Lexico Etymology Series


For those of us whose hobbies, interests or profession involve both language and history, discovering the origins of words and sayings, and how the progression of language has shaped their journey to  their current meanings can be fascinating (and sometimes devilishly humourous.)

For this reason, Lexico will be regularly investigating the origins and uses of specific words and terms, dictated by current affairs.

While most etymological resources will just follow the below structure….

Etymology

“the study of the origin and history of words, or a study of this type relating to one particular word”
Origin:
14c., Middle English – ethimolegia “facts of the origin and development of a word”
from Old French – etimologie
from Latin – etymologia
from Ancient Greek – etymologia “analysis of a word to find its true origin"
Breakdown:
“study of the true sense (of a word)”: logia = “study of, speaking of” + etymon “true sense, true meaning”

…Lexico believes that apart from being informative, learning should also be fun and entertaining, so will strive to add some trivia and factoids behind each entry too.

Keep visiting Lexico’s website or Facebook page to regularly discover the origins and fun facts about different words and sayings from the English language (and beyond) including the first edition: quarantine and isolate. Enjoy!