愛華網(wǎng)利用詞源記憶單詞過程中，查詞源字典是必須要做的工作，對于入門來講，選擇一本好的詞典也是至關(guān)重要的，第一本字典選擇不好有可能會打消詞源記憶的積極性。在這里，我選擇了三本詞源字典做一下簡單的比較，以方便大家區(qū)分使用。
第一本
Klein’s comprehensive etymologicaldictionary of the English language
該詞典涵蓋詞匯量非常大，基本上我們能遇到的單詞這里都有所講解，但是相對來講其專業(yè)性較強。涵蓋語種比較多，而且希臘單詞保留原來的希臘字母，沒有改寫成拉丁字母，不熟悉希臘字母的同學(xué)可能辨認(rèn)起來很費力，舉例如下：
See tr. And in--tr. V., to perceive withthe eyes. – ME.seen, sen, fr, OE. seon，rel. to OS., OHG. sehan, MHG., G.sehen, OFris. sia, MDu. Sien, Du. zien, ON. sja,Norw. sjaa, Dan.,Swed. se, Goth. saihan, and prob. Cogn. With Hitt. Sakwa-,’eye’;fr. Teut. Base *sehw-, corresponding to I.-E. base*seqw-, ‘to see’, which is etymologically identical with*seq w- in the sense ‘to point out, to say’. See say,v., and cp. Seem, sight.
第二個常用的就是
在線詞源字典 http://www.etymonline.com/index.php
這本字典相對于kelin’s字典來講，就簡單易讀，有其特有的專有詞縮寫，但是基本的思路比較清晰，學(xué)習(xí)起來比較方便，詞之間的來龍去脈基本用句子連接貫穿起來了，但是對于初學(xué)者來講也許不能清楚的理解其意義的發(fā)展與擴展。該詞典的涵蓋詞匯量也很大。
See O.E. seon (contracted class V strong verb; pasttense seah, pp. sewen), from P.Gmc.*sekhwanan (cf. O.S., O.H.G.sehan, M.H.G., Ger.sehen, O.Fris. sia, M.Du. sien, O.N. sja, Goth. saihwan), from PIE base*sekw- "to see," which is "probably" the same basethat produced words for "say" in Greek and Latin, and also wordsfor "follow" (cf. L. sequor), but "opinions differ in regard to thesemantic starting-point and sequences" [Buck]. Thussee could originally mean "follow with theeyes." Used in M.E. to mean "behold in the imagination or in adream" (c.1200), "to recognize the force of (a demonstration),"also c.1200, "often with ref. to metaphorical light or eyes" [OED],and "to learn by reading" (early 15c.). Past tensesaw developed from O.E. pl.sawon.
第三本，也是我著重向初學(xué)者推薦的就是
Word Origins -The secret histories ofEnglish words from A to Z.
該字典的涵蓋詞匯量比較少，但是簡單易懂，每個詞的介紹都是一片小的段落，邏輯性較強，詞義發(fā)展解讀的跳躍性不大，能比較清晰地了解每個詞的詞義以及變體怎么發(fā)展的，對初步建立詞源發(fā)展的思路有較好的幫助。
See English has two words see. The older is the verb,‘perceive visually’ [OE]. Like its Germanic cousins, Germansehen, Dutchzien, and Swedishand Danish se, itgoes back to a prehistoric *sekhwan, which was descendedfrom an Indo-European base *seq-. This may have been thesame *seq- thatproduced Latin sequī ‘follow’ (source of Englishsequence,sue, etc), inwhich case seewould denote etymologically ‘follow with the eyes’. See ‘diocese’ originallysignified ‘bishop’s throne’. It came via Anglo-Norman se from Vulgar Latin*sedem ‘seat’,descendant of classical Latin sēdem, the accusative case of sēdes ‘seat’. This in turn went back to theIndo- European base *sed- ‘sit’, which alsoproduced English sit.
SIGHT; SEAT, SIT
綜合來講，這三本詞典都有著各自的優(yōu)點，我認(rèn)為對于初學(xué)者來講word origins 是首選，同時結(jié)合在線詞源字典，有一定的詞源基礎(chǔ)之時，慢慢的查閱kelin’s 詞源詞典，會有事半功倍的效果。
不妨試讀我列出的每個詞典的對“see”詞源的解讀，就可能會得到同我一樣的看法。
