Etymology is something proofreaders get quite excited about. Mostly this is just because we find language fascinating, although knowing the etymology of a word can also help you work out how it should be used.
But what exactly is etymology? And why should anyone but us proofreaders/language nerds care?
Defining Etymology
The ‘etymology’ of a word is where it comes from, its linguistic origins, along with the study of how language develops and changes.
We can see this more clearly if we look at the etymology of ‘etymology’, which is made up of two words from Ancient Greek: Etymon– (meaning ‘true sense’) and –logia (‘the study of’).
The literal meaning of ‘etymology’ is therefore ‘the study of the true sense of words’.
Why Is Etymology Useful?
One positive of knowing the etymology of a word is that it helps you to understand new words when you encounter them for the first time.
Once you know that –logia means ‘the study of’, for example, you can make a good guess that any word you find with ‘–ology’ at the end is probably ‘the study of’ something.
More importantly, looking at the etymology of a word can also help us to make sense of how it should be used. This is especially true when we consider words that have multiple meanings, like ‘proof’.
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The Etymology of ‘Proofreading’
Have you ever wondered what the ‘proof’ in ‘proofreading’ means? If you’re not familiar with the word it might seem odd, given that it usually means ‘evidence that something is true’. So what is the relationship between ‘a scientific proof’ and the ‘proof’ in ‘proofreading’?
This becomes clearer if we look at how the word ‘proof’ developed. Its earliest known origins are the Latin word probare, meaning ‘to confirm by testing’. This is why the modern English word ‘prove’ can mean both:
- To confirm something with evidence
- To subject something to a test
The second of these meanings is rarer these days, but we still see it in terms like ‘proving grounds’ (i.e. an area for testing new equipment). It’s also why the word ‘proof’ pops up in ‘proofreader’.
As well as meaning ‘sufficient evidence to confirm something’, the term ‘proof’ can also draw on the second sense of ‘prove’ and mean ‘a test version of something’.
This is why the preliminary versions of books printed by publishers were known as ‘galley proofs’. The people who checked these ‘proofs’ for errors were terms ‘proofreaders’.
So a ‘proofreader’ isn’t someone who reads scientific proofs, but rather someone who ‘tests’ your work for mistakes before the final draft.
It all makes sense when you know where the word comes from!