Comprehending Composition of
Complex Vocabulary in English
Getting a Grip on Words from Latin
Colors
Com- =
-pone-nt- =
signal Components
prefix
= verb stem conveys action
‘-ing’, defines the action
<I>
Origins.
Where Language Comes From:
Mainlanders Lust for Islands –
Islands Attract Traders & Invaders:
Japan >< Asia
Britain >< Europe
Asia & Japan
from Altitude
of 2000 miles
Britain & Europe
from Altitude
of 2000 miles
<I.A> Human Nature Looks with Lust at Islands –
An Old Greek Example
In an epic poem, the Odyssey, by Homer, the ancient Greek
poet imagines his hero, Odysseus, landing with his ship on the
coast of a monstrous race called Cyclopes.
Homer imagines the Cyclopes as monstrous in several
(dis)respects: he endows them with only one eye, makes them
live off the bounty of the gods without farm labor, & keep
sheep, eat cheese, drink milk, & eat raw, not fish like sushi, but
flesh of any human guest unlucky enough to visit: a monstrousness that I discuss on my web site at the following address:
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/jvsickle/odle
ct.htm
Another feature that Homer imagines as making
Cyclopes alien & uncivil is their
ignorance of the art of building boats,
which means that these mythical monsters cannot get to an
attractive island off their coast – an island that any Greek
would explore & exploit, by commerce or its cousins such
as
rapine,
conquest,
appropriation &
colonization.
<I.B> Asia’s Impact on the Islands of Japan
A subject about which I would like to learn.
It would offer I am sure many points of comparison
– both similarity & difference –
with the history of the Greeks around the
Mediterranean Sea & certainly with the history of
the impact of peoples coming from the European
continent to the islands of Britain, which is the
subject of the present conversation.
Tsushima Kaikyō [Korean Strait]
circa 193 kilometers = 120 miles
No visibility across
English Channel circa 34 km = 21
mi: cliffs visible from France
<II>
Europe Dominated by Rome’s Aggressive Ambition
Use of Latin Language Disseminated & Imposed
Rome expanded from its mythic foundation circa 750 BCE until by
the second century CE it ruled all the lands around the Mediterranean Sea as well as the western section of Europe. With its
power it was able to impose its language, Latin.
<III>
Impact of Latin Europe on Britain:
Successive Infusions & Inundations
A. Roman Legions – 1st to 5th centuries CE
march to camps in thousands of paces – milia passum > miles
camp protected by palisades
–
vallum > wall
camps become towns – castra > Chester, Winchester, etc.
water conveyed in lead pipes – plumbum > plumber, plumb
<III.B> Norman French Invade & Conquer –
1066 CE (Bringing Old French from Latin)
Hortus ‘guarded place’ so ‘garden’ >>
Cohort, ‘those who guard together, with’ >>
court, ‘the place they guard’ , as ‘courtyard’ >>
court, ‘ the people in the guarded place & their ruler’
Royal Court, the place & dependents of the ruler,
courtier = one who serves & advises the ruler
courtliness = polite behavior required at court
courtship = persuasion for political or erotic ends
to court = to try to persuade for political or erotic ends
<III.C>
Renaissance – Rebirth of Roman & Greek Culture
– circa 1450 -1600
Latin Served as Language of Scientific & Literary Writing
in the early Renaissance.
But it became a Source for Specialized Vocabulary in the
Modern European Languages, a role that continues to today.
<IV>
A Latin Sampler:
Some Words that Work
We can only provide a brief sample here, so let us choose some
very basic words & see how they combine to work in complex & powerful
systems of ideas.
What could be more basic to our lives & experience than how we
get at the world & the world gets to us?
I am referring to our sensory organs & what we say they do –
Eyes get by looking & seeing,
Ears get by hearing,
Nose gets by sniffing, or smelling,
Tongue & mouth get by tasting,
Skin gets by feeling,
Hands get by grabbing, grasping, or just handing:
each organ has its name – its NOUN – & its related action – its VERB.
Getting Together
ears listen
hear
ss
eyes
look
see
hands point touch grasp
Latin Roots for Senses
(adjective) < AUR + al* ‘pertaining to, by’ >
Radical or Root Meaning: RM ‘by ear’
Current Meaning: CM “by, for, of the ear” as in “aural pleasure”
ural (adjective) < sub** ‘under, from below’ + AUR + al* >
RM ‘under the ear’:
CM “under the ear” actual location or placement.
ix [sub** + fix ‘fasten’]. Makes root into adjective, verb or noun: a basic tool
ans to get more meaning – in the workshop of language.
fix. Set beFORe root directs & controls action or state.
audial (adjective) < AUDI + al* = ‘pertaining to, by’ >
Radical or Root Meaning: RM ‘by hearing’;
Current Meaning: CM ‘by hearing’
audio-visual (adjective) ‘by hearing & seeing’
audible (adjective) < AUDI + bl* = ‘able to be’ >
RM ‘able to be heard’
CM ‘hearable’
inaudible (adjective) < in** ‘not/into’ + AUDI + bl* = ‘able to be’ >
RM ‘not able to be heard’
CM ‘unhearable
* Suffix [sub** ‘under, from below’ + FIX ‘fasten’]. Makes root into
adjective, verb or noun: a basic tool in the workshop of language.
** Prefix. Set beFORe root directs & controls action or state.
* Suffixes make roots into adjectives, verbs or nouns. They are a basic
tool – a means to get more meaning – in the workshop of language.
auditor (noun) < AUDIT + or* = ‘one that does’ >
Root Meaning: ‘one that hears’
Current Meaning: ‘one that audits’ (see next)
audit (verb) < AUDIT >
RM ‘to hear’
CM to check, control if accounts are correct & taxes paid
auditorium (noun) < AUDIT + orium = ‘place where or for’ >
RM & CM ‘place for hearing; where one hears’
audition (noun/verb) < AUDIT + ion = ‘process or action of’ >
RM ‘process of hearing’
CM ‘a hearing’ or as verb ‘to try out for a role as in theater’
ocular (adjective) < OCUL + ar = ‘pertaining to, by’ > ‘by eye’: ‘ocular
evidence’ = ‘visible by the eye’
oculist (noun) < OCUL + ist = ‘one who practices or believes’ >
physician who takes care of the eyes (ophthalmo-log-ist)
video (noun) < VIDEO ‘I see’ > ‘medium meant for the eyes to see’
evidence (noun) < e* = ‘out from here’ + VID + ence = ‘process of ------ing’ > ‘process of seeing out’
provide (verb) < pro* = ‘before, ahead’ + VIDe > ‘to see ahead’
provident (adjective) < pro* = ‘before, ahead’ + VIDe + nt = ‘-ing’ >
‘seeing ahead’
improvident (adjective) < im* = IN ‘not’ + pro* = ‘ahead’ + VIDe + nt
‘---ing’> ‘not seeing ahead’
visual (adjective) < VISu + al = ‘pertaining to, by’ > ‘by seeing’ as in
visual arts
visible (adjective) < VISi + ble = ‘able to be, able’ > ‘seeable’
invisible (adjective) < in = ‘not’ + VISi + ble > ‘not seeable’
invisibility (noun) < in + VISi + bl + ity = ‘quality or state of’ >
‘quality or state of not being able to be seen’
vision (noun) < VIS + ion = ‘process or action of’ > ‘process of seeing’
prevision (noun) < pre = ‘before’ + VIS + ion > ‘seeing ahead’
visionary (adj/noun) < VIS + ion + ary = ‘pertaining to, one that’ >
‘seeing with the eyes of the mind & heart beyond the present’
revision (noun) < re = ‘back, again’ + VIS + ion > ‘quality or state of
seeing again’ usually with special sense of changing, correcting.
television (noun) < tele = ‘far’ (Greek) + VIS + ion > ‘quality or state of
seeing far’: multiple metonymy for medium & all its works
Species
Special
Specify
Spectator
Spectacle
But combined with prefixes….!!!!!!!!!!! [see next]
Ab- , abs-,
‘from’
ad-, af-
‘to, toward’
Ante-
‘before’
Circum-
‘around’
Contra-
‘against’
Com-, co-, col-
‘with, together
De-
‘from, down’
Dis,di-,dif-
‘apart, worse’
Ex-, e-,ef-,el-
‘out of’
In-, im-
‘into’
In-…able
‘not….able’
Inter-
‘between’
Intra-
‘within’
Intro-
‘inward’
ob-,of-
‘against’
Per-
‘through’
Pre-
‘prior, before’
Pro-
‘for’
Re-
‘back, again
Se-
‘apart’
Sub-, sus-, suf-
‘up to, under’
Super & supra,sur
‘over, above’
Trans-, tra-
‘across’
To take, get:
cap-, -cip-//capt-, -cept-ceive
To make:
fac-, -fic, -fy // fact-, -fectTo place, put: pon- // positpos-