What are some good sites for researching etymology?Are there any good books or articles on the etymology of dermatology-related terminology and/or cutaneous condition names?Why are there two pronunciations for “either”?What is the etymology of “…kick ass and take names”?What is the etymology of “golden boy”?What is the origin of the phrase “forty winks,” meaning a short nap?Meaning of the “rupt” suffix/prefixOrigin of “Erry” (every)“Birds and bees” originsWhat is the etymology of the phrase “Holy Trinity”?What is the etymology of WERE in the Second Conditional?Looking for an old limerick mentioning a character named “Lady Jane”

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What are some good sites for researching etymology?


Are there any good books or articles on the etymology of dermatology-related terminology and/or cutaneous condition names?Why are there two pronunciations for “either”?What is the etymology of “…kick ass and take names”?What is the etymology of “golden boy”?What is the origin of the phrase “forty winks,” meaning a short nap?Meaning of the “rupt” suffix/prefixOrigin of “Erry” (every)“Birds and bees” originsWhat is the etymology of the phrase “Holy Trinity”?What is the etymology of WERE in the Second Conditional?Looking for an old limerick mentioning a character named “Lady Jane”













12















I'm wondering about the origins of a particular word and, while my first thought was to ask the ELU community, I decided I should do the work myself.



Where should I start looking? I'd love to see some suggestions.










share|improve this question



















  • 1





    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it should be migrated to meta.

    – Mitch
    10 hours ago















12















I'm wondering about the origins of a particular word and, while my first thought was to ask the ELU community, I decided I should do the work myself.



Where should I start looking? I'd love to see some suggestions.










share|improve this question



















  • 1





    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it should be migrated to meta.

    – Mitch
    10 hours ago













12












12








12


4






I'm wondering about the origins of a particular word and, while my first thought was to ask the ELU community, I decided I should do the work myself.



Where should I start looking? I'd love to see some suggestions.










share|improve this question
















I'm wondering about the origins of a particular word and, while my first thought was to ask the ELU community, I decided I should do the work myself.



Where should I start looking? I'd love to see some suggestions.







etymology research






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Dec 16 '13 at 12:46


























community wiki





4 revs, 3 users 43%
J.T. Grimes








  • 1





    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it should be migrated to meta.

    – Mitch
    10 hours ago












  • 1





    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it should be migrated to meta.

    – Mitch
    10 hours ago







1




1





I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it should be migrated to meta.

– Mitch
10 hours ago





I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it should be migrated to meta.

– Mitch
10 hours ago










3 Answers
3






active

oldest

votes


















16














  • etymonline is a great resource for looking up specific words.


  • If you are at a university, you might have OED access, which is the most in-depth and hardcore etymology resource (if you can get to it).


  • Take Our Word For It is a fun website for browsing through and learning about etymologies in a more entertaining, less structured way.






share|improve this answer




















  • 3





    All great suggestions. In my experience a lot of phrase or word etymologies will appear in one source but won't appear in another or vice versa, so my favorite method is still to just google each one and include the word etymology.

    – Dan
    Sep 7 '10 at 19:30











  • +! for OED, my absolute favorite–still pricy, good note on uni access

    – Charlie
    Sep 9 '10 at 0:57






  • 1





    +1 again for the OED. Many public libraries also have OED access, depending on where you live.

    – PLL
    Nov 8 '11 at 13:55


















2














General purpose:



  • Online Etymology Dictionary


  • Google Books, set date range and sort by date*

  • Google Ngram Viewer

  • Bill Mullins has a giant list of Full Text Databases

  • Internet Archive

  • Project Gutenberg

  • HathiTrust Digital Library

  • Topsy for Tweets


  • The Right Rhymes: hop-hop slang defined


  • Rap Stats by Rap Genius gives an idea of earliest use, but cannot be searched by time

Newspapers:



  • USA: Chronicling America (1836-1922) by the Library of Congress

  • Australia: Trove (-1954) by the National Library of Australia

  • New Zealand: Papers Past (1839-1945) by the Nation Library of New Zealand

Particularly for computing terms:




  • Google Groups for Usenet archives (also good for slang) (1981 - present)


  • DSpace@MIT for the CSAIL archives (1959 - present)

  • IETF's RFC archive (1969 - present)


  • PDP-10 software archive (~1967 - ~1990), for old source code


  • Tech Model Railroad Club dictionary, TMRC 1st & 2nd editions (1959, 1960)


  • The Jargon File and its archives (also here) (1981 - 2003)

  • MIT's The Tech newspaper archives (1881 - present)


  • Bitsavers' Software and PDF Document Archive (misc. dates)



    * Care must be taken with Google Books' metadata, especially when only a snippet is shown: occasionally the book was published later than the the year Google claims it was, and sometimes they accidentally include multiple books for each record.



Therefore it's important to double check the date: scroll up to confirm the real date for "full view" books, and for preview/"snippet view" verify with another source (such as the Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg or the HathiTrust Digital Library).






share|improve this answer
































    0














    I would also like to add our etymology dictionary that draws directed etymology graphs called Etymologeek.com.



    Here is an example of a directed graph:
    directed etymology graph for the word elephant



    It works in multiple languages, providing etymology data, descendants, related words and more. It also has a pretty quick search, and the index is constantly growing in the number of words and slowly growing in accuracy too.






    share|improve this answer
























      Your Answer








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      3 Answers
      3






      active

      oldest

      votes








      3 Answers
      3






      active

      oldest

      votes









      active

      oldest

      votes






      active

      oldest

      votes









      16














      • etymonline is a great resource for looking up specific words.


      • If you are at a university, you might have OED access, which is the most in-depth and hardcore etymology resource (if you can get to it).


      • Take Our Word For It is a fun website for browsing through and learning about etymologies in a more entertaining, less structured way.






      share|improve this answer




















      • 3





        All great suggestions. In my experience a lot of phrase or word etymologies will appear in one source but won't appear in another or vice versa, so my favorite method is still to just google each one and include the word etymology.

        – Dan
        Sep 7 '10 at 19:30











      • +! for OED, my absolute favorite–still pricy, good note on uni access

        – Charlie
        Sep 9 '10 at 0:57






      • 1





        +1 again for the OED. Many public libraries also have OED access, depending on where you live.

        – PLL
        Nov 8 '11 at 13:55















      16














      • etymonline is a great resource for looking up specific words.


      • If you are at a university, you might have OED access, which is the most in-depth and hardcore etymology resource (if you can get to it).


      • Take Our Word For It is a fun website for browsing through and learning about etymologies in a more entertaining, less structured way.






      share|improve this answer




















      • 3





        All great suggestions. In my experience a lot of phrase or word etymologies will appear in one source but won't appear in another or vice versa, so my favorite method is still to just google each one and include the word etymology.

        – Dan
        Sep 7 '10 at 19:30











      • +! for OED, my absolute favorite–still pricy, good note on uni access

        – Charlie
        Sep 9 '10 at 0:57






      • 1





        +1 again for the OED. Many public libraries also have OED access, depending on where you live.

        – PLL
        Nov 8 '11 at 13:55













      16












      16








      16







      • etymonline is a great resource for looking up specific words.


      • If you are at a university, you might have OED access, which is the most in-depth and hardcore etymology resource (if you can get to it).


      • Take Our Word For It is a fun website for browsing through and learning about etymologies in a more entertaining, less structured way.






      share|improve this answer















      • etymonline is a great resource for looking up specific words.


      • If you are at a university, you might have OED access, which is the most in-depth and hardcore etymology resource (if you can get to it).


      • Take Our Word For It is a fun website for browsing through and learning about etymologies in a more entertaining, less structured way.







      share|improve this answer














      share|improve this answer



      share|improve this answer








      edited Sep 7 '10 at 18:50


























      community wiki





      2 revs
      Kosmonaut








      • 3





        All great suggestions. In my experience a lot of phrase or word etymologies will appear in one source but won't appear in another or vice versa, so my favorite method is still to just google each one and include the word etymology.

        – Dan
        Sep 7 '10 at 19:30











      • +! for OED, my absolute favorite–still pricy, good note on uni access

        – Charlie
        Sep 9 '10 at 0:57






      • 1





        +1 again for the OED. Many public libraries also have OED access, depending on where you live.

        – PLL
        Nov 8 '11 at 13:55












      • 3





        All great suggestions. In my experience a lot of phrase or word etymologies will appear in one source but won't appear in another or vice versa, so my favorite method is still to just google each one and include the word etymology.

        – Dan
        Sep 7 '10 at 19:30











      • +! for OED, my absolute favorite–still pricy, good note on uni access

        – Charlie
        Sep 9 '10 at 0:57






      • 1





        +1 again for the OED. Many public libraries also have OED access, depending on where you live.

        – PLL
        Nov 8 '11 at 13:55







      3




      3





      All great suggestions. In my experience a lot of phrase or word etymologies will appear in one source but won't appear in another or vice versa, so my favorite method is still to just google each one and include the word etymology.

      – Dan
      Sep 7 '10 at 19:30





      All great suggestions. In my experience a lot of phrase or word etymologies will appear in one source but won't appear in another or vice versa, so my favorite method is still to just google each one and include the word etymology.

      – Dan
      Sep 7 '10 at 19:30













      +! for OED, my absolute favorite–still pricy, good note on uni access

      – Charlie
      Sep 9 '10 at 0:57





      +! for OED, my absolute favorite–still pricy, good note on uni access

      – Charlie
      Sep 9 '10 at 0:57




      1




      1





      +1 again for the OED. Many public libraries also have OED access, depending on where you live.

      – PLL
      Nov 8 '11 at 13:55





      +1 again for the OED. Many public libraries also have OED access, depending on where you live.

      – PLL
      Nov 8 '11 at 13:55













      2














      General purpose:



      • Online Etymology Dictionary


      • Google Books, set date range and sort by date*

      • Google Ngram Viewer

      • Bill Mullins has a giant list of Full Text Databases

      • Internet Archive

      • Project Gutenberg

      • HathiTrust Digital Library

      • Topsy for Tweets


      • The Right Rhymes: hop-hop slang defined


      • Rap Stats by Rap Genius gives an idea of earliest use, but cannot be searched by time

      Newspapers:



      • USA: Chronicling America (1836-1922) by the Library of Congress

      • Australia: Trove (-1954) by the National Library of Australia

      • New Zealand: Papers Past (1839-1945) by the Nation Library of New Zealand

      Particularly for computing terms:




      • Google Groups for Usenet archives (also good for slang) (1981 - present)


      • DSpace@MIT for the CSAIL archives (1959 - present)

      • IETF's RFC archive (1969 - present)


      • PDP-10 software archive (~1967 - ~1990), for old source code


      • Tech Model Railroad Club dictionary, TMRC 1st & 2nd editions (1959, 1960)


      • The Jargon File and its archives (also here) (1981 - 2003)

      • MIT's The Tech newspaper archives (1881 - present)


      • Bitsavers' Software and PDF Document Archive (misc. dates)



        * Care must be taken with Google Books' metadata, especially when only a snippet is shown: occasionally the book was published later than the the year Google claims it was, and sometimes they accidentally include multiple books for each record.



      Therefore it's important to double check the date: scroll up to confirm the real date for "full view" books, and for preview/"snippet view" verify with another source (such as the Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg or the HathiTrust Digital Library).






      share|improve this answer





























        2














        General purpose:



        • Online Etymology Dictionary


        • Google Books, set date range and sort by date*

        • Google Ngram Viewer

        • Bill Mullins has a giant list of Full Text Databases

        • Internet Archive

        • Project Gutenberg

        • HathiTrust Digital Library

        • Topsy for Tweets


        • The Right Rhymes: hop-hop slang defined


        • Rap Stats by Rap Genius gives an idea of earliest use, but cannot be searched by time

        Newspapers:



        • USA: Chronicling America (1836-1922) by the Library of Congress

        • Australia: Trove (-1954) by the National Library of Australia

        • New Zealand: Papers Past (1839-1945) by the Nation Library of New Zealand

        Particularly for computing terms:




        • Google Groups for Usenet archives (also good for slang) (1981 - present)


        • DSpace@MIT for the CSAIL archives (1959 - present)

        • IETF's RFC archive (1969 - present)


        • PDP-10 software archive (~1967 - ~1990), for old source code


        • Tech Model Railroad Club dictionary, TMRC 1st & 2nd editions (1959, 1960)


        • The Jargon File and its archives (also here) (1981 - 2003)

        • MIT's The Tech newspaper archives (1881 - present)


        • Bitsavers' Software and PDF Document Archive (misc. dates)



          * Care must be taken with Google Books' metadata, especially when only a snippet is shown: occasionally the book was published later than the the year Google claims it was, and sometimes they accidentally include multiple books for each record.



        Therefore it's important to double check the date: scroll up to confirm the real date for "full view" books, and for preview/"snippet view" verify with another source (such as the Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg or the HathiTrust Digital Library).






        share|improve this answer



























          2












          2








          2







          General purpose:



          • Online Etymology Dictionary


          • Google Books, set date range and sort by date*

          • Google Ngram Viewer

          • Bill Mullins has a giant list of Full Text Databases

          • Internet Archive

          • Project Gutenberg

          • HathiTrust Digital Library

          • Topsy for Tweets


          • The Right Rhymes: hop-hop slang defined


          • Rap Stats by Rap Genius gives an idea of earliest use, but cannot be searched by time

          Newspapers:



          • USA: Chronicling America (1836-1922) by the Library of Congress

          • Australia: Trove (-1954) by the National Library of Australia

          • New Zealand: Papers Past (1839-1945) by the Nation Library of New Zealand

          Particularly for computing terms:




          • Google Groups for Usenet archives (also good for slang) (1981 - present)


          • DSpace@MIT for the CSAIL archives (1959 - present)

          • IETF's RFC archive (1969 - present)


          • PDP-10 software archive (~1967 - ~1990), for old source code


          • Tech Model Railroad Club dictionary, TMRC 1st & 2nd editions (1959, 1960)


          • The Jargon File and its archives (also here) (1981 - 2003)

          • MIT's The Tech newspaper archives (1881 - present)


          • Bitsavers' Software and PDF Document Archive (misc. dates)



            * Care must be taken with Google Books' metadata, especially when only a snippet is shown: occasionally the book was published later than the the year Google claims it was, and sometimes they accidentally include multiple books for each record.



          Therefore it's important to double check the date: scroll up to confirm the real date for "full view" books, and for preview/"snippet view" verify with another source (such as the Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg or the HathiTrust Digital Library).






          share|improve this answer















          General purpose:



          • Online Etymology Dictionary


          • Google Books, set date range and sort by date*

          • Google Ngram Viewer

          • Bill Mullins has a giant list of Full Text Databases

          • Internet Archive

          • Project Gutenberg

          • HathiTrust Digital Library

          • Topsy for Tweets


          • The Right Rhymes: hop-hop slang defined


          • Rap Stats by Rap Genius gives an idea of earliest use, but cannot be searched by time

          Newspapers:



          • USA: Chronicling America (1836-1922) by the Library of Congress

          • Australia: Trove (-1954) by the National Library of Australia

          • New Zealand: Papers Past (1839-1945) by the Nation Library of New Zealand

          Particularly for computing terms:




          • Google Groups for Usenet archives (also good for slang) (1981 - present)


          • DSpace@MIT for the CSAIL archives (1959 - present)

          • IETF's RFC archive (1969 - present)


          • PDP-10 software archive (~1967 - ~1990), for old source code


          • Tech Model Railroad Club dictionary, TMRC 1st & 2nd editions (1959, 1960)


          • The Jargon File and its archives (also here) (1981 - 2003)

          • MIT's The Tech newspaper archives (1881 - present)


          • Bitsavers' Software and PDF Document Archive (misc. dates)



            * Care must be taken with Google Books' metadata, especially when only a snippet is shown: occasionally the book was published later than the the year Google claims it was, and sometimes they accidentally include multiple books for each record.



          Therefore it's important to double check the date: scroll up to confirm the real date for "full view" books, and for preview/"snippet view" verify with another source (such as the Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg or the HathiTrust Digital Library).







          share|improve this answer














          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited May 23 '14 at 13:12


























          community wiki





          7 revs
          Hugo






















              0














              I would also like to add our etymology dictionary that draws directed etymology graphs called Etymologeek.com.



              Here is an example of a directed graph:
              directed etymology graph for the word elephant



              It works in multiple languages, providing etymology data, descendants, related words and more. It also has a pretty quick search, and the index is constantly growing in the number of words and slowly growing in accuracy too.






              share|improve this answer





























                0














                I would also like to add our etymology dictionary that draws directed etymology graphs called Etymologeek.com.



                Here is an example of a directed graph:
                directed etymology graph for the word elephant



                It works in multiple languages, providing etymology data, descendants, related words and more. It also has a pretty quick search, and the index is constantly growing in the number of words and slowly growing in accuracy too.






                share|improve this answer



























                  0












                  0








                  0







                  I would also like to add our etymology dictionary that draws directed etymology graphs called Etymologeek.com.



                  Here is an example of a directed graph:
                  directed etymology graph for the word elephant



                  It works in multiple languages, providing etymology data, descendants, related words and more. It also has a pretty quick search, and the index is constantly growing in the number of words and slowly growing in accuracy too.






                  share|improve this answer















                  I would also like to add our etymology dictionary that draws directed etymology graphs called Etymologeek.com.



                  Here is an example of a directed graph:
                  directed etymology graph for the word elephant



                  It works in multiple languages, providing etymology data, descendants, related words and more. It also has a pretty quick search, and the index is constantly growing in the number of words and slowly growing in accuracy too.







                  share|improve this answer














                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer








                  answered 10 hours ago


























                  community wiki





                  lyzazel




























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