ETYMOLOGY, (from the Greek C2111405, true or real, and Aoyos, speech,) the science which investigates the na ture, origin, derivation, and formation of words.
The subject of etymology being words spoken or written, it may be viewed under two aspects : 1st, As forming a part of particular grammar; 2d, as consti tuting a branch of the philosophy of language. In the former, the office of etymology is to mark out the dif ferent classes of words, or parts of speech, as they are usually termed ; the purposes which these respectively serve ; the inflections or changes which they may un dergo; and the modes in which, by composition or de rivation, they are to be deduced or formed from one ano ther. In the latter, the etymologist extends his views beyond mere grammatical formations, to the remote and recondite analysis of words, whether primitive or deri ved, with a view to trace out the actual origin, progress, and filiation of languages, and, if possible, to discover the radical nuclei or germs of human speech, as expres sive of human thought. The elucidation of the first brawl]) belongs to grammarians and lexicographers ; the second forms an interesting subject of philosophical enquiry.
Considered under either point of view, the importance of the study of etymology cannot justly be called in question. As a part of particular grammes, it consti tutes a fundamental and essential branch of it, absolute ly necessary for the knowledge of the language, and es sentially requisite for attaining either precision of thought, or accuracy of expression. As an object of scientific research, etymological disquisitions, temperately con ducted, may contribute much to our acquaintance with the intellectual faculties : throw light on obscure points of history, or national antiquities; or present many cu rious facts respecting the progress of human knowledge: --they certainly cannot, as some have absurdly maintain cd, disclose to us the essences of but they may at least furnish assistance towards unfolding the actions of the mind in observing and discovering the objects af fccti:.g it. Prejudices have indeed been entertained against researches of this description, as if they were founded upon no certain principles, but resting merely upon arbitrary conjecture, were consequently unfit to lead to satisfactory results. But this objection applies not to the nature of the subject, but to the mode in which the investigation of it has sometimes been conducted. If fanciful analogies are allowed to usurp the place of rational observation, etymological discussions may no doubt present a mass of learned absurdities ; but when conducted upon comprehensive and philosophical views, and confined within their just and appropriate limits, they may lead to conclusions gratifying to the inquisitive mind, and beneficial to science at large.
For the conducting of etymological enquiries, it is not easy to lay down very specific rules ; but some general principles may be mentioned.
In studying or explaining the etymology of any parti cular language, the nature and genius of the language itself must regulate the mode of proceeding. There are, however, general principles essential to the expres sion of thought, and consequently common to all langua ges. Speech is the expression, by articulate sounds, of our internal thoughts and feelings; now, as the opera tions of the human mind are uniform in similar circum stances, language, wherever formed and introduced, must have proceeded in a track so far uniform, that at least the constituent parts of all languages must be in reality the same, though, perhaps the characters of each part may be more distinctly marked in some than in others. In some, many of the more common relations of objects, or modifications of action, are expressed by minute but significant changes or inflections of the radi cal word; in others, the changes of the radical word are few, its multiplied relations, or modifications, being denoted by supplementary terms, or by peculiar colloca tion. The ancient Greek and Latin languages are ex amples of the former ; most of the languages of modern Europe of the latter. According to the peculiar struc ture of the language in these points, a corresponding difference takes place in the character of its etymology, more refined and complex in some, more simple in others. Where many relations and circumstances are expressed by means of inflection, that branch of etymology which treats of it, must become an important and fundamental object of attention. Such a language possesses this advantage, that when the laws of its inflection are under stood, and the radical meaning of the verb or noun com prehended, each word, whatever place it may occupy in the sentence, has its precise relation to the others ascer tained. In languages of less artificial structure, where recourse must be had to supplementary terms, much of the sense must depend upon collocation alone. Langua ges of the former description are more susceptible of variety of arrangement, as well as harmony of modula tion; in languages of the latter kind, the arrangement is necessarily more confined and uniform, but it has been thought that accuracy and perspicuity are thereby better attained.