List 3D and Word Formation

List 3D Latin Basis

  • This is the last list of pure Latin basis; future lists will mix Greek and Latin and be chosen for specific fields.
  • This list is fairly long and contains many verb bases.
  • Select an English word containing one of these verb bases to understand how they've been used and taken on different forms.

Example: Correct and Incorrigible

  • The words "correct" and "incorrigible" share the same two elements but are used in very different contexts.
  • There will be a variety of uses for words with these bases.

Prefixes

  • There are a number of prefixes to learn on this list as well.

Review and Final Exam

  • Keep reviewing all lists (2A onwards) for the final exam, using flashcards or other methods.
  • The final exam will cover lecture history and material since the midterm.
  • The core material to learn is the basis from all the lists.

Quiz Examples (List 3D)

Accident

  • An accident is that which happens.
  • ac (or ad) means "to".
  • An accident is something that happens to you.
  • The cid or sin part means "to fall or to happen".
  • contra means "against" in Latin.

Allude

  • To allude is literally to blank toward.
  • al is also ad.
  • lud is a Latin word that means "to play".
  • A literary allusion is a playful reference, like a riddle.
  • It has lost much of that meaning over time.

Collude

  • To collude is to play with.
  • col is equal to con, meaning "with".
  • Collude has taken on a negative meaning, suggesting conspiring to cheat.

Convocation

  • A convocation is literally the act of calling together.
  • con means "together".
  • voc or vogue relates to calling.
  • The word has shifted from the act of calling to the of meeting once called together (metonymy).

Essay 2 Work Proposal

  • The work proposal for Essay 2 is due at the end of the week.
  • Choose a Latin base or set of bases used in different ways with related words.
  • The essay structure notes have been slightly revised to include a more in-depth exploration of the family of related words.

Sedentary and Friends: Word Relationships

  • Trace the Latin base back to its Indo-European root to see the family of words in other languages.

Example: Sed (Indo-European Root)

  • *sed (Indo-European root).
  • In Greek, sed changed to hed with a rough breathing mark over the epsilon.

Phonological Change

  • The change from s to h is a phonological change (sound change).

Morphological Change

  • Adding the Latin suffix –ent to the base sed (sedentary) is a morphological change.

Semantic Change

  • The Greek word cathedra (sitting place) shifted to mean large church. This is an example of Semantic Change.
  • Morphological and semantic change are most common in word analysis.
  • Semantic change requires explanation.

Sedentary and Friends: Review

  • Review the slides and video lecture on "Sedentary and Friends" for more detail and an example of analyzing a Latin-based word.
  • Cathedral and chair are children of the Indo-European group sed."

Word Formation: Beyond Affixation

Moving into the second part of word formation, beyond affixation.

Creation from Scratch

  • A whole new root can be created.
  • All Indo-European roots were created from scratch; they are not natural.
  • Root creations are now more common with brand names.

Examples

  • Kodak is a word that doesn't come from anything else.
  • Nike is from a Greek word meaning victory.

Onomatopoeia

  • The word is supposed to sound like the sound of the thing it names. Examples include meow, splutter, splash, and crash.
  • Different languages use different words for the same sounds. This is probably the rarest form of word formation.

Affixation

  • The most common form is affixing prefixes and suffixes, and putting bases together.
  • Review the "sedentary and friends lecture for the summery of that.
  • Work with Latin suffixes and verb bases in homework five.

Examples of Trendy Suffixes

  • -wise (Germanic suffix).
  • Originally referred to physical orientation (edgewise).
  • Shifted to mean "in regard to" (time-wise, health-wise, money-wise).
  • -ize (Greek suffix).
  • Finalize and operationalize (final and operational are Latin words).
  • -ism (Greek suffix).
  • Originally meant condition of, quality of, or behavior (heroism, Buddhism, Catholicism).
  • Developed a more specific meaning of prejudicial belief against (racism, sexism, ageism, speciesism).

Folk Etymology

Some kind of foreign word has come into the language, so we change it to make it look more familiar and then also give it a story.

Reshaping
  • French "longue chaise" became "chaise lounge".
French

  • French "sur longe" (above the loin) became "sirloin".

  • Story: Henry VIII knighted the steak, proclaiming, "Arise, Sir Loin!" (false story).

Clipping

  • Shortening a word by clipping off a part.
Examples Include:
  • Sec (instead of second), Cali (for California), pics (for pictures), exam (for examination), photo (for photograph), mins (for minutes), gym (for gymnasium), and congrats (for congratulations).

Initialism

  • Extreme clipping using first letters of expressions.
Examples Include:
  • CIA, FBI, LOL.
  • NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).

Back Formation

  • A word looks like it should come from something else, but it doesn't.
  • Language speakers backfill the word; reverse of affixation

Examples Include:

  • Burglar looked like it came from burglar (but it was back-formed).
  • Peas looks like the plural of pea (but there was no pea initially.)

Blending

  • Take two words and squeeze them together into one (often with clipping).

Examples Include:

  • Smoke + fog = smog.
  • Twist + whirl = twirl.
  • Lewis Carroll's Chortle (chuckle + snort).

Lewis Carroll Examples:

  • The poem Jabberwocky contains many blends.

Doublets

  • The same word is borrowed twice, creating two different words.
  • Two words go back to the exact same root borrow in with the same language twice. Both derived from the same root, but may differ significantly in meaning and origin.

Examples Include:

  • Regal and royal (both from Latin regalis).
  • Grief and rage (both from Latin gravis).
  • Chief and chef (both from French chef).
  • Canal and channel (both from Latin canalis).

Latin in English: Plurals

Using actual Latin forms of words in English, especially with plurals.

Singular -us, Plural -i

  • If the singular ends in -us, the plural ends in -i (alumnus/alumni, bacillus/bacilli, fungus/fungi, cactus/cacti).
  • Exceptions: genus/genera, corpus/corpora.

Singular -a, Plural -ae

  • If the singular ends in -a, the plural ends in -ae (alumna/alumnae, formula/formulae, alga/algae).
  • With formula, formulas is also acceptable.

Singular -um, Plural -a

  • If the singular ends in -um, the plural ends in -a (bacterium/bacteria, datum/data, addendum/addenda).

Singular -on, Plural -a

  • Sometimes, instead of -on, we use the beginning -on and the plural -a (criterion/criteria, phenomenon/phenomena).

Singular -is, Plural -es

  • When a noun ends in -is, the plural is -es (thesis/theses, analysis/analyses).
  • When a noun ends in an -x, the plural is -ices (index/indices, appendix/appendices).

Latin in English: Abbreviations

Latin abbreviations with English meanings.

  • cf.: confer (compare).
  • e.g.: exempli gratia (for example).
  • i.e.: id est (that is).
  • ibid.: ibidem (in the same place).
  • et al.: et alii (and others).
  • etc.: et cetera (and the rest).

Latin in English: Phrases

Latin phrases with English meanings.

  • A fortiori: from the stronger argument.
  • Ad impossibilia nemo tenetur: no one is bound to do the impossible.
  • Ad hoc: for this purpose.
  • Ad hominem: attacking the person.
  • Non sequitur: it does not follow.
  • Terminus ante quem: limit before which.
  • Terminus post quem: limit after which.