v. Also 6 ethimologise, 7 æ-, etimologise, -ize, 9 etymologise. [ad. late L. etymologizāre (spelt ethimologisare), f. etymologia ETYMOLOGY: see -IZE and cf. Fr. étymologiser.]
1. trans. To give the etymology or derivation of; to trace the etymology of; to invent or suggest an etymology for.
c. 1530. Remedie of Love, 301 (T.). The first parte of this name we have yfounde, Let us ethimologise the secounde.
1599. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev., IV. i. Pha. Breeches, quasi Beare-riches; when a gallant beares all his Ritches in his Breeches. Amo. Most fortunately etymologized.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett. (1650), II. lx. 90. Languedoc … Scaliger would etymologize from Languedo’uy.
1726. Amherst, Terræ Filius, II. App. 168. Having started the conceit of an undergraduate’s being like an apprentice, (which you etymologize in a very accurate manner).
1816. Keatinge, Trav. (1817), I. 116–7. Even the word merino is not altogether etymologized.
1862. F. Hall, Hindu Philos. Syst., 191. With this in view, the first portion of Brahma is etymologized as follows.
1871. Tylor, Prim. Cult., I. 147. The habit of etymologizing words off-hand from expressive sounds.
† b. To denote etymologically. Obs. rare.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 12. And indeed the Analogie of the word induces me to imagine, some aduentrous Cambrian first arrived here, memorizing it by this name Pengwin in the Brittish Tongue, Etymologizing so much.
1661. Morgan, Sph. Gentry, I. 45. The field is argent, a Mullet sable, by the name of Aston, as if it did Etymologize a stone.
2. intr. To study etymology; to search into the origin of words; to invent or suggest etymologies for words.
1652. Gaule, Magastrom., 145. I rejoyce not much in etimologizing.
1816. J. Gilchrist, Philos. Etym., 83. It would not be proper to etymologise too much or too minutely on some words.
1851. Trench, Study of Words, vii. (1869), 266. How perilous it is to etymologize at random.
1877. Peile, Primer Philol., i. 16. We etymologise as if each man were a standard to himself.
Hence Etymologizing vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1771. Antiq. Sarisb., 5. A rational employment then is etymologizing!
1880. S. R. Driver, Hebrew Tenses, App. iii. 251. Reckless etymologizing is to be avoided.
1882. Athenæum, 23 Dec., 844/1. Man is, as Mr. Palmer says, an etymologizing animal, and abhors an unmeaning word.
