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The online etymology dictionary (etymonline) is the internet's go-to source for quick and reliable accounts of the origin and history of English words, phrases, and idioms. It is professional enough to satisfy academic standards, but accessible enough to be used by anyone.
As "an account of the particular history of a word" from mid-15c. As practised by Socrates in the Cratylus, etymology involves a claim about the underlying semantic content of the name, what it really means or indicates.
"a plant," Old English wyrt "root, herb, vegetable, plant, spice," from Proto-Germanic… See origin and meaning of wort.
word. (n.) Old English word "speech, talk, utterance, sentence, statement, news, report, word," from Proto-Germanic *wurda- (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian word, Dutch woord, Old High German, German wort, Old Norse orð, Gothic waurd), from PIE *were- (3) "speak, say" (see verb).
The Medieval Latin word is said to have been first used by Johannes de Garlandia (John of Garland) as the title of a Latin vocabulary published c. 1220. Probably first English use in title of a book was in Sir Thomas Elyot's "Latin Dictionary" (1538).
history. (n.) late 14c., "relation of incidents" (true or false), from Old French estoire, estorie "story; chronicle, history" (12c., Modern French histoire), from Latin historia "narrative of past events, account, tale, story," from Greek historia "a learning or knowing by inquiry; an account of one's inquiries; knowledge, account, historical ...
early 14c., "first in time, earliest," from Old French original "first" (13c.) and directly from Latin originalis, from originem (nominative origo) "beginning, source, birth," from oriri "to rise" (see origin).
Etymology is the study of the origin of words and how the meaning of words has changed over the course of history.
"place of shallow water in a stream, lake, or sea," Middle English sholde, from Old… See origin and meaning of shoal.
Abouts (late 14c.), with adverbial genitive, still found in hereabouts, etc., probably is a northern dialectal form. To bring about "cause or effect" and to come about "happen" are from late 14c. About face as a military command (short for right about face) is first attested 1861, American English.