Etymology
Word origin stories

PIE and Me

Cue the PIE rant again. Admiration and respect for PIE linguists as they attempt to magic the lost past back into the living air. However, .... [D.R.H.]
Read article
Word origin stories

Six Degrees of Geek

Now's a good time to hunt the "uncertain origin" words with roots in the 20th century. We have tools to track their paths and smoke them from their lairs. [D.R.H.]
Read article
Word origin stories

Ancient Echoes

Germanic words are mushrooms growing on the same rotten log, to steal a priceless image from Anatoly Liberman. [D.R.H.]
Read article
Word origin stories

Spooky Speculation

A Halloween word with a history. [D.R.H.]
Read article
Word origin stories

Sure About Sherbet

The poor relation of American dessert recipes. By Talia Felix, Assistant Editor.
Read article
Word origin stories

Who Lusts for Certainty Lusts for Lies

We need to talk about the Google Ngram Viewer n-grams. They are wrong. [D.R.H.]
Read article
Word origin stories

A Fig for Dates

reprinted from ten thousand e-mail replies [D.R.H.]
Read article
Word origin stories

Search and Research

Inside the etymonline staff lounge. This is the fun part, if you have a job here. [D.R.H.]
Read article
Word origin stories

Homing in on Harlequin

Etymology ideas about the famous old time clown, by Talia Felix, Assistant Editor.
Read article
Next