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Etymology provides a good basis for guessing the general meaning of words you don't know, but it's hardly the authority on nuances of meaning. Many words have t
by firethief 8y ago
Etymology provides a good basis for guessing the general meaning of words you don't know, but it's hardly the authority on nuances of meaning. Many words have taken tangentially-related or even opposite senses from their roots in other languages.
- dragontamer 8y agoThe meanings of words shifts based on their usage. I'm old enough to recognize that the meaning of words change. Nonetheless, economic principles have a precise, technical definition for Monopoly, Duopoly, Monopsony, Oligopoly, Cartel, and Oligopsony. Each situation requires a different policy to handle. So its important to choose the right word to describe any particular problem.
- firethief 8y agoOh yeah, I agree with the conclusion. Weakening of technical terms makes clear discussion of these abstract topics in a casual context exponentially more difficult. I just don't see that argument-from-etymology is a productive way to get there since it doesn't seem to generalize.