Just wondering if the members of this forum would post their most useful or favorite on-line resources.

Duke

PS The spell check nixes online as one word.

I find Starostin’s etymological databases handy (link).

Looks like an interesting set of databases.  I tried the Germanic etymology and got no results for the word “open.” etymonline has: from P.Gmc. *upana
(cf. O.N. opinn,
Swed. öppen,
Dan. aaben,
O.Fris. epen,
O.H.G. offan “open"),
from PIE *upo “up from under, over”

I ticked off those databases in the Germanic etymology and got no results.

I checked the database which is organized by proto-Germanic which should have been *upana and there are no words beginning with “u”.  Is the asterisk part of the alphabetizing scheme?

I tried the word “stream” which I knew to be in the database also with no results.  I presume that I’m doing something wrong.

Duke - 08 May 2008 03:29 AM

Just wondering if the members of this forum would post their most useful or favorite on-line resources.

There are several here who have access to the OED on-line. That is the prince of all databases for English word history.  Most UK libraries allow for on-line searches from home for their patrons.  Some US cities do as well.  Most colleges do.

Dave’s Big List is an important first place to check.  The link is also at the center-top of this page.

Second might be Etymology Online. Etymologies are far briefer than OED, on which it seems to be based and the number of words are far fewer, but a good place to start.

Some dictionaries have etymologies for words. The American Heritage Dictionary (AHD4) is good, but popup ads appear when you click on the search field.  Merriam/Webster usually has a much more brief etymology in most cases, but has other resources.

The Perseus collection at Tufts is used occasionally by those seeking Greek or Latin roots.

For the Hebrew and Greek Bibles, Blue Letter Bible is hard to beat.  Some knowledge about how the Bible is organized is helpful. 

Phrase Finder is helpful for phrases.

Word Wizard

Searches at LanguageHat and LanguageLog are always intersting.

The list goes on…

Dave has a great and ever-growing list of online and offline Resources on this site.

American Dialect Society Archives:  http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?S1=ads-l
Word Detective:  http://www.word-detective.com/011405.html
World Wide Words:  http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-ult1.htm
Wordsmith.org:  http://wordsmith.org/chat/pickett.html

aldiboronti - 08 May 2008 06:34 AM

Dave has a great and ever-growing list of online and offline Resources lon this site.

An extraordinary list indeed.  Thanks Aldi.  I didn’t know it was there.  And thanks, Dave.

http://www.behindthename.com is a great online resource on the etymology of names.

The Starostin’s pretty tolerant, including links between Amerindian and Afroasiatic languages
http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=config&morpho=0&basename=\data\eura\globet&first=1

Starostin is a famous proponent of extremely widespread proposed superfamilies.  I don’t agree with him, but he’s a great guy and does a lot of useful work.

If you are interested in word origins and not just interesting tales, I suggest you visit my Olin Revelation website.  Those who have visited it in the past will note that the website has a new design and loads much faster.  An RSS feed is now available for receiving news updates concerning the website.  Translations for over 4500 words are provided in the English section.  And a translation assistant has been added that allows visitors to submit their own translations.

My original research was not in linguistics; my original research was related to the flood of Noah. But while thrashing through the stories and myths that appeared to be connected in one way or another to the Biblical account of Noah, I stumbled upon the discovery of a lifetime. No, make that the discovery of a thousand lifetimes. I discovered the meaning of the letters of the English alphabet and the sounds that the letters represent. I discovered the key that the linguists have been searching for, a key that would not only unlock historical secrets long hidden from view, but would also open a doorway into the unknown.

You can believe whatever you want to believe.

I believe I will stop reading about the Olin Revelation.

Actually, OP Tipping truncated the second paragraph, which is:

You can believe whatever you want to believe. You can simply close your eyes and choose to deny the things you have seen or heard and accept the official line. But I cannot. I have seen things and learned things that I can neither deny nor explain away. For me, the evidence is overwhelming. And while I have a thousand unanswered questions, what I do know for certain is that what I have observed is anything but the “usual”.

OP Tipping chooses to close his/her eyes and wants others to follow his/her lead.  But I hope others will be less quick to judge that which they know little or nothing about.  I have read stories about sea monsters and aliens and conspiracies, and while I see little truth in them, they at the least amuse me.  If my ideas are so outlandish, then where is the harm in being entertained by such wild ideas?  OP Tiipping’s reply is not unlike that of religious puritans protecting the innocent ears of the faithful.  Why is that?

It took the Reformation to bring about the Renaissance; up until then, Man’s ideas were pretty limited and bleak.  Nothing like a sterile world ruled by the protectors of the status quo, eh?  (And there’s nothing like the smell of books burning, either, eh?)

So again, I encourage those who have a true interest in language, who want to know more about the origin of words, who might actually be open to new ideas and who are not easily intimidated into a shell by such critics to visit my website.  You might learn something.  And truly the worst you can do is leave with a good chuckle or two.

Your site is what it is, but an etymological resource it is not.

It took the Reformation to bring about the Renaissance; up until then, Man’s ideas were pretty limited and bleak.  Nothing like a sterile world ruled by the protectors of the status quo, eh?  (And there’s nothing like the smell of books burning, either, eh?)

Actually, it was the other way around. The Renaissance, which started in Italy in the 14th century led to the Reformation, which began in Germany in the 16th. The height of the Renaissance, represented by da Vinci and Michelangelo, was contemporaneous with Luther’s nailing his theses to the church door in Wittenberg. And if you want book burners, look to the Protestants of the Reformation. They probably burned more books than anyone in European history. And as for suppression of ideas, both Giordorno Bruno and Galileo were Renaissance figures.

Also, if you think that medieval thought was limited, bleak, and sterile, you haven’t read much of it.

Actually, it was the other way around.

Exactly.  We “discussed” this guys immodest website December last.