[1] Douglas R. Harper, an American Civil War historian and copy editor for LNP Media Group,[2][3] compiled the etymology dictionary to record the history and evolution of more than 50,000 words, including slang and technical terms.

On the Etymonline homepage, Harper says that he considers himself "essentially and for the most part" a compiler and evaluator of etymology research made by others.

The Online Etymology Dictionary has been referenced by Oxford University's "Arts and Humanities Community Resource" catalog as "an excellent tool for those seeking the origins of words"[6] and cited in the Chicago Tribune as one of the "best resources for finding just the right word".

[7] It is cited in academic work as a useful, though not definitive, reference for etymology.

[8][9][10] In addition, it has been used as a data source for quantitative scholarly research.