étymologique

Étymologique is a French adjective meaning etymological, i.e., relating to etymology, the study of the origin and historical development of words. In linguistics, lexicography, and philology it is used to qualify words, analyses, or notes that concern a word’s origin, form, and semantic changes over time. An étymologique analysis traces a word to its etymon, documents its passage through languages, and describes phonetic or semantic shifts.

Origin and formation of the term: The adjective is built from the noun étymologie (etymology) with the suffix -ique. Étymologie itself comes from Latin etymologia, which in turn derives from Greek etymología, formed from etymon (Greek ἔτυμον, “true sense”) plus -logia. Thus étymologique literally means “pertaining to the true sense as revealed by the history of a word.”

Usage and scope: Étymologique is commonly employed in dictionaries, grammars, and scholarly works to indicate that a discussion or note concerns the origin of a lexeme. It is used for phrases such as “analyse étymologique,” “origine étymologique,” and “étymologie historique,” as well as in descriptions of how a word has transformed across languages. The adverb form étymologiquement exists for describing actions done in an etymological manner.

See also: etymology, étymologue, étymologie, historical linguistics, philology, lexical etymology.