Abstract Etymology, understood as the search for and identification of word origins, is one the oldest branches in linguistics. In the nineteenth century, etymology was considered a central discipline of historical Romance linguistics. Starting in the first half of the twentieth century, etymology evolved into the preparation of complete word histories, of which identification of a word's etymon was but the first step. Etymology no longer enjoys its earlier status as a core discipline of historical Romance linguistics. This paper seeks to pinpoint the causes for this situation and to suggest ways in which Romance etymology can renew itself as a viable field of research.
Steven N. Dworkin (Wed,) studied this question.