In this paper, we present a generic analysis of etymological data intended to provide a uniform framework for modeling such information in lexical databases. Based on the explicit reification of etymons and of the links between them, our proposal provides means to state additional constraints for both, as well as a preliminary set of standard descriptors to be used to this end. The model has been extensively tested on a variety of concrete cases extracted from the TLFi (Trésor de la Langue Française informatisé), allowing us to identify further mechanisms (alternatives, multiple links, composition, etc.) needed for etymological data representation. Taking into account the current standardization efforts within ISO committee TC 37/SC 4 to define a specification platform for lexical data (aka LMF, Lexical Markup Framework), we try to show that our proposal could be a possible contribution to this project