Etymology is an important part in the study of languages, and I personally
think that it's quite interesting, and that this conference should have an
item devoted to it.  It grants new insights into the meanings of certain
words, and helps immensly in word association.  Oftentimes I can discern the
meaning of a word just by recognizing some of its roots!  Anyways, this item
is for the discussion of etymology, the etymology of different words, and
stuff like that.  To start us off, I though I'd give a brief history of the
word 'language' since that's what this is all about (I gleaned this
information simply from the dictionary, just fleshed out the abbreviations.):

The word 'language' in Modern English was the same in Middle English, with
        no change in meaning.
It's derives from the Old French word 'langage', which is in turn derived from
        'langue', meaning tongue.
'Langue' derives from the classical Latin word 'lingua' meaning tongue,
        language, or altered.
Through association with the Latin 'lingere', to lick, it's been traced back
        to the Old Latin 'dingua', and from this the etymologists have guessed
        that the Indo-European root word is something like 'dnghwa' (don't ask
        me how to pernounce that).

Interesting stuff, if you feel like taking the time to go through it. 
Personally, language probably isn't one of the words whose root is going to
stick with me to help discern other words, but, hey, who knows?

22 responses total.

Just don't confuse "etymology" with "entomology" !  :-)
(Which everyone knows is the study of "ents" [see J.R.R. Tolkein] ;-)

Hee hee. Entology is the study of ent. Entomology is insects, but you knew
that. Well that is a word I have known for a long time, but since this is the
etymology item, I'll say what I know about its origin.

-ology is not latin, but Greek. It means "the study of ..."
entomo must mean insects, but I do not know of any other word constructed from
that root.

You mean there's no such thing as an infestation of entoms?  ;-)

dunno, howabout an afestation of atoms?

And then there's the study of ap's...  ;-)

ap-ology?

And the study of the

nullology?  nihilism? <g>

the-ology  ;-)

oh, of course. You believe in THE.  As opposed to IT.  Got it. <g>

So we find the etymology item reduced to puns. 
Where does the word "pun" come from?

From the Merriam-WWWebster Dictionary:

Main Entry: 1pun
Pronunciation: 'p&n
Function: noun
Etymology: perhaps from Italian puntiglio fine point, quibble -- more at
PUNCTILIO
Date: 1662
:the usually humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more
of its meanings or the meaning of another word similar in sound

Main Entry: punc-til-io
Pronunciation: "p&[ng]k-'ti-lE-"O
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -i-os
Etymology: Italian & Spanish; Italian puntiglio point of honor, scruple, 
 from Spanish puntillo, from diminutive of punto point, from Latin punctum
Date: 1596
1 : a minute detail of conduct in a ceremony or in observance of a code
2 : careful observance of forms (as in social conduct) 

thanks

I made a note of the URL for that source...

http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm

hi everyone .... just i wanna say  (  Como estan ? )

Casi bien, gracias, un poco cansada.  Y usted?

hm...looks like this item is dead! hey how about a game like this: you give
out a word and others get a chance to figure out the root and make another
word from that root?

crocodile

My initial parsing uncovered something similar to "crock o' s**t"  :-)

My guess is 'croco**'!

krokodilos? (Greek for lizard)

egyptian...pebble worm.

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