The first of these sorts may be called etymology in the limited sense of the word, or the etymology of the grammarian. In this case it is opposed to orthoepy, orthography, syntax, and the other parts of grammar. This is the etymology of the ensuing pages.
The second may be called etymology in the wide sense of the word, historical etymology, or comparative etymology.
[§ 179]. It must be again repeated that the two sorts of etymology agree in one point, viz., in taking cognizance of the changes of forms that words undergo. Whether the change arise from grammatical reasons, as
father, fathers, or from a change of language taking place in the lapse of time, as pater, father, is a matter of indifference.
In the Latin pater, and in the English father, we have one of two things, either two words descended or derived from each other, or two words descended or derived from a common original source.
In fathers we have a formation deduced from the radical word father.
With these preliminaries we may understand Dr. Johnson's explanation of the word etymology.
"Etymology, n. s. (etymologia, Lat.) ἔτυμος (etymos) true, and λόγος (logos) a word.
"1. The descent or derivation of a word from its original; the deduction of formations from the radical word; the analysis of compounds into primitives.
"2. The part of grammar which delivers the inflections of nouns and verbs."