étymologie (French)
Where does "étymologie" come from?
The word 'étymologie' traces back to the Ancient Greek 'etumología', which combines 'étumos', meaning 'true' or 'real', with 'lógos', meaning 'word' or 'discourse'. This term representing the study of a word's 'true sense' passed into Latin as 'etymologia' before eventually being borrowed into French. It serves as a fascinating reminder that at its heart, etymology is simply the quest to uncover the original reality behind our language.
Full etymology tree
- étymologie (French), 'etymology'
- borrowed etymologia (Latin), 'etymology'
- borrowed ἐτυμολογία (etumología) (Ancient Greek), 'etymology'
- compound ἐτυμόλογος (etŭmólogos) (Ancient Greek), 'studying etymology'
- compound ἔτυμος (étumos) (Ancient Greek), 'true, real, sure'
- inherited ἐτεός (eteós) (Ancient Greek), 'in accordance with reality or one's honest perception of it: true, genuine'
- compound -λογος (-logos) (Ancient Greek), 'combining form of λόγος (lógos, “word, speech”)'
- derived λόγος (lógos) (Ancient Greek), 'that which is said: word, sentence, speech, story, debate, utterance, argument'
- compound ἔτυμος (étumos) (Ancient Greek), 'true, real, sure'
- suffix -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) (Ancient Greek), 'Primitive suffix added to the stems of adjectives in -ύς (-ús) and some nouns to form feminine gender'
- compound ἐτυμόλογος (etŭmólogos) (Ancient Greek), 'studying etymology'
- borrowed ἐτυμολογία (etumología) (Ancient Greek), 'etymology'
- borrowed etymologia (Latin), 'etymology'
Ancestors
- etymologia (Latin)
- ἐτυμολογία (Ancient Greek)
Descendants and derived words
- etimoloji (Turkish)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris