs a different *hwōtja- adjective beside *hwōtō “threat” and Pokorny's *kʷē̆d- / *kʷō̆d- family of boring, pricking, sharpening, whetting, and inciting. Munich hotie and hotean are directly visible in contexts of hostile minds and hostile intent; Cotton huotia, huotian, and huoti remain source-reported. The unveiling is not “hostility secretly means sharpened hate.” It is that rigorous etymology sometimes reveals two irreconcilable maps where a flat dictionary would print one arrow.
RANK 80GRADE Acontrarian claim
“True” is not yet “etymology.”
Greek ἔτυμος meant true, real, or actual. A neuter technical noun and then the compound ἐτυμολογία had to turn truth into an inquiry about words.
RANK 87GRADE Aranked reveal
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 126GRADE Aranked reveal
The groom in bridegroom is a replacement.
Old English brȳdguma contained guma, man; familiar groom replaced opaque gome by folk etymology.
RANK 148GRADE Aranked reveal
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 157GRADE Aranked reveal
The one-in-ten origin is real—and the usage scold is still wrong.
English began with the tenth-member punishment sense, then broadened the word within decades. Etymology records change; it does not veto it.
RANK 164GRADE Aranked reveal
The bed word is Indigenous Caribbean—and its English look-alike is unrelated.
Hammock came through Spanish hamaca from Taíno hamaca. The southern U.S. terrain noun has a separate etymology.
0412
BOOKS / DICTIONARIES / ARTICLES / DATABASES
SOURCES
historical dictionary9 CLAIM LINKS
Etymology — Word History
Merriam-Webster Editors / 2026
title prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗historical dictionary102 CLAIM LINKS
Hate — definition, etymology, and first known use
Merriam-Webster Editors / 2026
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗etymological dictionary80 CLAIM LINKS
A Handbook of Germanic Etymology — *xataz, *xatjanan, and *xatōjanan
Vladimir Orel / 2003
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗etymological dictionary29 CLAIM LINKS
DWDS — Feind, etymology after Wolfgang Pfeifer
Wolfgang Pfeifer · DWDS editorial team / 2026
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗etymological dictionary29 CLAIM LINKS
DWDS — Hass, etymology after Wolfgang Pfeifer
Wolfgang Pfeifer · DWDS editorial team / 2026
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗etymological dictionary23 CLAIM LINKS
DWDS — Freund, etymology after Wolfgang Pfeifer
Wolfgang Pfeifer · DWDS editorial team / 2026
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗historical dictionary21 CLAIM LINKS
Calculus — Word History and Etymology Note
Merriam-Webster Editors / 2026
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗historical dictionary15 CLAIM LINKS
Emotion — Origin and history
Douglas Harper / 2026
publisherAUDIT EVERY USE ↗historical dictionary12 CLAIM LINKS
Kindred — definition, etymology, and first known use
Merriam-Webster Editors / 2026
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗historical dictionary11 CLAIM LINKS
Hatred — definition, etymology, and first known use
Merriam-Webster Editors / 2026
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗historical dictionary10 CLAIM LINKS
Hate — definition and etymology
American Heritage Dictionary Editors / 2022
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗historical dictionary10 CLAIM LINKS
Icon — Origin and history
Douglas Harper / 2026
publisherAUDIT 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 sciencesexact attested form / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
English lexical record
etymology / etymology / late 14th century
Etymology — Word Historyexact attested form / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus
Source-reported Latin lexical record
calculus / calculate / Latin antiquity
Calculus — Word History and Etymology Notereporting source / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Old High German headword horizon
fīant / Feind / eighth century, source-reported
DWDS — Feind, etymology after Wolfgang Pfeiferreporting source / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Old High German headword horizon
haʒ / Hass / eighth century, source-reported
DWDS — Hass, etymology after Wolfgang Pfeiferreporting source / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Merriam-Webster first-known-use record for king
king / king / before the 12th century
King — definition, etymology, and first known usereporting source / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Merriam-Webster first-known-use record for kin
kin / kin / before the 12th century
Kin — definition, etymology, and first known usereporting source / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Merriam-Webster first-known-use record for kind as a noun
kind / kind / before the 12th century
Kind — definition, etymology, and first known usereporting source / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Merriam-Webster first-known-use record for kindred as a noun
kindred / kindred / before the 12th century
Kindred — definition, etymology, and first known usereporting source / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
Merriam-Webster report of kynrædan
cynræden / cynrēde / kindred / late Old English, unique inflected form
Kindred — definition, etymology, and first known usereporting source / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Merriam-Webster first-known-use record for hate as a verb
hate / hate / before the 12th century
Hate — definition, etymology, and first known usereporting source / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Merriam-Webster first-known-use record for hate as a noun
hate / hate / 12th century
Hate — definition, etymology, and first known usereporting source / 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.