Acceso usuarios
City of Ann Arbor, Estados Unidos
Etymology, understood as the search for and identification of word origins, is one the oldest branches in linguistics. In the nineteenth century, etymology was considered a central discipline of historical Romance linguistics. Starting in the first half of the twentieth century, etymology evolved into the preparation of complete word histories, of which identification of a word's etymon was but the first step. Etymology no longer enjoys its earlier status as a core discipline of historical Romance linguistics. This paper seeks to pinpoint the causes for this situation and to suggest ways in which Romance etymology can renew itself as a viable field of research.
