User talk:Aureil

Hi, my note at אוזן's etymology was not doubting the etymology, merely about the way it's worded. To me the wording "From Proto-Semitic _, which is derived from Hebrew _" seems to indicate that a Proto-Semitic word is derived from a Hebrew word, which couldn't be right, but I might be misunderstanding the ", which is". Hftf (talk) 15:16, 6 March 2025 (UTC)Reply

I can see where you're coming from, and yes the wording is not totally accurate, even though I think it's more or less obvious that the etymon of the Hebrew word is meant. Ideally we could have something similar as in werewolf, where the forms of the word are shown throughout different stages and at the same time one can see on which basis it was originally derived. Proto-Semitic (and various Semitic languages) on Wiktionary still requires a lot of work though, so I don't see an alternative for now. Maybe "by surface analysis derived from..." could work? Aureliiuss (talk) 15:40, 6 March 2025 (UTC)Reply

If the etymology is giving two separate ideas, it could work better as two different sentences, such as "From Proto-Semitic _. May derive from either …" . Maybe "Ultimately from" would make it more clear. Either way, I think revising the wording to avoid the unusual temporal reading would be ideal. Thanks. Hftf (talk) 16:03, 6 March 2025 (UTC)Reply

I've added "By surface analysis" as a new sentence now because that would first of all set the two apart, and also make clear that this etymology is primarily the result of comparisons within Hebrew (i.e. what the apparent etymology is, the actual one may differ). Do you think it's better this way? Aureliiuss (talk) 16:15, 6 March 2025 (UTC)Reply

Lgtm now, thanks. Hftf (talk) 16:27, 6 March 2025 (UTC)Reply