Google Wants to Enable the Amateur Etymologist in All of Us
A quick Google will now give you the history of your word
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As languages constantly evolve, morph, fade and emerge, it’s up to the etymologists of the world to track and interpret these shifts, in order to better understand where our words came from and what they’re becoming. And now Google is getting into the etymology game.
Google already offers a few word-related services, such as Ngrams, which lets you visualize the changing use of words through time. The etymology function is simple: Go the search engine and type “etymology” and then the word you’re interested in. Google will spit out the simplified root and evolution of your words.
Not every etymological search will provide a result, but there are certainly some gems to be found. For instance, we now know that every time we’ve referred to a “pizza pie,” we’ve been a bit dumb.
H/T Michael Shafrir
More from Smithsonian.com:
Do Geography and Altitude Shape the Sounds of a Language?
English Evolving Much More Slowly on the Internet than During the Renaissance
Where Did the Phrase “Hubba Hubba” Come From?
A New Language Is Being Born in This Remote Australian Village
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