Etymological Derivation

• CURIE: gmeow:EtymologicalDerivation
• IRI: https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/EtymologicalDerivation
• Category: class
• Defined by: gmeow:slices/lexicon
• Box roles: TBox role (What is this?)

A provenance-rich claim about historical derivation between lexical items or forms. Not a flat property — a full relator carrying standpoint (accordingTo), confidence, determinacy, and temporal scope (Principle 9). Multiple derivations for the same target coexist without privilege; a superseded derivation is suppressed with displayable false, never erased (Principle 10). Follows the LanguageState / KinRelationship pattern as an Observation + Relator.

Structure

Subclass of: gmeow:Observation, gufo:Relator

Practical Pattern

Use gmeow:EtymologicalDerivation as a specialized kind of gmeow:Observation, gufo:Relator. Add statement metadata or a standpoint when the assertion needs provenance, confidence, or vantage.

Example Snippets

These snippets are generated from canonical slice examples and trimmed to the Turtle blocks where this term appears.

Word Etymology

• Source: slices/extensions/lexicon/examples/word-etymology.ttl
• Examples catalog: open in catalog#example-slices-extensions-lexicon-examples-word-etymology

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Blackcat Informatics® Inc. <paudley@blackcatinformatics.ca>
# SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0
#
# Worked example: a word, its forms, and its etymology . A gmeow:LexicalItem
# is a lexeme in a language; its written/spoken/signed surface strings are
# separate gmeow:LexicalForms (gmeow:hasLexicalForm), so the same lexeme can carry
# many forms across scripts and registers. A gmeow:EtymologicalDerivation reifies
# WHERE a word came from — source → target with a gmeow:derivationKind
# (inheritance / borrowing / calque / sound-change …) — so "English 'ontology'
# was BORROWED from Greek" is a first-class, typed claim, not a free-text note.
@prefix gmeow: <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/> .
@prefix ex:    <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/examples/lexicon/> .
@prefix rdfs:  <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .

# --- The etymology: a typed derivation (borrowing) from Greek into English.
ex:etymology a gmeow:EtymologicalDerivation ;
    gmeow:derivationSource ex:greekOntos ;
    gmeow:derivationTarget ex:ontology ;
    gmeow:derivationKind   gmeow:derivationBorrowing .

Common Companion Terms

gmeow:Observation

External Equivalences

Equivalent or closely aligned targets: prov

Linkages

Generated from the canonical mapping DSL. SSSOM files are the generated public interchange form for term equivalences.

Term Equivalences

Usage Advice

Use when

• Use for a historical-derivation claim between lexical items or forms — borrowing, inheritance, semantic shift — that must carry standpoint, confidence, and temporal scope rather than a flat origin string.

Avoid when

• Avoid recording etymology as a single flat property or text blob, and avoid deleting a discredited derivation — competing derivations coexist, and a superseded one is suppressed with gmeow:displayable false (Principle 10).

How to use

• Mint the relator, name source/target/kind (all required by the someValuesFrom axioms), attach supporting attestations via gmeow:derivationEvidence, and carry standpoint and confidence on the observation spine.

Examples

• ex:etym1 a gmeow:EtymologicalDerivation; gmeow:derivationSource ex:oldEnglishWaeter; gmeow:derivationTarget ex:wordWater; gmeow:derivationKind gmeow:derivationInheritance.