TheOnline Etymology Dictionary, also known by its domain nameEtymonline, is an Americanonline dictionary that describes theorigins ofEnglishwords, written and compiled mainly by Douglas R. Harper.[1]
Douglas R. Harper is anAmerican Civil War historian and copy editor forLNP Media Group.[2][3] He compiled the etymology dictionary to record the history and evolution of more than 50,000 words, including slang and technical terms.[4] The core of its etymology information stems fromThe Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology byRobert Barnhart,Ernest Klein'sComprehensive Etymology Dictionary of the English Language,The Middle English Compendium,The Oxford English Dictionary, and the 1889–1902Century Dictionary.[5] Harper also researches ondigital archives. On theEtymonline homepage, Harper says that he considers himself "essentially and for the most part" a compiler and evaluator of etymology research made by others.
TheOnline Etymology Dictionary has been cited byOxford University's "Arts and Humanities Community Resource" catalog as "an excellent tool for those seeking the origins of words".[6] It was also cited in theChicago Tribune as one of the "best resources for finding just the right word".[7] It is cited in academic work as a useful reference for etymology.[8][9][10] In addition, it has been used as a data source for quantitative scholarly research.[11][12]
^Hultgren, Anna Kristina (2013). "Lexical borrowing from English into Danish in the Sciences: An empirical investigation of 'domain loss'".International Journal of Applied Linguistics.23 (2):166–182.doi:10.1111/j.1473-4192.2012.00324.x.
