The Word Within the Word • List #10
ped
(foot or child)
orthopedist, pedagogue, centipede, expedition, pedestrian, pedestal
Latin
mort
(death)
mortal, mortician, mortified, immortality, mortuary, moribund
Latin
carn
(flesh)
carnivorous, incarnate, reincarnated, carnival, carnation, carnage
Latin
psych
(soul)
psychology, psychic, psychopathic, parapsychology, psychosis
Greek
ethno (race or culture) ethnocentrism, ethnic group, ethnography, ethnologist
Greek
gen
(origin)
genetics, hydrogen, progeny, engender, gene, ingenuous, indigenous
Greek
nat
(born)
prenatal, native, natural, nativity, nation, nascent, natal, perinatal
Latin
paleo
(old)
paleozoic, paleolithic, paleontologist, paleoanthropic, paleography
Greek
curs
(run)
cursive, discursive, incursion, precursor, cursory, cursorial, cursor
Latin
crypt
(hidden)
cryptic, cryptologist, crypt, cryptogram, encrypt, cryptesthesia
Greek
cad
(fall)
cascade, cadaver, cadence, cadenza, cadaverous, decadent
Latin
capit
(head)
decapitate, capital, recapitulate, capitulation, capitulum
Latin
loqu
(talk)
loquacious, circumlocution, eloquent, soliloquy, somniloquy
Latin
sacro
(holy)
sacrosanct, sacred, sacrifice, sacrament, sacrilege, consecrate
Latin
uni
(one)
unicycle, universe, united, union, uniform, unison, unique, unicorn
Latin
ness
(quality)
softness, redness, politeness, kindness, darkness, vagueness
alt
(high)
altitude, alto, altimeter, altar, altocumulus, altiplano
Latin
ics
(art)
politics, economics, aesthetics, graphics, ethics, calisthenics
Greek
iso
(equal)
isothermal, isometric, isosceles, isomer, isocracy, isotope
Greek
vert
(turn)
convert, revert, inverted, divert, vertex, controvert, extrovert, introvert
Latin
ate
(cause)
domesticate, implicate, create, procreate, insinuate, placate, dominate
Latin
cor
(heart)
core, concord, discord, misericord, cordial, courageous
Latin
ess
(female)
lioness, empress, princess, baroness, seamstress, governess
Greek
muta
(change)
mutant, mutation, mutagenic, mutable, transmutation, immutable
Latin
fug
(flee)
centrifuge, fugitive, tempus fugit, subterfuge, refugee, fugue
Latin
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Old English
The Word Within the Word • Stem Close-Up #10
sub
under • beneath • below
The Latin stem sub, which we define as meaning under, actually can have a wide variety of meanings and is sometimes
written as suc, suf, sug, sum, sup, sur, and even sus in order to blend with the stem that follows it. Though sub often means under, it can mean beneath, below, lower, somewhat, or even inferior. Here are some of the interesting words
that contain sub in its various shades of meaning:
subcutaneous:
subduct:
sublunary:
under the moon. The lovers enjoyed a beautiful sublunary dance.
sublimate:
to express acceptably. The urge of the id can find creative sublimations.
submontane:
at the foot of the mountains. The submontane vegetation was more lush.
subtle:
subvert:
substratum:
foundation. His peaceful humility was founded on a substratum of religion.
subsistence:
bare survival. They survived at a subsistence level by gathering food.
subaqueous:
underwater. The subaqueous habitation gradually developed into a city.
subservient:
obsequious. The toady’s subservient fawning irritated her.
subtrahend:
number subtracted. The deduction was a fearful subtrahend from the check.
surreptitious:
done in secret. The plans were made at a surreptitious meeting in the Alps.
suffuse:
to fill with color. Becky Thatcher’s face was suffused with embarrassment.
suffrage:
voting. Women’s suffrage began very late in American history.
succinct:
brief and clear. Her succinct description impressed them all.
suggest:
to mention. He suggested a solution, but no one listened.
suffocate:
suspend:
sustain:
summon:
beneath the skin. He was troubled by a subcutaneous infection.
to draw downward. She swam against the subduction in the offshore current.
not obvious. Subtle clues told her to avoid asking about the problem.
to overthrow. They worked to subvert the established regime.
to smother. Small businesses were being suffocated by federal regulations.
to hang. The bridge was suspended from massive cables.
maintain. They were unable to sustain their initial enthusiasm.
order to appear. The peremptory summons was ignored.
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The Word Within the Word • Sentences #10
1.
The orthopedist went on an African expedition.
2.
The mortician was mortified at the sight of the mortal wound.
3.
The carnivorous beasts of Venus are reincarnated after death.
4.
The psychologist viewed the parapsychologist with suspicion.
5.
Ethnocentrism is disturbing to all ethnic groups.
6.
The geneticist’s hobby was studying pathogenic substances.
7.
Prenatal care is important to natives in natural environments.
8.
The paleontologist was an expert on the Paleozoic era.
9.
The discursive speech gave only cursory attention to the problem.
10.
The cryptologist worked all night to break the enemy secret code.
11.
The cadaver was discovered near the rushing cascade.
12.
Decapitation was once a common form of capital punishment.
13.
The loquacious bore answered every question with a circumlocution.
14.
The hero’s sacrifice was a sacrosanct memory.
15.
The United Planets of the Universe soon celebrate their union.
16.
The sky’s redness and the clouds’ softness were beautiful.
17.
The broken altimeter no longer measured the altitude.
18.
Computer graphics enhance books on politics and economics.
19.
The isothermal piedmont region escaped the extremes of temperature.
20.
The new convert soon reverted to his previous views about advertisement.
21.
To calibrate one’s response is to obviate one’s apology.
22.
The extreme discordance of viewpoints prevented concord.
23.
The lioness ate the empress but not the princess.
24.
The post-war mutants lived in a mutagenic atmosphere.
25.
“Tempus fugit,” said the escaped fugitive caught in the whirling centrifuge.
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Pictured on the left are wooden auloi, which were two pipes
that were played together at one time by one player. Reeds were
inserted in the end of the pipes. They are often pictured on
Greek vases such as the one here from Sparta (note the long hair
on the pipe player). The auloi apparently produced a sound like
an oboe. The Spartans marched into battle to the tune of these
instruments. They would advance on the enemy slowly in a
disciplined line that often struck fear into their adversaries, who
on many occasions fled before battle was joined. Apparently
the slow and measured pace of their advance was particularly
frightening. The hoplites of other armies often ran into battle,
charging their enemy at a trot or full run, as the Athenians had at
Marathon. One reason to run into battle was to limit exposure to
arrows, javelins, and sling shot; it was not desirable to shoot arrows
or fling javelins if your hoplites were within inches of the enemy,
but until the lines came together, advancing troops were easy
targets. Another reason to charge into battle might be to engage
before fear or prudence could overtake the warrior. However, the
Spartans came slowly, unafraid of arrows and javelins and sling
shot and certain of their courage in the impending engagement.
If their enemies lost their nerve and fled, the Spartans did not
pursue. In ancient battles the huge casualties occurred once the
line was broken and one side fled; the fleeing soldiers were cut
down from behind by their pursuers. By not giving chase, the
Spartans allowed their opponents to think better of the fight and
to escape with their lives, an outcome they would not be assured
once battle was joined. The Spartans won many battles without
a fight on the strength of their discipline and the sound of their
auloi.
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SPARTAN CHARACTER
Dr. Thomas Milton Kemnitz
Spartan men did not work, either in trades or in agriculture. The existence of Helot serfs allowed
the Spartans to devote themselves to affairs of state, to physical fitness, to preparing for battle, and
to discussions of topics of interest to them. Apparently a great deal of the education of the youth
and the conversation of the adults was about what was and was not proper conduct. An enormous
premium was put on character in Sparta; only physical prowess and character distinguished one
Spartan from another.
Sparta was often praised by the ancient Greeks for many of its qualities. Philosophers such
as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle found much to admire. First and foremost was its emphasis on
the character of the individual. Sparta was held in high esteem for the calm order of its society,
which often contrasted with the disorder of other polities, particularly with the unruly behavior
of the Athenian Assembly and juries. The absence of ostentatious display and luxury appealed to
many. Some ancient writers praised the quality of the unadorned furniture that came from Sparta.
The Agoge was thought to develop good and virtuous citizens. The prohibitions on overindulgence
appealed to many; the self-control the Spartans exercised was widely admired. Others were taken with
the economy of language with which the Spartans expressed themselves. Never was the conciseness
more evident than when Philip of Macedonia sent a message to Sparta inviting it to submit to his
hegemon and saying that if he entered Laconia, he would raze Sparta. The Spartans responded with
a succinct single word: “If.”
Sparta avoided many problems and wars because it did not have a class of people who desired to
enrich themselves by plunder. When the Spartans fought, their objectives were generally clear and
relatively limited, and they were successful. The Spartan organization created a remarkably effective
war machine because it had the only full-time soldiers. Generation after generation of Spartans
went undefeated in battle. The army of the Greeks during the second Persian invasion was under
Spartan leadership because the Spartans were the professionals and were most proficient at warfare.
Indeed, their participation was so important that Themistocles ceded to Sparta the command of the
navy, though Sparta had few ships, and when battle came on the seas, it was Themistocles and the
Athenian ships that were the most important.
It is remarkable that most of what Sparta valued was transient and has vanished. There is nothing
left of their music or dance, their physical fitness or athletic prowess, their courage or their capacity
to endure pain or their abilities in war. Character is important, and we know a great deal about the
character of many ancient Greeks; in this capacity the Spartans stand out and were acknowledged
by their contemporaries to be outstanding. But their furniture has vanished along with their simple
houses. Their city was without great monuments, so there is less to see than at other ancient sites.
There is very little Spartan literature.
Sparta was clearly a preeminent city. The Spartans had the attention and respect of their fellow
Hellenes. It was as men of war and statecraft and character that they were respected, and for that we
have the testimony of others. The Spartans lived in Laconia, from which we get the adjective laconic
to describe a person of few words. The Spartans were people of few words, and they left even fewer
as their legacy.
600–490 BC
Archaic Period
490–323 BC
Classical Period
Sparta receives
a prophecy at
Delphi
Silver find at
Athenian mines;
decision to build
the navy
Greek polities
meet to form
defensive
strategy
485 BC
483 BC
481 BC
The Word Within the Word • Ideas #10
EMOTION:
1.
owwouldyoufeelifyouwereforcedtocapitulate(Imaginethecircumstancesforyourself.)?Howwould
H
youfeelifsomeonewereforcedtocapitulatetoyou?
2.
Imagine your emotions if mutagenic substances were discovered in your drinking water—substances that
couldbetracedtoanearbytoxicwastedump.Whowouldyouseekoutforactionsandexplanations?
AESTHETICS:
1.
hatsoundsdothesewordssuggest:unison, carnival, darkness, centrifuge, refugee, sacrifice, Paleozoic,
W
calisthenics, and universe?
2.
I syourartisticappreciationethnocentric?Canyouthinkofanother—especiallyaverydifferent—culture
whoseartyoudeeplyadmire?
SYNTHESIS:
1.
PickanexamplewordinList#10,anduseatleastthreeotherwordsfromthelisttodefinethewordyoupicked.
2.
akeacryptogramusingwordsfromList#10.Tomakeitmoredifficult,usewordsfromonefieldofthought
M
only—usewordsfrombiology,orhistory,etc.
DIVERGENCE:
1.
owmanycracy or archywordscanyouthinkofthatarenamesfordifferentformsofgovernment?Don’t
H
forgetisocracy,agovernmentinwhicheachpersonhasanequalamountofpowertoeveryotherperson.Once
youhaverememberedasmanyasyoucan,seehowmanyformsofgovernmentyoucaninvent,suchasthe
:thegovernmentthatseemstobeasleep!Inventasmanynewgovernmentsasyoucan.
dormocracy:thegovernmentthatseemstobeasleep!Inventasmanynewgovernmentsasyoucan.
2.
aveyoueverbeentrappedbysomeonewhowantedtotalkabout
H
a subject you wished to avoid? Or who wanted to ask a
question you didn’t want to answer? How many clever
canyouthinkoftoescapesuchasituation?
subterfugescanyouthinkoftoescapesuchasituation?
Asanexample:“I’dlovetotalktoyounow,butIlefta
poodleinthepetwash.”
Apollo was the god of music and dance, and on this Athenianmade, red-figure cylix, we see him playing a kithara. The kithara
was a stringed instrument more solemn in tone than the lyre.
Apollo is seated on a square stool of a type frequently seen in vase
illustrations; in front of him is an altar.
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The Word Within the Word • Analogies #10
1.
s ubterfuge : fugitive ::
circumlocution:orthopedist
politics:economics
lioness:empress
ingenuous:indigenous
6.
e thnologist : ethnic group ::
entomologist:altimeter
psychologist:ethnography
paleontologist:tyrannosaurus
cryptologist:cryptogram
2.
u
nicycle : unique ::
fugitive:refugee
soliloquy:solitude
extrovert:introvert
concord:discord
7.
c onsecration : sacrilege ::
mutagenic:immutable
precursor:forerunner
nascent:moribund
paleozoic:paleontologist
3.
d
ialogue : soliloquy ::
altimeter:altitude
mutagen:mutation
colloquy:monologue
aesthetics:graphics
8.
e loquent : soliloquy ::
ingenuous:progeny
psychic:psychology
incarnate:carnival
grandiloquent:panegyric
4.
d
omination : capitulation ::
decapitate:recapitulate
natal:perinatal
pedagogue:pedestrian
rule:surrender
9.
s oftness : kindness ::
roughness:ingenuousness
somniloquy:discursive
decadence:cadence
cryptologist:encryption
5.
a esthetics : ethics ::
convert:revert
sacrosanct:sacred
art:morals
economics:psychopathic
10.
lioness : carnivorous ::
extrovert:loquacious
convert:introvert
sacrifice:sanguinary
alto:cadenza
The auloi were a favorite of both the
Greeks and the Romans. The myth
was that Athena was the originator
of the auloi, but when she saw herself
playing them reflected in a pond with her face
distorted by her puffed-out cheeks, she thought
she looked ugly and threw the pipes away.
Immediately the satyr Marsyas snatched the
pipes up and began to play them. He produced
such a beautiful sound that he dared Apollo,
the god of music, to a contest. The Muses were
appointed judges, and they decided for Apollo,
who punished Marsyas for his hubris by having him
flayed alive. The Greeks had a wide-spread concern
about hubris—excessive pride leading to defiance of the
gods.
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The Word Within the Word • Notes #10
1.
A Micropoem: Has there been a recent expedition to the headwaters of the Amazon? A common characteristic
of expeditions is suggested by the word itself: members of an expedition go out (ex) into the wild on foot (ped).
2.
e all have had the displeasure of listening to circumlocution. That is when someone is talking (loqu) in
W
circles (circum). But there are two main varieties of circumlocution. There is unintentional circumlocution,
in which a person is talking in circles and doesn’t realize it, and there is intentional circumlocution, in which
someone talks in circles in order to evade answering a question.
3.
A Micropoem: A subterfuge is a clever evasion in which a person tries to avoid revealing something; it is an
evasive trick, a stratagem. A literal interpretation of subterfuge might be to duck, in the sense of ducking a
question, since subterfuge means to flee (fug) under (sub).
4.
e say that a speech is discursive if it is rambling and digressive, if the speaker doesn’t stick to the point. The
W
literal meaning of discursive, however, is somewhat more exciting. A speech is discursive if it is a runaway,
if it is out of control. The speaker has let the speech run (curs) away (dis) from him.
5.
ou wouldn’t think that hydrogen would be an interesting word. Hydrogen is the name of the simplest and
Y
most common element in the universe, but on our planet we possess a wonderful hydrogen-based treasure:
water. The importance of water to human life can hardly be exaggerated—even our bodies are mostly water. So when it was time to give hydrogen a name, the obvious choice was to name it after its most important role:
hydrogen is the main ingredient in the creation (gen) of water (hydro). Hydrogen is the water-originator. No
H, no H2O.
6.
ne of the most biting terms of derision is the adjective pedestrian. We say that someone has pedestrian taste,
O
or worse, a pedestrian mind. This means that the person simply never attains anything lofty or swift, graceful
or elegant; he just slogs along on foot (ped), altitude zero, speed 1 mph.
7.
he word cadaver is unusually poignant. All of our lives we live in the earth’s gravitational field, and the
T
vitality of our bodies allows us to resist that invisible force which constantly pulls down on us. We spend our
lives exerting equal but opposite force to resist succumbing to gravity’s mysterious forcefield. At the end of
our lives, gravitation wins, and we fall (cad). A cadaver is a fallen person.
8.
nique is a perfectly self-explanatory word. It means precisely what its stem uni (one) implies. There is only
U
one. Something cannot be rather unique; either it is one-of-a-kind and is unique, or there are other such cases,
and it is not unique.
9.
Spanish Cognates: One of the most important observations to gain from the study of the etymology of English
vocabulary is that English and Spanish share thousands of words that are cognates—related words—that have
common origins. Often, the English and the Spanish word share not only a stem, but even more than one stem,
and often in the same order. As examples, here are some English words from this lesson and their Spanish
cognates:
orthopedist : ortopeda
reincarnated : reincarnado
ingenious : ingenuo
crypt : cripta
cascade : cascada
decapitate : decapitar
unique : único
ethics : ética
indigenous : indígeno
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The Word Within the Word • Classic Words #10
In each case below, one of the choices was really the word used by the author in the sentence provided. All of the
choices can be found in the example words on the first page of this lesson. Your challenge is to decide which word
the author used. This is not a test; it is more like a game because more than one word choice may work perfectly
well. See if you can use your sensitivity and intuition to guess correctly which word the author used. You may need
a dictionary.
1.
From Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables
I rejoice to hear so favorable and so __________ an account of my cousin Clifford.
a. decadent
b. loquacious
c. ingenuous
d. mutable
2.
From James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
is life had grown to be a tissue of __________ and falsehood.
H
a. subterfuge
b. circumlocution
c. capitulation
d. eloquence
3.
From Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper
e then walked up and down the room to keep his blood in motion, ________ as before.
H
a. circumlocuting
b. soliloquizing
c. consecrating
d. placating
4.
From Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
ow __________ are our feelings.
H
a. mutable
b. unique
c. moribund
d. nascent
5.
From Henry David Thoreau’s Walden
he tortoise and the frog are among the __________ and heralds of this season.
T
a. ethnographies
b. pedagogues
c. pedestrians
d. precursors
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