Your article creations

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Hi --

When creating articles in mainspace, please remember to include at least one reference so other people can verify the content of the articles. (Books and newspapers are fine, even if they aren't available online) If you need a space to prepare articles before adding references, you can either create articles as drafts (i.e. at Draft:Ruth Washburn) or in your own userspace (i.e. at User:Anggarrgoon/sandbox/Ruth Washburn), and then move them to be articles when they are more complete. power~enwiki (π, ν) 20:08, 31 May 2018 (UTC)Reply

-- I'm creating a few stubs for a student to expand on; they will be expanded with references and sources in the coming days.

Ruth Washburn moved to draftspace

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An article you recently created, Ruth Washburn, does not have enough sources and citations as written to remain published. It needs more citations from reliable, independent sources. (?) Information that can't be referenced should be removed (verifiability is of central importance on Wikipedia). I've moved your draft to draftspace (with a prefix of "Draft:" before the article title) where you can incubate the article with minimal disruption. When you feel the article meets Wikipedia's general notability guideline and thus is ready for mainspace, please follow the confirms on the Articles for Creation template atop the page. Nick Moyes (talk) 00:52, 1 June 2018 (UTC)Reply

Josephine Hilgard moved to draftspace

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An article you recently created, Josephine Hilgard, does not have enough sources and citations as written to remain published. It needs more citations from reliable, independent sources. (?) Information that can't be referenced should be removed (verifiability is of central importance on Wikipedia). I've moved your draft to draftspace (with a prefix of "Draft:" before the article title) where you can incubate the article with minimal disruption. When you feel the article meets Wikipedia's general notability guideline and thus is ready for mainspace, please follow the confirms on the Articles for Creation template atop the page. Natureium (talk) 01:32, 1 June 2018 (UTC)Reply

What is etymology?

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Hello. Since you are an academic, I am sorry for asking such a trivial question, but...

I am contacting you because of a discussion about etymology on another website, Final Fantasy Fandom. That wiki gives a definition of etymology, followed by a link to Wikipedia etymology page (their page here), and then features 2700 etymologies (list here), almost all of them being similar to these three:

  • Etymology of absolute zero: Absolute zero is the coldest possible temperature. More formally, it is the temperature at which entropy reaches its minimum value.
  • Etymology of fire: Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.
  • Etymology of Shiva: Shiva (also spelled Śiva) is a Hindu god. The Hindu Shiva once saved the world by consuming poison, giving him blue skin around the area of the neck and throat. [etc. etc.]

Are these three examples etymologies, or not? Since you are a Professor of Linguistics and an active member of Wikipedia Linguistics Project, your opinion could solve the discussion (if you prefer to avoid any involvement, just write it, I will understand). Thank you in advance for your time and attention. --Abacos (talk) 19:54, 27 May 2022 (UTC)Reply

These aren't etymologies. They're a bit of a mixture of encyclopedic information and definitions. An etymology is the origin of the word (that is, the form of the word). The etymology of "fire" is Old English fyr, reconstructible to West Germanic. The etymology of Shiva is a Sanskrit word meaning "auspicious", etc.
Hope that helps! Claire (talk) 23:53, 27 May 2022 (UTC)Reply
Thank you for your kind answer. For your information, I agree with you (but I am a professor of physics, that is the "wrong" discipline in the debate), while the Final Fantasy Fandom states that etymology means "detailing the origins of terminology used in the series in regards to real world culture and history". --Abacos (talk) 10:16, 28 May 2022 (UTC)Reply