Etymologies of well-being: Exploring the non-English roots of English words used in positive psychology

摘要

The field of psychology is relatively Western-centric, with its discourse and theorising mainly in English, which influences how it conceptualises its subject matter. However, English itself is a complex product of multiple cultural influences, including widespread 'borrowing' of words from other languages. To shed light on this phenomenon, this paper reports on an etymological analysis of a sample of words in psychology - focusing as a case study on well-being, and specifically a seminal article in positive psychology. The analysis identified 1333 lexemes, of which more than 60% can be regarded as loanwords. The analysis shows the great cultural influences that have combined to form English, and hence psychology, yet also the extent to which this influence has been limited to certain cultures. The paper thus illustrates how psychology has benefited from insights articulated in other languages, but moreover how it might continue to do so through more systematic and comprehensive forms of cross-cultural engagement.