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Origins of names of cities and towns in Hong Kong; Lists of North American place name etymologies; List of place names of French origin in the United States; List of place names of Spanish origin in the United States; List of place names in the United States of Native American origin; List of Chinook Jargon placenames; Sri Lankan place name ...
Etymology has been a form of witty wordplay, in which the supposed origins of words were creatively imagined to satisfy contemporary requirements. For example, the Greek poet Pindar (born c. 522 BCE) employed inventive etymologies to flatter his patrons. Plutarch employed etymologies insecurely based on fancied resemblances in sounds.
The English language uses many Greek and Latin roots, stems, and prefixes.These roots are listed alphabetically on three pages: Greek and Latin roots from A to G; Greek and Latin roots from H to O
Thus words from Old French saw their spelling re-Latinized. Although in most cases this did not affect their pronunciation (e.g. debt, doubt, indict, mayor), in some cases it did (e.g. abnormal, adventure, benefit). The ph transcription of words of Greek etymology was restored instead of the f. Thus fantosme became phantom, fesan became pheasant.
An etymological dictionary discusses the etymology of the words listed. Often, large dictionaries, such as the Oxford English Dictionary and Webster's, will contain some etymological information, without aspiring to focus on etymology. [1] Etymological dictionaries are the product of research in historical linguistics. For many words in any ...
This is a list of Latin words with derivatives in English (and other modern languages). Ancient orthography did not distinguish between i and j or between u and v. [1] Many modern works distinguish u from v but not i from j. In this article, both distinctions are shown as they are helpful when tracing the origin of English words.
This is a list of English words inherited and derived directly from the Old English stage of the language. This list also includes neologisms formed from Old English roots and/or particles in later forms of English, and words borrowed into other languages (e.g. French, Anglo-French, etc.) then borrowed back into English (e.g. bateau, chiffon, gourmet, nordic, etc.).
There are many examples of words borrowed from foreign languages, and subsequently changed by folk etymology. The spelling of many borrowed words reflects folk etymology. For example, andiron borrowed from Old French was variously spelled aundyre or aundiren in Middle English, but was altered by association with iron. [14]