EtymologyNavigating the site:
Etymological method of analyzing meaning
Etymology is the study of the origins of words we use today. Studying the derivation of a language by looking up words, especially root words is useful to discover how and to what extent meanings change over time.
Take this example from a writer in the Guardian newspaper:
"the word address 'arrived with the Normans' (1066) and 'already contains within it the possibilities of direction, readiness, attitude, diction, discourse, inscription and attire'. By 1712 it had become the name and place to which a letter might be directed, but only by 1880 had it come to mean a physical location, irrespective of the person."
Here we see that the word has changed its meaning over time.
The study of the derivations of words, both
a. meaning is fluid as the word is used.
b. change in meaning over time.
i.e. – that is to say.a. Meaning [see for example, ecology]
biocoenosis: biotic
or ecological community, a functional unit.
biocenosis: a variant spelling -- group of interacting organisms.
It was coined in c. 1883, from two Greek root words
| bio |
coenosis |
| Bios | Koinosis |
| life | common |
| having a maturation cycle | functionally similar |
any organic and inorganic components that form a community of living beings, or an ecological system, or a biological community --particularly when forming a self-regulating unit over a defined, connected or integrated space.
A related word is
HOLOCOENOTIC
"acting in concert —used of the impact of a complex environment on living organisms."
b. Change in meaning over time.
Which is older -- the words: science or technology?
1615:
1660:
What does each one mean?
One can organize a paper etymologically by showing how a set of related words, have altered their meaning over time and use these shifts in emphasis to contribute to your analysis of a concept or body of knowledge.
nature means? | places are? | Antonyms
Science Index | Social Science Index | Population Index | Global Warming Index | Nature Index
