An etymological dictionary discusses the etymology of the words listed. Often, large dictionaries, such as the Oxford English Dictionary and Webster's, will contain some etymological information, without aspiring to focus on etymology.
Etymological dictionaries are the product of research in historical linguistics. For many words in any language, the etymology will be uncertain, disputed, or simply unknown. In such cases, depending on the space available, an etymological dictionary will present various suggestions and perhaps make a judgement on their likelihood, and provide references to a full discussion in specialist literature.
The tradition of compiling "derivations" of words is pre-modern, found for example in Sanskrit (nirukta), Arabic (al-ištiqāq) and also in Western tradition (in works such as the Etymologicum Magnum and Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae). Etymological dictionaries in the modern sense, however, appear only in the late 18th century (with 17th-century predecessors such as the Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española by Sebastián de Covarrubias (1611), Vossius' 1662 Etymologicum linguae Latinae or Stephen Skinner's 1671 Etymologicon Linguae Anglicanae), with the understanding of sound laws and language change and their production was an important task of the "golden age of philology" in the 19th century.
Indo-European August Fick. Wörterbuch der Indogermanischen Grundsprache in ihrem Bestande vor der Völkertrennung. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht's Verlag, 1868. Second edition: Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen. 2 vols., 1870–1871. Alois Walde & Julius Pokorny. Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen. 3 vols. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1927–32. Carl Darling Buck. A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principal Indo-European Languages. University of Chicago Press, 1949. Albert Carnoy. Dictionnaire étymologique du proto-indo-européen. Louvain: Publications Universitaires / Institut Orientaliste, 1955. Julius Pokorny. Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (IEW), 2 vols. Index volume by Harry B. Partridge. Tübingen–Berne–Munich: A. Francke, 1957–1969. Revision of Walde-Pokorny 1927–32. . An Indo-European Comparative Dictionary. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag, 1984–1987. Xavier Delamarre. Le Vocabulaire indo-européen: lexique étymologique thématique. Paris: Librairie d'Amérique et d'Orient, 1984. Helmut Rix. Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben: Die Wurzeln und ihre Primärstammbildungen (LIV²), 2nd edn. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2001. Dagmar S. Wodtko, Britta Irslinger, & Carolin Schneider. Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon (NIL). Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 2008. George E. Dunkel. Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme (LIPP). Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 2014.
Albanian Kolec Topalli. Fjalor etimologjik i gjuhës shqipe. Durrës: Jozef, 2017. Vladimir Orel. Albanian Etymological Dictionary. Leiden: Brill, 1998. Eqrem Çabej. Studime etimologjike në fushë të shqipes. 7 vols. Tirana: Akademia et Shkencave e Republikës Popullore të Shqipërisë, Instituti i Gjuhësisë dhe i Letërsisë, 1976–2014.
Anatolian (Hittite) Jaan Puhvel. Hittite Etymological Dictionary. 10 vols. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1984–present. Alwin Kloekhorst. Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon. Leiden–Boston: Brill, 2008.
Armenian Hrachia Acharian. Հայերեն արմատական բառարան [Dictionary of Armenian Root Words]. 4 vols. Yerevan: Yerevan State University, 1971. Guevorg Djahukian. Հայերեն ստուգաբանական բառարան, [Armenian Etymological Dictionary]. Yerevan: International Linguistic Academy, 2010. Hrach K. Martirosyan. Etymological dictionary of the Armenian inherited lexicon. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2010.
Balto-Slavic Reinhold Trautmann. Baltisch-Slavisches Wörterbuch. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1923.
Baltic Rick Derksen. Etymological Dictionary of the Baltic Inherited Lexicon. Leiden: Brill, 2015.
Latvian Konstantīns Karulis. Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca, 2nd edn. Rīga: Avots, 2001.
Lithuanian Ernst Fraenkel, Annemarie Slupski, Erich Hofmann & Eberhard Tangl, eds. Litauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (LitEW). 2 vols. Heidelberg: Carl Winter; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1962–65. Wojciech Smoczyński. Słownik etymologiczny języka litewskiego (SEJL) [= Etymological Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language], 2nd edn. 2 vols. Vilnius: Vilniaus Universitetas Filologijos fakultetas, 2025 (1st edn. 2007). English translation: Lithuanian etymological dictionary. 5 vols. Trans. by Axel Holvoet & Steven Young. Berlin: Peter Lang, 2018. Wolfgang Hock et al. Altlitauisches etymologisches Wörterburch (ALEW). 3 vols. Hamburg: Baar Verlag, 2015.
Old Prussian Erich Berneker. Die preussische Sprache. Texte, Grammatik, etymologisches Wörterbuch. Strassburg: Verlag von Karl J. Trübner, 1896. Vytautas Mažiulis. Prūsų kalbos etimologijos žodynas, 2nd rev. edn. [= Etymological dictionary of Old Prussian]. Vilnius: Mokslas, 2013 (1st edn. 1988–1997).
Slavic Franz Miklosich. Etymologisches Wörterbuch der slavischen Sprachen. Vienna: Wilhelm Braumüller, 1886. 547 pp. Erich Berneker. Slavisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 1 vol. and 1st fascicle of 2nd vol. (A-*morъ). Heidelberg: Carl Winter's Universitätsbuchhandlung, 1908–1914. Unfinished. (1974–2001) & Mariola Jakubowicz (2023–), eds. Słownik prasłowiański. 11 vols. (A-G, K). Wrocław/Warsawa/Kraków/Gdańsk: Zakład narodowy imienia Ossolińskich / Wydawnictwo Polskiey akademii nauk, 1974–present. Oleg Trubachov (1974–2002) & (2002–2016) & (2016–present), eds. Этимологический словарь славянских языков. Праславянский лексический фонд (Etymological Dictionary of Slavic Languages: Proto-Slavic Lexical Stock) (ЭССЯ / ESSJa). 42 vols. (A-*perzъ). Moscow: Nauka, 1974–present. Rick Derksen. Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon. Leiden: Brill, 2008. Emanuel Klotz. Urslawisches Wörterbuch, 2nd edn. Vienna: Facultas, 2023 (1st edn. 2017).
Belarusian Belarusian Academy of Sciences. Этымалагічны слоўнік беларускай мовы. 14 vols. (А–Т). Minsk: Belarusian Academy of Sciences, 1978–present.
Bulgarian Стефанъ Младеновъ. Етимологически и правописенъ речникъ на българския книжовенъ езикъ. София: Книгоиздателство Христо Г. Дановъ - О.О. д-во, 1941. Vladimir I. Georgiev et al., eds. Български етимологичен речник. 8 vols. (А-фякалка). Sofia: Издателство на Българската академия на науките (vols. 1-3), Академично издателство "Проф. Марин Дринов" (vols. 4-8), 1971–present. (vols. 1-7 available online)
Czech J. Holub, F. Kopečný. Etymologický slovník jazyka českého. Prague: Státní nakladatelství učebnic (1952) Václav Machek. Etymologický slovník jazyka českého. Prague: NLN, Nakladatelství Lidové noviny (2010 ) J. Holub, S. Lyer. Stručný etymologický slovník jazyka českého se zvláštním zřetelem k slovům kulturním a cizím. Prague: SPN (1992) Jiří Rejzek. Český etymologický slovník. Voznice: LEDA (2012 )
Kashubian , Hanna Popowska-Taborska. Słownik etymologiczny kaszubszczyzny. 6 vols. Warszawa: Instytut Slawistyki Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 1994–2010.
Macedonian . Македонски етимолошки речник. 1 vol. (А–Ж). Скопје: Институт за македонски јазик "Крсте Мисирков", 2025–present.
Old Church Slavonic , . Handwörterbuch zu den altkirchslavischen Texten. Heidelberg: Carl Winter; The Hague: Mouton, 1955. Eva Havlová et al., eds. Etymologický slovník jazyka staroslověnského (ESJS). 21 vols. Prague: Academia, 1989–2022. .
Polabian Tadeusz Lehr-Spławiński (vol. 1), (vols. 1–6). Słownik etymologiczny języka Drzewian połabskich. 6 vols. Wrocław / Warszawa / Krawów / Gdańsk: Zakład Narodowy imiena Ossolińskich / Wydawnictwo Polskiej Akademii Nauk (vols. 1–4) / Wydawnictwo Energeia (vols. 5–6), 1962–1994.
Polish Aleksander Brückner. Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego, 2nd edn. Warsaw: Wiedza Powszechna, 1957 (reprint 2000; 1st edn. Kraków: Krakowska Spółka Wydawnicza, 1927). Kazimierz Rymut. Nazwiska Polaków: słownik historyczno-etymologiczny. 2 vols. Kraków: Wydawn. Instytutu Języka Polskiego PAN, 1999/2001. Andrzej Bańkowski. Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego. 3 vols. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN; Częstochowa: Linguard, 2000–2014 (incomplete). Krystyna Długosz-Kurczabowa. Nowy słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2003. . Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2005. Izabela Malmor. Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego. Warsaw: ParkEdukacja, 2009.
Russian . Этимологический словарь русского языка. Москва: Типография Г. Лисснера и Д. Совко, 1910–1914 (vols. 1–2: А–С) – Издательство АН СССР, 1949 (vol. 3: тело–ящур). Max Vasmer. Russisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 3 vols. Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1953–58. (Translated into Russian and expanded by Oleg Trubachov, Этимологический словарь русского языка. 4 vols. Moscow: Прогресс, 1959–1961.) , , . Краткий этимологический словарь. Москва: Гос. учебно-педагогическое издат. Министерства просвещения РСФСР, 1961. ²1971. (1963–2007), (1999–) (eds.). . 11 vols. (А—Н). Москва: Издательство Московского университета, 1963–present. . Историко-этимологический словарь современного русского языка [Historical and Etymological Dictionary of Modern Russian Language]. 2 vols. Moscow: Русский язык. 1993. Terence Wade. Russian Etymological Dictionary. Bristol: Bristol Classical Press, 1996. Vladimir Orel. Russian Etymological Dictionary. 4 vols. Edited by Vitaly Shevoroshkin & Cindy Drover-Davidson. Calgary, Canada: Octavia Press (vols. 1–3) & Theophania Publishing (vol. 4), 2007–2011. . Русский этимологический словарь. 18 vols. (А–зять). Москва: Рукописные памятники Древней Руси [etc.], 2007–present.
Serbo-Croatian Petar Skok. Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika [Etymological Dictionary of the Croatian or Serbian Language]. 4 vols. Zagreb: Jugoslavenska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, 1971–4. Edited by Mirko Deanović, Ljudevit Jonke and Valentin Putanec. Alemko Gluhak. Hrvatski etimološki rječnik. Zagreb: August Cesarec, 1993. Vojmir Vinja. Jadranske etimologije: Jadranske dopune Skokovu etimologijskom rječniku [Adriatic Etymologies: Adriatic Addenda to Skok's Etymological Dictionary]. 4 vols. Zagreb: HAZU, Školska knjiga, 1998–2016. Aleksandar Loma, ed. Етимолошки речник српског језика. 4 vols. (А–Бљ). Beograd: Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti, 2003–present. Ranko Matasović, Tijmen Pronk, Dubravka Ivšić, Dunja Brozović Rončević. Etimološki rječnik hrvatskoga jezika. 2 vols. Zagreb: Institut za hrvatski jezik i jezikoslovlje, 2016–21. Aleksandar Loma, ed. Приручни етимолошки речник српског језика. 1 vol. (А–Ј). Beograd: Institut za srpski jezik SANU, 2023–present.
Slovak Ľubor Králik. Stručný etymologický slovník slovenčiny. Bratislava: VEDA, 2015.
Slovene France Bezlaj (eds. Marko Snoj, Metka Furlan, vols. 3–5) Etimološki slovar slovenskega jezika. 5 vols. Ljubljana: SAZU, 1977–2007. (), Marko Snoj. Slovenski etimološki slovar. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1997. (2nd edn. 2003, 3rd edn. 2015) (), Metka Furlan. Novi etimološki slovar slovenskega jezika. Rastoči slovar. Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU, Inštitut za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša, 2017–present.
Sorbian Heinz Schuster-Šewc. Historisch-etymologisches Wörterbuch der ober- und niedersorbischen Sprache. 5 vols. Bautzen: VEB Domowina-Verlag, 1978–1996.
Ukrainian Jaroslav B. Rudnyc'kyj. An Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language. 2 vols. Winnipeg: Ukrainian Free Academy of Sciences, 1962–1982. Metropolitan Ilarion. Етимологічно-семантичний словнік української мови. 4 vols. Winnipeg: Society of Volyn / Товариство "Волинь", 1979–1995. Oleksandr Savych Mel'nychuk, ed. Етимологічний словник української мови. 6 vols. (А-Я). Kyiv: Naukova dumka, 1982–present.
Celtic Whitley Stokes. Urkeltischer Sprachschatz. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht's Verlag, 1894. . Этимологический словарь кельтских теонимов [Etymological Dictionary of Celtic Theonyms]. Москва: Наука, 2006.