Epidygmatic relationships between words – relations within a word family (q.V.), relations by word-derivation.

Equivalence – the relation between two elements of a system based on the common feature due to which they belong to the same set – See System.

Equonymy – semantic relations between terms of same level within a hierarchical taxonomy (q.v.), e.g. two or more hyponyms to the same hypernym ('mother' and 'father' would be both hyponyms to the hypernym 'parents', therefore they are equonymic terms to each other).

Equonym – See Equonymy

Etymological doublet – See Doublet 2)

Etymology – the study of lexical history; investigates the origins of individual lexemes, the affinities they have had to each other, and semantic changes as well as changes in form they underwent in the process of language development

Etymological fallacy – 1) the view that an earlier meaning of a lexeme, or its original meaning, is its 'true' or 'correct' one. The fallacy is evident when it's realised that most common lexemes have experienced several semantic changes (q.v.) during their history; 2) (folk etymology, false etymology) inadequate decoding of the word's etymology. Wrong attribution of linguistic ancestry and semantic cognate links to a borrowed unit. E.g. cockroach has nothing to do with cock, but a modified Spanish cucuracha.

Etymological meaning – original meaning of the word.

Euphemism (from Gr. 'well speaking') – is generally used instead of a more direct and straightforward expression to avoid shocking or upsetting someone. Euphemistic power of a lexical unit is based upon its neutral or positive connotations. Es. include genteelisms (q.v.), neutral euphemisms, low colloquial (slang) euphemistic expressions, politically correct words and doublespeak lexicon. – See Political correctness; Doublespeak. Typology of es.:

• stale e. – common vocabulary units, almost clichés which originated as euphemisms but no longer recognized as such: e.g. blooming ('bloody'), gents ('gentlemen's WC'), the late ('dead'), untruth ('lies');

• true e. – expressions vividly demonstrating their euphemistic nature;

• occasional e. – euphemistic expressions coined for a discourse occasion (cf. true e.);

• usual e. – euphemistic expressions which became part and parcel of the common vocabulary (cf. stale e.) – See Sexism; Political correctness; Bias words.

Euphony – 1. a) pleasantness of sound, esp. of a word or phrase; harmony. b) a pleasant sound; 2. the tendency to make a phonetic change for ease of pronunciation.

Evaluative connotation /evaluative meaning – type of connotation (q.v.), expressing the speaker's attitudes – of approval (positive evaluation) or disapproval (negative evaluation). Semantics of some words can become primarily evaluative: e.g. You look fabulous! Horrendous prices!

Explicandum – See Determinandum; Phrase, explicational p.

Explicant – See Determinant; Phrase, explicational p.

Explicational combinations – See Phrase

Explicitness – expressing the meaning directly, leaving nothing merely implied; making statements in detail. Sometimes leads to excessive use of synonyms and pleonastic usage.

Expressive connotation / expressive meaning (also emphatic, intensifying connotation) – type of connotation (q.v.). Words with expressive meaning add to the utterance some emphatic stress for the sake of expressiveness. Thus magnificent, gorgeous, splendid, superb are all used colloquially as forms of exaggeration.

Extension of meaning – See Generalization of meaning

Extensional meaning – referential applicability of a name; the scope of its reference.

F

False etymology/folk etymology – See Etymological fallacy

Fallacy, etymological – See Etymological fallacy