The use of etymology is an essential characteristic of the writing of Martin Heidegger. Believing that ordinary language had lost its power to express certain philosophical ideas, Heidegger often looked to earlier meanings of words or parsed derived words in order to analyze separate morphemes. An appreciation of this approach is central in understanding Heidegger’s work. He also believed that etymologizing was essential in interpreting the works of the writers to whom he felt most akin: Pre-Socratic philosophers such as Anaximander, Heraclitus, and Parmenides. These early Greek thinkers were clearly using language in a new way, and many of their works exist only in fragments. The meanings of particular words and phrases is thus often unclear, and it is possible that etymology could provide some indication of the writer’s intention. Many of Heidegger’s etymologies, however, are far from standard and are used to produce novel and often unusual interpretations. The present paper will review a number of Heidegger’s etymologies (of varying authenticity), the manner in which he arrived at them, and their import in the interpretation of certain texts. The general question will then be taken up concerning the legitimate uses and abuses of etymology in such interpretation.

词源的使用是马丁·海德格尔写作的一个基本特征。海德格尔认为普通语言已经失去了表达某些哲学思想的能力，因此经常查看单词的早期含义或解析派生单词以分析单独的语素。欣赏这种方法是理解海德格尔作品的核心。他还认为，词源学对于解释与他最相似的作家的作品至关重要：前苏格拉底哲学家，如阿那克西曼德、赫拉克利特和巴门尼德。这些早期的希腊思想家显然正在以一种新的方式使用语言，他们的许多作品只存在于片段中。因此，特定单词和短语的含义往往不清楚，词源学可能会提供一些作者意图的指示。然而，海德格尔的许多词源都远非标准，并被用来产生新颖且通常不寻常的解释。本文将回顾海德格尔的一些词源（真实性各不相同）、他得出这些词源的方式，以及它们在解释某些文本时的意义。然后将讨论有关在此类解释中词源的合法使用和滥用的一般性问题。