science

Medieval etymology

Medieval etymology is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Medieval etymology rather than just read about it. In short: Medieval etymology is the study of the history of words that was conducted by scholars in the European Middle Ages. Etymology is the study of the origins of words.

Key takeaways

Medieval etymology belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Medieval etymology to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Medieval etymology from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Medieval etymology is the study of the history of words that was conducted by scholars in the European Middle Ages. Etymology is the study of the origins of words. Before the beginnings of large-scale modern lexicography in the 16th century and the development of the comparative method in the 18th, a scientific etymology (in the sense understood by modern linguistics) was not possible. However, grammarians had always speculated about the origins of words. There are many examples of etymology in the Bible, for example, and in the works of classical writers. In cases where the history of the words was simple, such speculations have sometimes proved correct in the light of modern scholarship, but generally they were based on superficial similarities. Like classical etymology, Medieval Christian etymology drew tenuous connections between superficially similar words, but exegetical etymology was radically new in what it then did with the connections. The purpose of etymology was to elucidate the spiritual background to a concept, drawing out aspects of semantics in a similar manner to the symbolic interpretation of the natural world. An example: Hugh of Saint Victor derived the Latin word mors ('death') from morsus ('bite'): a morsu primi hominis qui vetitae arboris pomum mordens mortem incurrit ('from the bite of the first man, who, biting the apple of the forbidden tree, incurs death'). The etymology was thus crafted to teach a spiritual truth. The fact that the same author knew other, alternative and logically incompatible etymologies for the same word (mors comes also from amarus, 'bitter', or from the name of the god of war Mars) did not devalue the lesson, since it was the spiritual meaning and not the philological accuracy which stood in the foreground. As yet there is still no satisfactory history of Christian etymology, but a very useful discussion of it is that of Friedrich Ohly in his essay "On the spiritual sense of the word in the Middle Ages". Ohly writes:

It would be foolish to deride such an etymology as unscientific if it helped the people of its time to arrive at a deeper signification of the meaning of the word, since it was precisely the task of etymology at that time to illuminate the spiritual meaning of the word. Our modern etymology would have appeared questionable to the Middle Ages, because it is bogged down in the literal meaning of the word and does not give any explanation of the meaning of the world or of life. The spiritual meaning of the word with its universe of signification, and its scope of signification, contains an interpretation of meaning that derives from the Christian spirit and is thus a guide to life...

Notes

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Medieval etymology

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Medieval etymology claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Medieval etymology before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Medieval etymology ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Medieval etymology

In research: Medieval etymology appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Medieval etymology in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Medieval etymology is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Etymology, History of linguistics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Medieval etymology outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Medieval etymology in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Medieval etymology means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Medieval etymology out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Medieval etymology in simple terms?

Medieval etymology is the study of the history of words that was conducted by scholars in the European Middle Ages. Etymology is the study of the origins of words.

Why does Medieval etymology matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Medieval etymology?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Medieval etymology.