Etymological Fallacy

Etymology is the study of lexical history, especially the history of an individual linguistic unit, such as a word, through its earlier forms, called etymons.

The etymology of etymology, for example, is, in brief, as follows: Middle English ethimologie, from Latin etymologia, from Greek etymologia, a combination of etymon ("literal meaning of a word according to its origin") and -logia ("-logy," that is, "oral or written expression"). Greek etymon comes from etymos ("true"), and -logia comes from logos ("word"); therefore, the original Greek sense is "true word."

The etymological fallacy (also known as the abuse of etymology) is the belief that an earlier meaning, especially the first known meaning, of a word is the word's true, real, or correct meaning. According to this view, the current meaning of the word, if different from the earlier meaning, is incorrect.

Analysts who disagree with this view, and therefore regard it as an etymological fallacy, see at least two flaws in it: the obscurity of original meaning and the irrevocable historical changes that have already occurred in countless words.

Obscurity of Original Meaning
The original meaning of a word is an obscure concept in at least two ways.

(1) The earliest known form of a word often has multiple meanings. Strictly speaking, there is no single original meaning, only a cluster of meanings. Arbitrarily selecting one of those meanings as the true one is not logical.

English logic, for example, goes back to Greek logos. One meaning of Greek logos is word, as seen in English logo (motto).

However, if someone argues today that logic is merely the manipulation of words because the original meaning of Greek logos is word, the argument will fall apart because even in ancient Greek times logos had many other meanings, including speech, reason, argument, principle.

(2) The original meaning of a word is also obscure because no one really knows the truly ultimate origins of many words. Etymology can go back only so far, and then there is a dead end. The earliest known version of a word was merely one stage in the process of a word's evolution.

Many English words can be traced back to Indo-European roots. For example, acre and agriculture go back to the Indo-European root agro- ("place to which cattle are driven"), which is a derivative of ag- ("to drive cattle"). What, if any, forms and meanings existed earlier, no one knows.

Science goes back to the Indo-European root sci- ("to cut"). Again, possible earlier forms and meanings are unknown.

Historical Changes in Meaning
Most common words have accumulated, or gone through, several changes in meaning during their history.

A well-known example is the adjective gay. It entered Middle English in the 14th century from Middle French with the basic meaning "full of joy." Later it accumulated a wide range of new senses while retaining the original one: "high-spirited, bright, lively, showy, brilliant in color, given to social pleasures, licentious." Since the 1960s, the word has added yet another sense, "homosexual."

Hysteria goes back to Greek hysterikos ("hysteria"), from hystera ("womb"). The ancient Greeks believed that hysteria was peculiar to women and was caused by disturbances of the uterus. In modern use, the word also applies to men.

Nice goes back through many English senses, including "fastidious" (still applicable, though uncommon), "lascivious" (obsolete), and "foolish" (obsolete). It can be traced back to Latin nescius ("ignorant"), from nescire ("not to know"), a combination of ne ("not") and scire ("to know").

Silly began in Old English as saelig ("happy, fortunate"), which became Middle English seely ("happy, well-omened, spiritually blessed, innocent, deserving of compassion"). In the 15th century, the spelling changed to silly, which at first retained the meaning "deserving of compassion." However, during the 16th century, pejorative senses of the word began to evolve from that meaning: "helpless, weak, ignorant, feeble-minded, foolish."

Such historical changes in meaning are not only numerous in, but characteristic of, the English language.

Etymological Fallacy
Arguing that an earlier meaning of a word is the "true" or "correct" meaning can generate fascinating debates that may sway some individuals to use certain words in certain ways.

However, the argument cannot hold up on a consistent basis. Too many words have obscure "original" meanings and/or have gone through too many irrevocable historical changes in meaning.

Should nice mean "ignorant" because of its Latin origin? Should silly mean "happy" or "spiritually blessed" because of its earlier senses?

The meaning of a modern word depends on the way it is used now. The attempt to reverse the historical forces that created the current meaning by arguing etymologically is widely regarded by language experts as the etymological fallacy.
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Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. 1995. Reprint, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2006.

The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1989.