Etymology – etymon

Historical
or diachronic
lexicology
Etymology?
(1) ‘Origin and history of a vocable
(= grouping of lexical units
[= lexemes or idioms])’
(2) ‘Branch of linguistics that
studies the origin and the
history of vocables’

Etymon?
‘Linguistic sign (lexeme or affix)
from which descended a given
linguistic sign’
Etymological classes

(1) Inherited lexicon
= normally transmitted lexical units
(from the common ancestor
of the language family)

(2) Borrowings (= loan words)
= lexicals units which were taken
from another language

(3) Internal creations
= new lexical units constructed
from existing materials
in the same language
Etymon: inherited lexicon
= Common ancestor of a cognate set
Etymon
Proto-Germanic *fader
Engl. father
Germ. Vater
Dutch vader
a. s. o.
Etymon: borrowings
= Borrowed lexical unit
(of the donour langage)
Etymon
Engl. dessert < French dessert
Etymon: internal creations
It depends...

Etyma
(1) Derivation:
type of word-formation in which new
lexemes are created by adding affixes to
existing lexemes
Example: (TO) WASH + -ABLE > WASHABLE

(2) Compounding:
type of word-formation in which new
lexemes are created by joining two or
more lexemes
Example: (TO) SCARE + CROW >
SCARECROW
Idioms and collocations?

Idioms:
Should their etyma be phrases?
Clearly, this is a blind spot of
etymological theory and practice!

Collocations:
As collocations are not linguistic
signs, they do not have
etymologies (nor etyma)
However, we should try to identify
their source
Example: Fr. poser un lapin

poser un lapin [à qqn]
lit. « to plant a rabbit [on somebody] »
‘to stand [somebody] up’

Idiom or collocation?

TLF: idiom (« Expr. »)
poser des lapins ‘to be in the habit
of standing [somebody] up’

Collocation!

ne me pose pas de lapin! ‘do not
stand me up !’
Diachronic perspective?

LAPIN1

‘rabbit’ (since ca 1450)
monter en lapin ‘to ride a
coach sitting next to the
coachman (where no
passengers are supposed to
sit), so as to travel as a
passenger in overload’
(1809–1897)
More of the same

voyager en lapin ‘to travel [riding a coach]
sitting next to the coachman as a passenger
in overload’ (1828–1858)

‘sitting next to the
coachman (where no passengers
are supposed to sit), so as to travel
as a passenger in overload’ (1897)
EN LAPIN

‘passenger in overload in a
coach, who sits next to the
coachman (where no passengers
are supposed to sit)’ (1873–1922)
LAPIN2
Towards ‘illicite behaviour’

FAIRE CADEAU D’UN LAPIN
[à qqn] ‘to
omit to pay [a prostitute]’ (1878)

[à qqn] ‘to omit to
pay [a prostitute]’ (1881)
POSER UN LAPIN
‘fact of not fulfilling a duty
[toward somebody]’ (postulated)
LAPIN3

poser un de
ces lapins ‘to
fail clearly to
meet
somebody’s
duties’ (1888)


poser un lapin [à qqn] ‘to fail to
meet somebody’s duties’ (1896)
poser un lapin [à qqn] ‘to leave
without paying somebody’s due’
(1896)
Other ‘illicite behaviour’

poser un lapin [à qqn] ‘to stand
[somebody] up’ (since 1896)

‘appointment at which one
does not show up’ (since 2003)
LAPIN4
French borrowing in Occitan
Castres
Lexikon der Romanistischen Linguistik (LRL) 5/1
Idiom

Occitan (Castres) FA DE LAPINS
‘to cover a part of a wineyard
which one has left uncultivated
by turned over soil in order to
give the impression that it has
been cultivated’