[B-Greek] OT - Word Evolution Dictionary

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Mon Feb 9 12:19:07 EST 2009


On Feb 9, 2009, at 10:01 AM, Mark Cain wrote:

> Please pardon this slightly off topic question, but you who are so  
> keenly
> involved in the study of Greek are perhaps the best to know the  
> answer to
> this question.
>
> Is there an online source which tracks the devolvement of an ancient  
> word
> into its present usage?
>
> What I am looking for is the opposite of the "origin" section in an  
> English
> dictionary.  I know that there are online etymological dictionaries  
> but they
> require the knowledge of the current English word allowing you to work
> backwards to the orginal word.  I am looking for that place where I  
> can
> enter the Greek word and view it's development or evolution into  
> current
> usage if there be any.
>
> Do you have any suggestions for this type of resource?

If it is a Greek etymological dictionary that you are looking for, I  
know of only one online, Frisk's Griechisches Etymologisches  
Wörterbuch, at
http://www.indo-european.nl/cgi-bin/query.cgi?basename=/data/ie/frisk&root=leiden
= http://tinyurl.com/df6nut
There's at least one other Greek etymological dictionary there  
(Beeke's) -- click on "Select another database" to see what's available.
This takes some experimentation to figure out how to use it.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)






More information about the B-Greek mailing list