Never confuse these words. That's the main reason of this post. NEVER. Etymology is the study of origins of words, entomology is the study of insects and both kinds of researchers will laugh at you if you confuse the two; they are even etymologically different. Anyway, entomology dates back to Greek, with the word entemos, meaning "chopped up into little pieces". Since those ancient Greeks were very weird guys, they examined bugs closely and their first reaction was that they all seem to have a cut or notch at the waist, so the word entemon came into play, meaning "bug". Entomologie then popped up in France during those halcyon Enlightenment days, because with the renewal of reasoning and science came scientific words, including the union of entemon "bug" and -logie "the study of". Entomologie then crossed the English Channel into, well, England and English as Entomology. This -logie to -logy change is the same for virtually every single French to English scientific word transition, so that's an easy thing to notice. Again: NEVER CONFUSE THESE TWO WORDS.
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AUTHORHello! I'm Adam Aleksic, a sophomore studying linguistics and government at Harvard University, where I founded the Harvard Undergraduate Linguistics Society. I also have disturbing interests in politics, vexillology, geography, board games, conlanging, and law.
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