Questions tagged [etymology]
For questions about etymology: the history of words in Latin or the change in meaning as the words are loaned into another language.
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Is "Ἐλλάχ" the proper Greek transliteration of "Allah"?
I would like your help in refuting a claim made by a Christian that has been bugging me for a while now.
A post in a forum claims that "Ἐλλάχ" is the "correct spelling in Greek" of ...
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Mōnstrō and mōnstrum - how exactly are they related?
So as I understand, the word mōnstrum, which used to mean "omen", came from moneō, which means "to warn" and then later the use of mōnstrum expanded to include not just omens, but ...
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Was suffix -alis derived from alis or alius? Or are they unrelated?
Oxford Latin Dictionary says:
alis see alius.
-alis, -ale adjl. suff. Collat. w. -aris, which is used when the base contains an l (but cf. cleacalis, limitalis); formed from
nouns (...
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How was damno derived from damnum?
Oxford Latin Dictionary says that damno (tr. condemn) was derived from damnum (n. loss; waning). How is sense "loss, waning" related to and derived from sense "condemn"?
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Why does Ancient Greek "metá" mean both between and after?
The Ancient Greek word μετά means two very different things. Are there any other examples in world languages of a word for "between, with" being colexified with one for "after, next to&...
trerri
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Is verus (true) etymologically related to viridis / vireo (green / to be green)?
Is verus (true) etymologically related to viridis / vireo (green / to be green)?
The closest to this that St. Isidore in his Etymologies p. 124 says:
Switches (virga) are the tips of branches and ...
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Does "iugiter" have any descendants in English?
Does the Latin term iugiter (or jugiter) have any descendants in English, even remote ones? It is morphologically similar to judge, but the two don't seem to have any etymological relationship.
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Why is the infinitive of "possum" "posse", and not something like *potesse or *potere?
I suppose that the infinitive of "possum" once was *potesse, but that the 'e' in the second syllable got lost, so it went from *potsse to "posse". But why did the 'e' in the second ...
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Why do emasculatus and effeminatus mean the SAME thing, despite being formed the SAME way with OPPOSITE morphemes? [duplicate]
The etymological constructions of emasculatus and effeminatus are identical:
emasculatus < ex- + masculus + -atus
effeminatus < ex- + femina + -atus
Since masculus and femina are opposites, ...
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Have these Greek letters been related to these Latin/English letters?
Was each following Latin/English letter originated from, cognate with, or related to the Greek letter given after the Latin/English letter?
Latin f and Greek phi
Latin h or e, and Greek eta
Latin j ...
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What are the Greek or Latin words for these SI prefixes?
Smith's Greek and Latin Roots gives the etymology of a few SI prefixes. For example, tera- is from Greek teras ("monster"), deci- from Latin decem, and micro- from Greek mikros ("small&...
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Why aren't English "house" and Latin "casa" considered cognates? Latin 'c' corresponds to English 'h', and Latin 's' corresponds to English 's'
So, why are linguists so sure that Latin "casa" and English "house" are false cognates? Latin 'c' does correspond regularly to English 'h' (as in "centum"-"hundred&...
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Is there a relationship between καθαιρέω ("destroy") and καθαίρω ("purify")?
καθαιρέω and καθαίρω look remarkably similar and seem to have similar meanings: "destroy" and "purify/purge," respectively.
It came as some surprise to me, though, that I couldn't ...
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Origin of /h/ in ἅζομαι (házomai), ἁγνός (hagnós), ἅγιος (hágios)
According to Wiktionary:
ἅζομαι (házomai) ← PH *haďďomai ← PIE *h₁yáǵyeti
ἁγνός (hagnós) ← PH *hagnós ← PIE *h₁yáǵnós
ἅγιος (hágios) ← PH *hágijos ← PIE *h₁yáǵyos
I am aware of Proto-Hellenic /h/ ...
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Why do so many names end with -us?
This is probably a simple question, but why do so many ancient Roman names (both first and last) end in "-us"? For example: Marcus Aurelius, Josephus Flavius, Julius, Maximus, Hadrianus, ...
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