Etymological dictionary
An etymological dictionary discusses the etymology of the words listed. Often, large dictionaries, such as the OED and Webster's, will contain some etymological information, without aspiring to focus on etymology.
Etymological dictionaries are the product of research in historical linguistics. For a large number of words in any language, the etymology will be uncertain, disputed, or simply unknown. In such cases, depending on the space available, an etymological dictionary will present various suggestions and perhaps make a judgement on their likelihood, and provide references to a full discussion in specialist literature.
The tradition of compiling "derivations" of words is pre-modern, found for example in Indian (nirukta), Arabic (al-ištiqāq) and also in Western tradition (in works such as the Etymologicum Magnum). Etymological dictionaries in the modern sense, however, appear only in the late 18th century (with 17th century predecessors such as Vossius' 1662 Etymologicum linguae Latinae or Stephen Skinner's 1671 Etymologicon Linguae Anglicanae), with the understanding of sound laws and language change and their production was an important task of the "golden age of philology" in the 19th century.
Notable examples
- English language
- Hoad, T.F., The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Oxford, Oxford University Press (1986).
- George William Lemon the English etymologist and author of A derivative dictionary of the English language: in two alphabets, tracing the etymology of those English words, that are derived I. From the Greek, and Latin languages; II. From the Saxon, and other Northern tongues. London, Printed for G. Robinson (1783).
- Eric Partridge, Origins: A short etymological dictionary of Modern English. New York: Greenwich House (1958, 1959, 1961, 1966, 2008).
- Dravidian languages (Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Brahui et al.)
- Finnish
- German language
- Friedrich Kluge, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter (first edn. 1883, 21st edn. 1975).
- Indo-Aryan languages
- Old Irish
- Sanas Cormaic, encyclopedic dictionary, 9th or 10th century
- Joseph Vendryes, Lexique étymologique de l'irlandais ancien (first volume 1959; still incomplete), Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and CNRC Éditions, Paris.
- Old Prussian
- Icelandic language
- Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon, Íslensk orðsifjabók
- Polish language
- Aleksander Brückner, Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego, first edition, Kraków, Krakowska Spółka Wydawnicza, 1927 (9th edition, Warsaw, Wiedza Powszechna, 2000).
- Wiesław Boryś,"Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego", first edition, Kraków, Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2005
- Portuguese
- Proto-Indo-European language
- Scots language
- John Jamieson, An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (1808), revised 1879–97
- Spanish
- Guido Gómez de Silva "Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española" (ISBN 968-16-2812-8)
- Turkish
- Clauson, Gerard Leslie Makins, Sir; "An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth-Century Turkish", Oxford University Press, London, 1972.
Online etymological dictionaries
Indo-European languages
- [1] – Ancient Greek Etymological Dictionary by H. Frisk
- [2] – Indo-European Etymological Dictionary by S. A. Starostin et al.
- [3] – Gaelic Etymological Dictionary by A. MacBain
- [4] – Gothic Etymological Dictionary by Andras Rajki
- [5] – Nepali Etymological Dictionary by R. L. Turner
- [6] – Romanian Etymological Dictionary
- [7] – Russian Etymological Dictionary by Max Vasmer, Heidelberg (1962), 4 volumes
- [8] – Swedish Etymological Dictionary by Elof Hellquist
Afroasiatic languages
- [9] – Afroasiatic Etymological Dictionary by S. A. Starostin et al.
- [10] – Arabic Etymological Dictionary by Andras Rajki
- [11] – Hebrew Etymological Dictionary by Isaac Fried
Altaic languages
- [12] – Altaic Etymological Dictionary by S. A. Starostin et al.
- [13] – Chuvash Etymological Dictionary by M. R. Fedotov
- [14] – Gagauz Etymological Dictionary
- [15] – Mongolian Etymological Dictionary
- [16] – Turkish Etymological Dictionary by Sevan Nişanyan "Sözlerin Soyağacı – Çağdaş Türkçe'nin Etimolojik Sözlüğü" (Third ed. Adam Y. Istanbul 2007)
Austronesian languages
- [17] – Indonesian Etymological Dictionary by S. M. Zain
- [18] – Maori Etymological Dictionary by E. Tregear
- [19] – Waray Etymological Dictionary
Bantu languages
- [20] – Bantu Etymological Dictionary
- [21] – Swahili Etymological Dictionary
Creole languages and conlangs
- [22] – Tok Pisin Etymological Dictionary by F. Mihalic
- [23] – Morisyen Etymological Dictionary
- [24] – Esperanto Etymological Dictionary
Uralic languages
- [25] – Uralic Etymological Dictionary by S. A. Starostin et al.
- [26] – Finnish Etymological Dictionary
- [27] – Lapp Etymological Dictionary
Other languages and language families
- [28] – Basque Etymological Dictionary based on the works of L. Trask
- [29] – Dravidian Etymological Dictionary by T. Burrow
- [30] – Kartvelian Etymological Dictionary by G. A. Klimov
- [31] – Mayan Etymological Dictionary by T. Kaufman and J. Justeson
- [32] – Munda Etymological Dictionary by D. Stampe & al.
- [33] – North Caucasian Etymological Dictionary by S. A. Starostin et al.
- [34] – Thai Etymological Dictionary by M. Haas
- South Dravidian Etymological Dictionary
External links