Online Etymology Dictionary

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Online Etymology Dictionary
Type Private
Founded Online (c.2000)
Headquarters
Key people Douglas Harper, Founder
Dan McCormack, Web Design and coding
LogoBee.com, Logo Design
Industry Online etymological dictionary
Employees 1
Website etymonline.com

The Online Etymology Dictionary is a dictionary that describes the origins of English language words.[1] According to worldstart.com “...This site is all about a love of language, and will teach you how it all began for each word.”[2]

Contents

[edit] Description

Douglas Harper originally founded the online dictionary as a website where he could share some information on books and writers. Since then it has evolved into the etymology dictionary. Referring to his meticulous work, Harper says that it has become a site for people "...who are curious about what sort of no-life obsessive-compulsive would do something like that."[3] The dictionary uses the "history and evolution of more than 30,000 words, including slang and technical terms."[4] It is described on its home page as:

“ ... a map of the wheel-ruts of modern English. Etymologies are not definitions; they're explanations of what our words meant and how they sounded 600 or 2,000 years ago.

The dates beside a word indicate the earliest year for which there is a surviving written record of that word (in English, unless otherwise indicated). This should be taken as approximate, especially before about 1700, since a word may have been used in conversation for hundreds of years before it turns up in a manuscript that has had the good fortune to survive the centuries.[5]

 ”

[edit] Notability

When searching for etymology, the Online Etymology Dictionary is the first result returned from Google's search engine out of approximately 8.68 million hits.[6] Similarly, Yahoo Search places this online dictionary as the first result out of approximately 5.6 million hits.[7] It is referenced by the University of Ohio's Library as a relevant etymological resource[8] and was recently cited in the Chicago Tribune as one of the “best resources for finding just the right word.”[9] Used by many authors and researchers which follow the philosophy of etymology it is cited in numerous articles and used as a reliable source for explaining the history and evolution of words.[10][11][12]

[edit] References

  1. ^ University of Ohio, Online Etymology Dictionary. Created 2003, http://infotree.library.ohiou.edu/single-records/2705.html, accessed 2007-01-05.
  2. ^ Online etymology dictionary. Worldstart.com, http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/1527, accessed 2007-01-05.
  3. ^ Online Etymology Dictionary Biography of Douglas Harper, Accessed 2007-01-05
  4. ^ Google Inc., Google Search. (Search for etymology), http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=etymology&meta=, accessed 2007-01-05.
  5. ^ Online Etymology Dictionary Accessed December 31, 2006
  6. ^ Google Inc., Google Search. (Search for etymology), http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=etymology&meta=, accessed 2007-01-05.
  7. ^ Yahoo Inc., Yahoo Search. (Search for etymology), http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=etymology&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8, accessed 2007-01-05.
  8. ^ University of Ohio, Online Etymology Dictionary. Created 2003, http://infotree.library.ohiou.edu/single-records/2705.html, accessed 2007-01-05.
  9. ^ Bierma, Nathan. Internet has best resources for finding just the right word. Chicago Tribune, January 3, 2007, republished by www.factiva.com, http://proxy.bib.uottawa.ca:2241/sb/default.aspx?NAPC=S&fcpil=en, accessed 2007-01-05.
  10. ^ Rudeen, Mike. Any questions?; Ask! away on the News' new blog. Rocky Mountain News, December 18, 2006, republished by www.factiva.com, accessed 2007-01-05
  11. ^ Murali, D. Big results require big ambitions. Business Line (The Hindu), July 21, 2006, Section:Opinion, republished by Factiva.com, accessed 2007-01-05
  12. ^ Whyte, Ellen. Online resources to help improve your vocabulary. New Straits Times, October 27, 2005, republished by www.factiva.com, accessed 2007-01-05

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../o/n/l/Online_Etymology_Dictionary_1d28.html"