

Such hypotheses are tested against the general knowledge of semantic shifts. Etymologists must often make hypotheses about changes in the meaning of particular words. By a systematic comparison of related languages, etymologists may often be able to detect which words derive from their common ancestor language and which were instead later borrowed from another language. The form or meaning of the word might show variations between dialects, which may yield clues about its earlier history. Changes in the form and meaning of the word can be traced with the aid of older texts, if such are available. English place names such as Winchester, Gloucester, Tadcaster share in different modern forms a suffixed etymon that was once meaningful, Latin castrum ' fort '.ĭiagram showing relationships between etymologically related words Methods Įtymologists apply a number of methods to study the origins of words, some of which are: Relationships are often less transparent, however. For example, the Latin word candidus, which means ' white ', is the etymon of English candid. stem or root ) from which a later word or morpheme derives. The term etymon refers to the predicate (ie. The word etymology derives from the Ancient Greek word ἐτυμολογία ( ἐτυμολογία), itself from ἔτυμον ( ἔτυμον), meaning ' true sense or sense of a truth ', and the suffix -logia, denoting ' the study or logic of '. In this way, word roots in many European languages, for example, can be traced all the way back to the origin of the Indo-European language family.Įven though etymological research originated from the philological tradition, much current etymological research is done on language families where little or no early documentation is available, such as Uralic and Austronesian. By analyzing related languages with a technique known as the comparative method, linguists can make inferences about their shared parent language and its vocabulary. Etymologists also apply the methods of comparative linguistics to reconstruct information about forms that are too old for any direct information to be available. It is a subfield of historical linguistics, philology and semiotics, and draws upon comparative semantics, morphology, pragmatics, and phonetics in order to construct a comprehensive and chronological catalogue of all meanings that a morpheme, phoneme, word, or sign has carried across time.įor languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts, and texts about the language, to gather knowledge about how words were used during earlier periods, how they developed in meaning and form, or when and how they entered the language. Send us feedback about these examples.Etymology ( / ˌ ɛ t ɪ ˈ m ɒ l ə dʒ i/ ET-im- OL-ə-jee ) is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of a word's semantic meaning across time, including its constituent morphemes and phonemes. These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'keynote speaker.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.

Laurel Rosenhall, Los Angeles Times, 3 Aug. Steven Porter,, Days after changing the rules for the primary, the California GOP announced that Trump will be the keynote speaker at the party’s convention next month in Anaheim. Haadiza Ogwude, The Enquirer, 18 July 2023 The keynote speaker for tonight’s McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Dinner in Nashua, the largest annual fundraiser for the New Hampshire Democratic Party, has a message for President Biden: Come back to the Granite State. 2023 Who is the keynote speaker at Black Tech Week 2023?Īctor, writer and producer Issa Rae is Black Tech Week's keynote speaker this year. 2023 Trump will be the keynote speaker Friday night at the Alabama GOP’s Summer Dinner at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Montgomery. Sophia Scorziello, Variety, 23 June 2023 In June, Rodgers was the keynote speaker at a convention for psychedelics. 2023 Renowned producer Timbaland was the keynote speaker. Charles Brandom, Arkansas Online, 2 Aug.

2023 Trustee Emeritus Charles Donaldson, class of 1969, was a keynote speaker. Recent Examples on the Web Campbell, a keynote speaker, mentioned the question he is asked most often: What’s your morning routine? - Sherry Walling, Fortune Well, 15 Aug.
