The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #152828   Message #3576181
Posted By: GUEST,Fred McCormick
16-Nov-13 - 06:33 AM
Thread Name: Genetic Tracing of Folk Origins
Subject: RE: Genetic Tracing of Folk Origins
Precisely. I agree that use of computers might guarantee a higher standard of accuracy, although since the original teller of the story will have been dead for hundreds, if not thousands of years, how would we know?

The point is not just whether morphological analysis, computer aided or no, produces accurate results, but whether those results actually tell us anything. A bit like your etymology example in fact.