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Etymology and general linguistics 1

WORD ISSN - Print - Online Journal homepage https www tandfonline com loi rwrd Etymology and General Linguistics Yakov Malkiel To cite this article Yakov Malkiel Etymology and General Linguistics WORD - - DOI To link to this article https doi org Published online Dec Submit your article to this journal Article views View related articles Full Terms Conditions of access and use can be found at https www tandfonline com action journalInformation journalCode rwrd CYAKOVMALKIEL----------------------- Etymology and General Linguistics The anomalous status of etymology Within the bundle of linguistic disciplines etymology occupies a position di ?cult to de ?ne It does not strictly speaking mark a transition between the domains of language viewed chie y as a means of communication linguistics and language considered as a vehicle of art lite ature in the way poetics stylistics and folklore may be interpreted neither does it bear any resemblance to se mantics Of every other discipline say phonology and syntax one can imagine a synchronic and a diachronic projection But synchronic etyrno logy-despite the authority of an aging Vendryes Bulletin de Ia Societe de linguistique de Paris XLIX - Pour une etymologie statique -amounts to scarcely more than a paradox For approximately a century scholars have been operating with the term and concept of folk etymology which again lacks any counterpart in other disciplines Con icting views An appeal to leading authorities to clarify the situation is of little avail since their verdicts have been either evasive or con tradictory In some slimmer introductory treatises from the eleven loosely strung essays forming Sapir's Language to the six stimulating if uneven chapters which Martinet has combined into his Elements de linguistique generale etymology barely if at all receives incidental mention The situation is somewhat di ?erent but hardly less disappointing with the broader outlines Even that most lucid of theorists Saussure who relegates-surely not by chance-his brief discussion to an Appendix pre sents a picture not wholly convincing For him etymology is neither an autonomous discipline nor a smoothly integrated part of evolutionary linguistics it amounts to a special application to early stages of word history of principles generally valid in linguistic research Saussure's prime examples are four pairs of words-all perfectly transparent-illustrating in this order sound change semantic change simultaneous change of sound and meaning and derivation Later more complex relationships come up for mention e g the link of Fr oiseau to Lat aui cellu s the historical study of su ?xes and pre ?xes is likewise included After a somewhat lukewarm remark to the e ?ect that explaining one word means tracing CETYMOLOGY AND GENERAL LINGUISTICS it to other words Saussure recognizes certain ties between etymology on the one hand and such better established disciplines as phonology morphology semantics on the other but doubts that any strict methodology can be prescribed and expressly discards the possibility of rigorous operational arrangement Bloom ?eld's approach is equally unpromising His book contains no single section let alone chapter on etymology pure and