Etymology is synchronic archaeology. The layers of a word's history are visible in its current form if you know what to look for.

"Salary" from *salarium* — possibly the salt ration given to Roman soldiers (though some dispute this). "Disaster" from *dis* (bad) + *astrum* (star): calamity attributed to unfavorable stellar alignment. "Trivial" from *trivium* (crossroads): the knowledge of the crossroads, common to all, as opposed to specialized knowledge.

These are not just curiosities. Etymology reveals which concepts were important enough to name first, what domains generated productive metaphors, and how ideas migrated between cultures.

See: [[metaphor-as-cognition]]