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User talk:Follower of Light: Difference between revisions
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→The word "etymology"
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Indeed, if you remove all the "buzzwords" from the actual definition of etymology, you are left with ''"Etymology studies the origin of [...] words"'', but that is not etymology anymore (not to mention that the difference between "word" and "name" is quite subtle). ---[[User:Abacos|Abacos]] ([[User talk:Abacos|talk]]) 09:43, 16 August 2023 (EDT) | Indeed, if you remove all the "buzzwords" from the actual definition of etymology, you are left with ''"Etymology studies the origin of [...] words"'', but that is not etymology anymore (not to mention that the difference between "word" and "name" is quite subtle). ---[[User:Abacos|Abacos]] ([[User talk:Abacos|talk]]) 09:43, 16 August 2023 (EDT) | ||
:If I may be of assistance, my degree actually includes lingustics! College-level linguistics and grammar is focused on moving away from prescriptivism and more towards descriptivism, i.e. observing a text corpus or a group of speakers and making observations on them to determine what words mean, not trying to enforce what they should mean. So a linguist would definitely not frown upon the use of the word etymology in the way that it is used here, if that's what you were getting at. | |||
:From my perspective, "etymology" as we use it is perfectly acceptable (i.e. the concept that the writer of the word seeks to communicate to the recipient and what the recipient understands is the same) and, if I can use my own recollection as a corpus, very common for wikis and even beyond. Sorry, had to simplify a lot, besides my degree is in another language. Anyway, I see no cause to change it. Words evolve with time and cultural context, and this is not that big of a departure? | |||
:Actually, I kind of struggle to see how you conceptualise our use on one hand and the various definitions you sent on the other, differently. Sure, etymology can explain the changes that lead to the spelling and pronunciation of a word, but it's a byproduct of how words are formed in natural languages; if it was the actual focus, you'd be thinking more of phonology and graphology. Etymology is just the study of the "true origin" of a word, so of course in natural languages it comes from gradual spelling and speaking changes and that's what's studied, but in conlangs and neologism, we'd be looking at the root words that have been portmanteau'd or otherwise been used to make a new term. Not sure if I'm making myself clear.--[[User:Tigali|Tigali]] ([[User talk:Tigali|talk]]) 17:56, 16 August 2023 (EDT) | |||