etymon
- noun
- /ˈɛtɪˌmɒn/
- Specialized
:
etimón
- The practice of beginning with an etymon and mapping out the entire word family that descends from it has long been used as an organizational principle in Romance etymology.
Examples
-
This is the (not even very obscure) sense of the first three articles of the Declaration of 1789: only because it wrote the native element into the core of any political association (arts. 1 and 2) could it firmly tie (in art. 3) the principle of sovereignty to the nation (in accordance with its etymon, natio originally meant simply "birth").
Academic text (1995) -
Based on these attestations, one might be quick to posit a Latin etymon *MICUM.
Academic text (1990) -
On the other hand, we note that our etymon SYRINGA does in fact have the requisite front vowel for such a process to have taken place.
Academic text (1993) -
One consequence of that phonetic proximity could well have been a certain control over the semantic trajectory of 'domar' exercised by its Latin etymon.
Academic text (2000) -
Sweeney's involvement in the scene activates that particular etymon quite forcefully: his presence disorganizes the lines by instigating the removal of their heads.
Academic text (2017) -
An etymon is often traced back to Latin, helping linguists understand the evolution of words.
-
The Greek etymon for the word 'philosophy' is 'philosophia', meaning 'love of wisdom'.
-
Studying the etymon of 'democracy' reveals its roots in the Greek words for 'people' and 'rule'.
Synonyms
24
4.8
The basic form of a word from which other words are made
Surface Forms
Etymology
Etymon comes from a Greek word meaning 'true' and is the same root as etymology, the study of word origins. So an etymon is the 'true' 'source' or original form you look for when you trace where a word came from.