Noah Webster (early 19^th c. US) was the great American dictionary-maker--so much so that "Webster's" is no longer a trademark, but a generic name for a dictionary. (Specific rights to the name were ultimately sold to the Merriam company, which markets the Merriam-Webster dictionary.)

ETYMOLOGY

Study of etyma ... or, the origins of words, this comes from the Greek word etymon , which actually means "truth."

The belief is that the origin or first form of a word will give you the truth about it. This is a frequent rhetorical topos in argument.

English words come into the language from several different possible sources. Here's a list of the major word sources in approximate chronological order of impact on English:

OLD ENGLISH a Germanic language that began to have a written form in the 600s and 700s. Most function words and many common concrete nouns; many basic verb and concrete adjectives are from Old English.

NORSE (800-1100) scattered but common words that moved from Northeastern English dialects into Standard English : "they, them"; "sky, star, window, ill, ugly, scream, husband"

NORMAN FRENCH (from 1066, esp. 1300-1400): most of the basic abstract vocabulary and much concrete vocabulary in military, government, law, and religion.

LATIN (from ancient times: Germanic "wine" e.g.) (pre-OE Britain: "street") especially on ME & ModE --religion, philosophy, and science.

GREEK (from 1500s) on science and learned language particularly.

ROMANCE language (Renaissance and after) (Spanish and Italian) terms that come in through colonial contact in the New World, terms in music, the arts, crafts and trades, banking--

INDIAN languages (after 1750): pajamas, curry, shampoo.

For Homework #2: find out

--the point of entry and immediate source of a word.

--the ultimate origin of a word, when it is distinct

ROOT: the word's "parent" or ultimate ancestor

COGNATE: a word's "cousins" in other languages

look the root, try to pare away the cognate branches that a dictionary may give you.