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* ETYMOLOGY. 260 ETYMOLOGY. word has no etymological relation, lias been equat- ed with Sanskrit gudha, hidden. It is true that many etymologies which are perfectly sound seem at first sight impossible to those who are not acquainted with phonetic laws and the prin- ciples of word-formation. It is also true that many etymologies which are very plausible to students of comparative linguistics are in reality doubtful and accepted only provisionally. Such etymologies may ultimately be discarded, just as the provisional assumptions often accepted by in- vestigators in the exact science- are discarded, if further research shows them to be false. Etymology may be confined to a specific group of languages or dialects. We may thus speak of Romance etymology, where words in the Ro- mance languages are traced back for the most part to folk-Latin- originals (as French mime, self, Old French meisme, Provencal medesme, Old Provencal smetessme, Spanish mismo, Italian medesimo, from folk-Latin semetipsissimum) , Germanic, Celtic, Indo-Iranian etymology, and the like. All these are combined in Indo-Ger- manic etymology. Similarly, we may have Se- mitic, Dravidian, L'ralo-Altaic, or Polynesian ety- mologies, but Indo-Germanic is the most thor- oughly systematized of all, and serves as a model for the rest. It must be borne in mind, however, that accidental resemblance of sound is no proof of etymological kinship. It is. consequently, un- scientific to compare, as some have done, Semitic or Dravidian with Indo-Germanic words. The fact, for example, that Latin taunts sounds like Arabic thaur, both meaning bull, or English sheriff (Anglo-Saxon scir-gerefa, shire-reeve) resembles in sound the Arabic sharif, exalted, also used of an official of a city, implies no relationship. Within a language group the same statement holds true. Sanskrit sit pa, broth, has no connec- tion with English soup, nor are the English verbs drag and draw akin. As an example of etymo- logical procedure, we may take the word for ten in the Indo-Germanic languages. Thus we have English ten, Anglo-Saxon tyn, Old Saxon tehan, Icelandic tin, Gothic taihun, Old High German tehan, New High German zehn, Old Irish >' ich, Trish dniq. Gaelic deug, Cornish dek, Breton dec, Latin decern (whence the Romance group, Italian died, Spanish diez, Old French dis, French dix etc.), Umbrian desen-duf for * decem-duf, twelve (ten -tun). Greek J4kcl, Old Church Slavic , Czech desdty, Polish dziesiaty, Russian d4syatl, Lithuanian deszimtis, Lettish desmit, <i]il Prussian dessimts, Armenian tasn, Albanian Sjete, Avesta, dasa, New Persian dah, Afghan las, Shighni Sis, lis, Sanskrit daian, Prakrit. Pali, dasa, Hindi das, Marathi daha. A c parison of all these forms, and more which might be added to the list, results in the postulation of a pre- Indo-Germanic form "dektn, in which, in ac- cordance with the sound-laws governing the pari ous divisions of the Indo-Germanic languages, anil with reference to the principles of word for- mation (a- in the -ft- formation in old Church Slavic, Czech, Polish, Russian, Lithuanian Lei ti-h. and Old Prussian in the example quoted) the i irious forms of the numeral ten are referred to a convenient formula. (See Philology.) The scope of etymology has been immensely wid- ened by the theories of root-determinatives and tensions, and by the doctrine of the dissyl- labic base or root (see Philology), which have rendered possible the explanation of many words whose derivation had before been unknown. i "ii-:ilt: Pott, Etymologische Forschungen auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen i Det- mold, 1859-74); tick. Vergleichendes Wbrter- Inirli tier indogermanischen Sprachen (3d ed., GSttingen, 1S74-70; 4th ed., incomplete, 1890- 94) : Gray. Indo-Iranian Phonology ( Xew York, 1902); Uhlenbeck, Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Worterbuch der altindischen Sprachen (Amster- dam, 1898-99); Bartholomse, Altiranisches Wor- terbuch (Strassburg, 1903); Hiibschmann, Ety- mologie mid Lautlehre der ossetischen Sprache (Strassburg, 1SS7 ) ; Horn, Grundriss der neuper- sischen Etymologic (Strassburg. 1803); Meyer, Etymologisches Worterbuch der albanesischen Sprache (Strassburg, 1891) ; Hiibschmann, Arme- nisohe Grammatik (I. Theil, Leipzig, 1805) ; Cur- tius, Grundziige the griechischt u Etymologu loth ed.. Leipzig, 1870) : Prellwitz, Etymologisches Worterbuch der griechischen Sprache (Gijttingen, 1802) ; Meyer, Bandbuch der griechischen Ety- mologie (Leipzig. 1901 et seq.) ; Vanicek. Ety- mologisches Worterbuch der lateinischen Sprache (2d ed., Leipzig, 1881) ; Breal and Bailly. Die tionnaire etymologique latin (Paris, 1885) ; Mik- losich, Etymologisches Worterbuch der slaimschi n Sprachen (Vienna, 18S6) ; Uhlenbeck. Kurzge- fasstes etymologisches Worterbuch der gotischen Sprache (2d ed., Amsterdam, 1900) ; Kluge, Ety- mologisches Worterbuch der deutschen Sprache (6th ed., Strassburg, 1800) ; Franek. Ety mo- logisch woordenboek der nederlandsche taal (The Hague. 1884-02); Tamm. Etymologisk srensk ordbok (Stockholm, 1801) ; Dietz, Etymologisches Worterbuch der romanischen Sprachen (2d ed., Bonn, 1861-62) : Kiirting. Lateinisch-romanisches Worterbuch (2d ed., Paderborn, 1001) ; Coelho, Diccionario manuel etymologico da lingua portu- gesa (Lisbon, 1800) ; Braehet, Dictionnaire ety- mologique de la langue francaise (2d ed„ Paris, n. d.) ; Scheler, Dictionnaire d'Atymologie fran- caise (Paris, 1S80) ; Miiller, Etymologisches Worterbuch der engttschen Sprache 1 2d ed., 2 vols., Cothen, 1878) : Skent. Principles oj Eng- lish Etymology (2 vols.. Oxford. 1887-91) ;' Ety- mological Dictionary of the English Language Chi ed.. Oxford, 1898) : Palmer. Folk-Etymology I London, ]ss2> : Osthoff, Etymologische Parerga ( Leipzig. 1991 ). ETYMOLOGY, Figures of. Terms employed in etymological discussions. They must be care- fully distinguished from the figures of rhetoric or speech, of prosody, and of syntax, although there are instances in which the different classes overlap. The most important figures of etymol- ogy .in' a- follows: Apha?resis (Gk. dtfialpctris, B I. iking away) is the loss of the initial letter in' syllable of a word, as Sanskrit sllia, 'ye are,' bul Greek iari, Latin estis; Sanskrit kudd&la, hoe, but Singhalese udalu; English 'low for allow. Apocope (Gk. atroKOTr^, a ending off) is (In- same process at the end of a word a- Creek Trap, "beside," beside 7ra/«i (cf. Sanskrit p&r) ; Latin /'ne. 'do,' be-ide fare ; French bet, 'beautiful.' hut Latin bellum : Old High German hirti, 'shepherd,' but German Hirt; Avesta raoyna, 'oil,' but Ka- shani Persian ro, beside ruyan. This phenome- non i- din- iii almost every case to the weakening and ultimate disappearance of the final vowel or syllable on account of the stress-accent in the preceding pari of the word. Assimilation (Lat