4.5: What is Etymology?

Have you ever thought about the English language and where our words come from? In this section, we will begin to investigate the English language broadly - how spoken languages influenced other spoken languages, and how spoken language evolved into writing. We’ll also investigate language more specifically or at a micro level, by looking at how individual words are formed from meaningful word parts or elements that have evolved into current day spellings.

For instance, when you hear the word Lucifer, what comes to mind? If you’re like us, then you might think of the devil or conjure up other ominous images. This is probably a common association. However, you might be surprised to learn that, in the larger context of language evolution, this is just one connotation. Because we, the authors, have always associated Lucifer with Satan or the devil, we were surprised to learn that Lucifer is built upon two meaningful elements: <luce>, which means “light or brightness” and <fer>, which has a denotation of “to bring or carry.” When we think about Lucifer in relation to some other related words such as “elucidate” or “translucent”, this meaning of “light” becomes clearer. Historically, Lucifer referred to the “morning star or Venus in the morning sky before sunrise” (Harper). This gives us a whole new understanding of where the character Lucifer Morningstar from the Netflix show Lucifer derived his name. So how did a word that meant “light-bringing” come to be interpreted as the complete opposite?

The belief that Lucifer was the proper name of Satan began with a misinterpretation when the Bible was being translated from Greek to Hebrew: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” [KJV] Because of the mention of a fall from Heaven, the verse was interpreted spiritually by Christians as a reference to Satan, even though it is literally a reference to the King of Babylon (see Isaiah xiv.4)” (Harper).

As you can see, the word Lucifer has a lengthy story behind it, and like other words, its meaning has evolved over time. The stories behind words – their history, origin, and true sense - form one dimension of the English language: etymology. As the example of Lucifer shows, etymology is not simply a definition that can be found in a dictionary. Rather, etymologies are “explanations of what our words meant and how they sounded 600 or 2,000 years ago” (Harper). The stories and histories of words are found in etymological books or online resources that trace the origins (roots) of a word and explain how words’ current spelling and meaning have changed or evolved over time. In etymological resources, we can discover how present-day English words have evolved from various other languages, especially Greek, Latin, and French. In addition English words have also evolved from Old English--a language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons as long ago as 450-1066. The graphic here, focused on the etymology of the word “elucidate,” illustrates the type of historical evolution of words that etymological resources can provide. (For more guidance on how to read the Etymonline entries for words like this, see the “Annotate and Note: How to Read Entries from Etymonline” Activity.)

The following reading from Elizabeth Wallis explains how some of our present day English words have evolved from Greek mythological stories.