Editing 2722: Etymonline
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It references the internet service known as [https://www.etymonline.com/ Etymonline], or the Online Etymology Dictionary, and implies that Etymonline as a source became synonymous with the concept of etymology. | It references the internet service known as [https://www.etymonline.com/ Etymonline], or the Online Etymology Dictionary, and implies that Etymonline as a source became synonymous with the concept of etymology. | ||
| − | The caption to the comic states that it is ironic that the popularity of Etymonline eventually caused the loss of the word "etymology" from English. Perhaps Etymonline grew into such a comprehensive and reputable source that it deserved the all-encompassing identification with the concept of etymology (through {{w|metonymy}}); or it simply gained such ubiquity and market dominance that it became, to all intents and purposes, the only service people used to meet their etymological needs and popular usage abandoned the original term in favor of the name for the tool associated with learning a word's origin. | + | The caption to the comic states that it is ironic that the popularity of Etymonline eventually caused the loss of the word "etymology" from English. |
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| + | Perhaps Etymonline grew into such a comprehensive and reputable source that it deserved the all-encompassing identification with the concept of etymology (through {{w|metonymy}}); or it simply gained such ubiquity and market dominance that it became, to all intents and purposes, the only service people used to meet their etymological needs and popular usage abandoned the original term in favor of the name for the tool associated with learning a word's origin. | ||
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| + | All we know is that the brief etymology given in the entry cites "modification" of a more archaic English form (the one we are familiar with), without any mention of the digital resource. This is a mild failure on the part of the dictionary entry, since the suffix "online" should at least have been noted as the modifier resulting in the current form. Perhaps a discussion of the specific internet service was not relevant in the entry, or the very concept of "online" has been so superseded by whatever its successors or usurpers might have become that it was lost to common, or indeed academic, knowledge. | ||
The entry about etymonline uses, as an example of the use of the word, a quote regarding the etymology (etymonline) for the word {{w|Blimp}}. This example is a quote from a book from the year 2384 called ''Jovian Blimps: a History'', dating the definition entry as being from some time after that work was published. It also states that, by that year, the word blimp no longer refers to a kind of airship still used on Earth (at the actual time of this comic's release) but instead to "Sky-cities" floating in the atmosphere of {{w|Jupiter}}. Although it is still known that Blimp was ''once'' used for Earth airships, while presuming that the reader is overwhelmingly aware of the Jovian examples. | The entry about etymonline uses, as an example of the use of the word, a quote regarding the etymology (etymonline) for the word {{w|Blimp}}. This example is a quote from a book from the year 2384 called ''Jovian Blimps: a History'', dating the definition entry as being from some time after that work was published. It also states that, by that year, the word blimp no longer refers to a kind of airship still used on Earth (at the actual time of this comic's release) but instead to "Sky-cities" floating in the atmosphere of {{w|Jupiter}}. Although it is still known that Blimp was ''once'' used for Earth airships, while presuming that the reader is overwhelmingly aware of the Jovian examples. | ||
