The Origin of Words
Words were formed apparently independent of culture, race, and location. They seem to have sprung up arbitrarily, with certain sounds having been ascribed different meanings across cultures. In their earliest form, what did words look and sound like, and how were they communicated from one individual to another? How did different groups of people accept certain words as meaning specific things? These questions are impossible to answer practically or completely, but determining the origin of words has been a project of many linguists throughout history.
The creation and evolution of language is a difficult thing to pin down, since no one could possibly have recorded the origins of words in a written language before those words were spoken and understood many times.
Some theorists believe that language formed independently and almost arbitrarily, and that various cultures ascribed different meanings to different sounds. This means that, throughout the world, language (including the words that make up those languages) was formed in cultures without any conscious connection to other cultures that were also creating language. However, some individuals believe differently.
Some linguists think that certain sounds developed a type of language known as sound symbolism, and that sound symbolism is similar from culture to culture. Acoustic resonance and object mass, according to this hypothesis, have an inverse relationship. In plain language what this means is that the smaller and more diminutive an object is, the greater acoustic resonance the words developed to describe that object will be.
Understanding Etymologies Across Languages
What is certain among linguists is that modern languages all have a common root, the materials from which the words in each language are derived. The sounds mentioned above were, at one point, codified as words in a language, understood and accepted by a large portion of a culture.
Where Do Words Originate From
These words eventually made their way into other languages due to many different factors. English, for example, was not always English. Some of the vocabulary of the language comes from Latin and Greek, and languages spoken throughout Europe have words that were borrowed or modified to create what is now known as English.
Over the course of many centuries, the original “English” people, the Celtics, were conquered by other tribes from Europe. The Celts were pushed to what is now Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, and the Germanic tribes (such as the Angles, from which the word “England” is derived), began disseminating their languages throughout the country. Many of the words that the Celts had used for centuries were changed by the new languages that began to become common throughout England, although some of the Celtic words remained. The resulting language was known as Old English, and it had more in common with German than today’s English does.
Today’s Words
Using England as an example of what may happen to language over time works for many different cultures. Discovery, destruction, conquest, and exploration caused languages to mix with one another over time, resulting in the words that languages around the world consider common today. England was conquered by the Normans, and the language formed by the coalescence of cultures was known as Middle English, which evolved over the period of hundreds of years into the language now spoken.
Some words have been around for centuries due to the basic roots from which they were formed. Other words, including the language used to describe technology such as “megabyte” and “pixel,” were formed retroactively, intentionally using classical roots. Words rarely spring up without any basis whatsoever in languages spoken in the past.
When you speak, though, you must remember that the words you are using have a long history. Perhaps they were spoken by past cultures. Perhaps they were utterances and exclamations among forgotten prehistoric tribes. Whatever the case, these words have traveled a long way to get to your mouth or your pen.