ETYMOLOGY, that part of linguistics which deals with the origin or derivation of words (Gr. grvµos, true, and X&yos, ac count). The Greek word ETUµoc, as applied to words, referred to the meaning rather than to the origin, and the Stoics asserted that the discovery of To ETVµov would explain the essence of the things and ideas represented by words. Plato, in the Cratylus, approaches the modern view and jests at e.g., the derivation of ovpavbs, heaven, &ird rob' (Spay -ra avco, from looking at things above. Until the comparative study of philology and the de velopment of phonetic laws, the derivation of words was largely a matter of guesswork. This popular etymology, or Volksety mologie has had much influence in the form which words take (e.g., "crawfish" or "crayfish," from the French crevis, modern ecrevisse), and has frequently occasioned homonyms. Skeat has embodied in certain canons some principles to be observed in giving the etymology of a word: (1) Ascertain the earliest form and use of the word. Observe chronology. (2) Observe history and geography; borrowings are due to contact. (3) Observe phonetic laws, especially as regards the relation of consonants in Aryan languages, and compare vowel sounds. (4) In comparing two words, A and B, of the same language, of which A has fewer syllables, A must be taken prima facie to be the more original word. (5) In comparing two words, A and B, of the same lan guage and the same number of syllables, the older form can usually be distinguished by the principal vowel's sound. (6) Teutonic strong verbs and the Latin "irregular verbs" are com monly to be taken as primary, related forms as derivative. (7 ) The whole of a word ought to be accounted for; and, in tracing changes of form, infringement of phonetic laws is suspicious. (8) Mere resemblances of form and in sense between unrelated languages are not to be regarded. (9) When words in two lan guages are too much alike, one has probably borrowed from the other. (so) An explanation of an English word must also explain its cognate forms (Intro. to Etym. Dict. of the Eng. Lang. 1898).
An English word is either "the extant formal representative or direct phonetic descendant of an earlier (Teutonic) word, or it has been adopted (popularly) or adapted (in literature) from some foreign language"; finally, there is formation, i.e., the com bination of words or parts of words with each other or with formative syllables. (See Introduction to the Oxford N.E.D., p. xx.) A further classification of words by origin is that into (I) naturals, i.e., purely native words, like "mother," "house"; (2) perfectly naturalized foreign words, like "cat," "beef"; (3) denizens, words naturalized but keeping the foreign pronuncia tion, spelling and inflections, e.g., "focus," "camera"; (4) aliens, e.g., menu, lakh, tarbush; (5) casuals, e.g., bloc, Ausgleich, differ ing from "aliens" in their temporary use. The full etymology of a word should include its phonetic descent, source, and, if of foreign origin, whether by adoption or adaptation, or, if formed, the origin of its several parts. (See also DICTIONARY.) EU (o), a town of north-west France, in the department of Seine-Inf erieure, on the river Bresle, 64 m. N.N.E. of Rouen on the Ouest-Etat railway, and 2 m. E.S.E. of Le Treport, at the mouth of the Bresle, which is canalized between the two towns. Pop. Eu (Augusta) was in existence under the Romans. The first line of its counts, supposed to be descended from the dukes of Normandy, had as heiress Alix (died 1227), who married Raoul (Ralph) de Lusignan. Through their granddaughter Marie, the countship of Eu passed by marriage to the house of Brienne. King John confiscated the countship in 135o, and gave it to John of Artois 0352). The countship passed, through heiresses, in the I5th century, to the house of Cleves, and to that of Lorraine Guise. In 166o Henry II. of Lorraine, duke of Guise, sold it to Anne Marie Louise d'Orleans, duchesse de Montpensier (q.v.), who made it over (1682) to the duke of Maine, bastard son of Louis XIV., as part of the price of the release of her lover Lauzun. The second son of the duke of Maine, Louis Charles de Bourbon bore the title of count of Eu. The estates of Eu were confiscated at the Revolution ; but at the Restoration they were bestowed by Louis XVII. on the duchess-dowager of Orleans who, in 1821, bequeathed them to her son, afterwards King Louis Philippe. They were again confiscated in 1852, but were restored to the Orleans family by the National Assembly after the Franco German War. The title of count of Eu was revived in the 19th century in favour of the eldest son of the duke of Nemours, second son of King Louis Philippe.
The extensive forest of Eu lies to the south-east of the town. The Gothic church of St. Laurent (12th and i3th centuries) has a choir with three tiers of ornamented buttressing and double arches between the nave pillars ; the chapel of the Jesuit college (c. 1625) contains the tombs of Henry, third duke of Guise, and his wife, Katherine of Cleves ; and the chateau, begun by Henry of Guise in 1578, was continued by Mademoiselle de Montpensier in the latter half of the i 7th century, and restored by Louis Philippe. In 1902 it was largely destroyed by fire. The town has a tribunal of commerce, and manufactories of casks and glass; the port has trade in grain and timber.