This is, I know, a lazy but curious person’s question, but with that apology I’m going to ask it anyway: Do you know of an easily accessible source for word and phrase derivations? I’m fascinated by them, and I’m also a miserable excuse for a researcher. It’s not a great combination.
Great question. The best way is Oxford English Dictionary online. The problem with it is we need some sort of institutional access like through a library. But it’s amazing for etymologies. Wiktionary has good info too, and that’s what I’ve used when I’ve been in between library access. There’s also Google’s Ngram Viewer (https://books.google.com/ngrams). It doesn’t have information on the words themselves, but you can track usage of different words together.
I’m glad you asked this. Next time I do one of these, I’ll include more of this info in the post.
Thanks for that. I’m short on institutional access, but I can at least start with Wiktionary. I’m in rural Cornwall, and beautiful as it is I do miss ability to walk to a library.
I may have been wrong about the accessibility of OED. I used to go through Oregon State’s library page, but I just tried looking up a word without logging on through OSU or Emory and got it. So check out http://www.oed.com/ and see if it works for you. Can you see this: http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/59879?rskey=4putlt&result=2#eid
They want a login, and I’m reasonably sure my Cornwall Library card won’t get me in, although I’ll give it a try later today. Thanks, though.
The Golden Echo 
This is, I know, a lazy but curious person’s question, but with that apology I’m going to ask it anyway: Do you know of an easily accessible source for word and phrase derivations? I’m fascinated by them, and I’m also a miserable excuse for a researcher. It’s not a great combination.
Great question. The best way is Oxford English Dictionary online. The problem with it is we need some sort of institutional access like through a library. But it’s amazing for etymologies. Wiktionary has good info too, and that’s what I’ve used when I’ve been in between library access. There’s also Google’s Ngram Viewer (https://books.google.com/ngrams). It doesn’t have information on the words themselves, but you can track usage of different words together.
I’m glad you asked this. Next time I do one of these, I’ll include more of this info in the post.
Thanks for that. I’m short on institutional access, but I can at least start with Wiktionary. I’m in rural Cornwall, and beautiful as it is I do miss ability to walk to a library.
I may have been wrong about the accessibility of OED. I used to go through Oregon State’s library page, but I just tried looking up a word without logging on through OSU or Emory and got it. So check out http://www.oed.com/ and see if it works for you. Can you see this: http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/59879?rskey=4putlt&result=2#eid
They want a login, and I’m reasonably sure my Cornwall Library card won’t get me in, although I’ll give it a try later today. Thanks, though.
Sorry that didn’t work out. There’s always the Ngrams. That viewer lets you click on the dates below and see examples of past usages that could help.