etymology - et-im-OL-oh-JEE - the study of words & the historical development of their meanings

Example: "A woman from San Diego, curious about some words listed here in a previous posting, checked on three similar words to come up with the following:

'Well, although I couldn't discover an exactly shared etymology, neither hoarfrost nor rime is from Latin. Hoar (or hoarfrost) is from Old High German via Middle English (ME), "hor" or "her" (pronounced "hair," I imagine); rime is from OHN (old high Norse?) hrim via ME . My little Collins Gem weather book describes three types of ice which are called frost:

hoarfrost: White, feathery deposits of interlocking crystals
rime: Opaque, granular ice on the windward side of objects
glaze: A transparent layer of ice

but I betcha, way back in the mists of time, the "hor" and "hrim" derive from a single Indo-European root.'"