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.

---

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"

---

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

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

Another etymon for Jews-harp is Jaws-harp, because the place where it is played upon is between the jaws.

From Notes and Queries, Number 18, March 2, 1850 by Various

Were, wert; worth, werth; word and werde, are derived from the same etymon and retain a similarity of meaning.

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

The idea of Yahweh, or Yah, is palpably Egyptian, the Ankh or ever-living One: the etymon, however, was learned at Babylon and is still found amongst the cuneiforms.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 10 by Sir Richard Francis Burton

A more suitable etymon, however, seems to me to be found in Ir. and Obs.

From The River-Names of Europe by Robert Ferguson

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

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

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

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

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