Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
ETYMOLOGICAL FALLACY
This is the name of a much-practiced folly that insists that what a word “really means” is whatever it once meant long ago, perhaps even in another language. A classic example is the argument that the adjective dilapidated should be applied only to deteriorating structures made of stone, because its ultimate source was the Latin lapis, meaning “stone.” Actually, the Latin dilapidare meant “to throw away, to scatter, as if scattering stones,” and the infinitive lapidare meant “to throw stones.” And in any case dilapidated no longer has anything to do with stones in American English; today it means “broken down, fallen into decay or disrepair,” and it can be applied to any object, garment, or structure, whatever it is made of.
