English
Soundex
Blend of sound + index.
Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂- ‘to sound, resound’
Latin sonus ‘sound’
Anglo-Norman soun
Middle English soun
Middle English sownde
English sound
Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- ‘to point out’
Proto-Indo-European *déyḱeti ‘to be pointing out’
Proto-Italic *deikō ‘to show’
Latin dīcō ‘to say, indicate’
Latin index ‘discoverer, informer; forefinger’
English index
Today it means
noun A phonetic algorithm for indexing names by their English pronunciation, based on the most probably significant consonants, so that a search for a misspelled name may find the desired one.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Soundex