etymon

American  

[et-uh-mon] / ˈɛt əˌmɒn /

noun

• etymons,
  plural
• etyma
  plural

1. the linguistic form from which another form is historically derived, as the Latin cor “heart,” which is the etymon of English cordial, or the Indo-European *ḱ (e ) rd-, which is the etymon of Latin cor, Greek kardía, Russian serdtse, and English heart.

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etymon British  

/ ˈɛtɪˌmɒn /

noun

1. a form of a word or morpheme, usually the earliest recorded form or a reconstructed form, from which another word or morpheme is derived: the etymon of English "ewe" is Indo-European " * owi"

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• etyma
  plural
• etymons
  plural

Etymology

Origin of etymon

1560–70; < Latin: the origin of a word < Greek étymon the essential meaning of a word seen in its origin or traced to its grammatical parts (neuter of étymos true, actual, real)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

etymon etyma etymons

But the etymon he proposes is rather unsatisfactory.

From Notes and Queries, No. 209, October 29 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Geneologists, etc. by Various

Was and wast, are the same as were and wert in meaning, being derived from the same etymon.

From Lectures on Language As Particularly Connected with English Grammar. by William Stevens Balch

Your correspondent W. asks the etymon of "Cowley;"—probably "Cow leas," or Cow pasture.

From Notes and Queries, Number 07, December 15, 1849 by Various

And that yt is the kingdome of Mercia, the etymon of the woorde doth teache; for þÿk in the saxon tonge signyfyethe a kingdome; meþcen signyfyethe markes or boundes or marches of Countryes.

From Animaduersions uppon the annotacions and corrections of some imperfections of impressiones of Chaucer's workes 1865 edition by G. H. (George Henry) Kingsley

The old French vairon signifies anything of two colours, and may possibly be the etymon of vaire.

From The Curiosities of Heraldry by Mark Antony Lower

The great mass of the words are traceable to Latin etyma, as in all Romance dialects a large portion of Germanic words are found.

From Frédéric Mistral Poet and Leader in Provence by Charles Alfred Downer

The following etymons have been suggested: 1, pilum, Lat. the head of an arrow; the Spaniards and Italians call this ordinary cuspis.

From The Curiosities of Heraldry by Mark Antony Lower

Narrow etymons of the mere scholar and loose locutions of the ignorant are alike denied a standing.

From Write It Right A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults by Ambrose Bierce

Who shall decide how much our fretwork owes to each of these possible etymons?

From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Ernest Weekley

Ask for their etymons and meaning, and then decide.

From Lectures on Language As Particularly Connected with English Grammar. by William Stevens Balch

Of these Tartar etymons I shall at present content myself with citing one, though, if necessary, it were easy to adduce hundreds. 

From The Bible in Spain - Vol. 2 [of 2] by George Henry Borrow