Synchronic Etymologising and Its Role in the Acquisition of Language

Abstract

This article first shows that synchronic etymologising – a phenomenon that finds expression in Yāska’s Nirukta and many other Indian texts – is in fact a universal phenomenon found in many (if not all) human cultures as well as in children. It then argues that the tendency to synchronic etymologising plays an essential role in the acquisition of language, a process we all went through in our childhood.

Keywords

• Cratylus. Etymologizing. Language acquisition. Meaning. Nirukta