Why are older posts being edited to remove the [etymology] tag?

Question

I have seen at least 10 (and counting) proposed edits on the review queue from the same lower-rep user. For the most part, they are deleting the [etymology] tag, as seen in this post:

The reason for the change is noted only as

"More accurate?"

Is this user (name not included) doing this on their own initiative, or has there been a policy change I am not aware of that restricts the tag use?

Other reviewers are approving them, but I've been rejecting them...shouldn't I?

Answer 1

Ever since this came up in a recent meta post, I've been thinking about it. Could we just end this once and for all?

Merge both into a new tag, etymology-and-phrase-orgins (tm). Long, but fits within the 35 character tag limit.

Here's my reasoning:

• More accurater. Maybe even most accuratest.
• No more debate about whether or not "etymology" can cover something with hyphens or spaces or even both with (*gasp*) commas.
• No need to retag anything. (Let's face it, a lot of questions asking about phrases use etymology and there's no way they can all be retagged.)
• Nobody has to lose their hard-earned etymology tag badge (don't believe anyone has a gold phrase-origins badge).

I see etymology/phrase origin as requiring the same skills to answer. I don't see any real benefits to keeping them as separate tags, either. The fact that we already tag both word origin and phrase origin questions with etymology makes me think that I'm not the only one who thinks that.

So I ask, in this answer, does anyone see a reason why we shouldn't merge these tags together and end all the discussion?

Answer 2

For what it’s worth, I’ve just trimmed the burgeoning tag wiki down considerably. This should make it much simpler and less confusing and controversial.

The abstract now reads:

Questions about tracing out and describing the elements of an individual word, as well as the historical changes in form and sense which that word has experienced over its history.

And the main body now reads:

Not to be confused with the buggy entomology, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word etymology means:

1a. The process of tracing out and describing the elements of a word with their modifications of form and sense.

1b. An instance of this process; an account of the formation and radical signification of a word.

1c. The facts relating to the formation or derivation (of a word).

2. That branch of linguistic science which is concerned with determining the origin of words.

3. Gram. That part of grammar which treats of individual words, the parts of speech separately, their formation and inflexions.

English borrowed the word from Medieval French ethimologie (now etymologie in Modern French), which had in turn adopted it from Latin etymologia, who themselves pinched it from the Greek ἑτυμολογία, from ἑτυμολόγ-ος.

Etymology therefore concerns the process of tracing out and describing the elements of an individual word, as well as the changes in form and sense of that word over time.

This should help.