If this were true, then should I know this secret.

[SiXSwordS]

Is there a basic, generally accepted way to determine how old a phrase or word is? I was surprised to find the word, suburb used in Shakespeare: …Am I yourself
But, as it were, in sort or limitation,
To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed,
And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs
Of your good pleasure?

Julius Caesar Act II scene i

I didn’t fall out of my seat, but I was a little surprised. I tried to find more information regarding the use of the word but I don’t have many good resources.

So, what is the best ( easiest) way to find out that kind of information?

[clairobscur]

An etymological dictionary…

[postcards]

The OED is a good source for word history. Suburb has a listing that runs about 1-1/3 columns, with the first example of usage circa 1380, and a citation from Chaucer from 1386.

[carterba]

Here’s an online etymology dictionary:

Online Etymology Dictionary | Origin, history and meaning of English words

Here’s what it says for “suburb”:

suburb - early 14c., “residential area outside a town or city,” from O.Fr. suburbe, from L. suburbium “an outlying part of a city,” from sub “below, near” + urbs (gen. urbis) “city.” Close to crowds but just beyond the reach of municipal jurisdiction, suburbs in 17c., especially those of London, had a sense of “inferior, debased, and licentious habits or life” (cf. suburban sinner, slang for “loose woman, prostitute”). By 1817, the tinge had shifted to “inferior manners and narrow views.” Suburban is first recorded early 17c.; suburbanite formed 1890; suburbia in 1896, probably influenced by utopia. Compare also Fr. equivalent faubourg.

[SiXSwordS]

@carterba

Here’s an online etymology dictionary:
http://www.etymonline.com/

Here’s what it says for “suburb”:

Thanks, that’s what I’m looking for.