A lot of people look at me funny when I share my love of words. Usually they say something like, "Oh, that's
great!!" This is followed by a fake smile. I know people do really think it's
good, but all too often they do not
appreciate what I see in word structures. So, in this post, I'm going to do my best to give you a crash course in basic English etymology, spelling, and word structure.
First, a quick background on how I know this stuff: I love spelling. Always have, always will. I'm not a perfect speller, but I've done my share of spelling bees. =D While studying for the state level competition a little over two years ago, I found I had to know
lots of things about etymology in order to really be a good speller. At first, it was a drudgery, but before I knew it, studying spelling in the way I'm about to lay out stopped just short of being a minor addiction for me. I love this stuff. So let's get started.
The numer one question you should be asking when you think about the etymological history of any language is where its first origins can be traced. This is the first reason why English is so amazing. Since I promised to make this a
crash course, and not a doctorate level dissertation, I'm going to put this in really, really simple terms. We start with a bunch of very ancient languages that eventually mesh together to form Greek, not unlike the way English itself formed. The Trojan War happens, colonies are planted, and suddenly we end up with Rome. After a while, the tribal tongues and certain Greek elements ram into each other, and a need for a new language arises. This is what would become arguably the most influential tongue in history, Latin. Some of the Greek elements remain, however. During various wars, tragedies, and colonizations in the history of Rome, the Roman people are spread across the world, heavily concentrated in Europe and the British Isles. There are already lots of tribes here, so again these languages are infiltrated with the Latin, which already contains Greek elements.
The Gauls take ther tongue and conform it to Latin, making a primitive version of French; the Germanic tribes are more fierce and do something more like conforming Latin to their tongue, and mixing in whatever else they want (thus German is less like Latin, and actually contains more Greek elements); the Italians (or rather, Roman groups) decide they are highly superior people and slowly try to make Latin more complex and "elegant"; Spain does something similar, but allowing a little more freedom; and the Britons mesh a little of everything together, sticking at first primarily to Latin combined with the tribal Celtic tongues, but slowly developing their own language. This would become known as the Anglo-Saxon language. During the years leading up to the Norman Invasion of 1066, as the Northern tribes very gradually infiltrate Briton, this language, too, with all of its own elements, is incorporated into Anglo-Saxon. As this becomes more and more of a cultural center in the years to come, people from around Europe enter the little island of Britain. Suddenly, Middle English begins to arise.
Now with Middle English in the foreground of literature, along with Italian, and to an extent Middle French, developments are sure to happen. The Renaissance is just about to happen! And it does. In the years that follow, Shakespearian Old English develops, followed closely by King James English, Elizabethan English, Colonial English...and then we end up with yet another language group jabbed into English. When the English come to America, they find many indigeneous peoples. Naturally, a word or two slips in. Africans come as slaves and add some various dialects, and South Americans and Asians, known for their spices and jewels, are willing to trade for furs with North America. Before you know it, we have modern English.
Hopefully that was an interesting explanation. Whether it was or not, though, I want to show you just how cool this is when applied in spelling. I'll just take one or two examples from each stage. Don't worry, I might even skip a few so as not to confuse you. =D
First, let's see how the Greek element remained in Latin, and sometimes just carried straight through to the English. The word
epidemic is a good example of this. The prefix
epi- is from the Greek, and means "above" or "in addition to"; the root
demos means "people". Literally, the word
epidemos means "visiting." This carried
straight through into the Latin, only changing endings to conform to the Late Latin, making the word
epidemia. This passed right over to Middle French,
epidemie, and during the renaissance was fancified by being made
epidemique. Finally, it passed into English, where some smart word geeks decided its spelling should just be
epidemic to make the most English sense. The word wasn't used in English until 1603, but we can tell that it's Greek without even knowing any of the history I just related, simply by looking at the word structure. Greek words are generally spelled just as they sound, plus a few THings to help the etYmologY, such as the frequent PH, TH, RH, Y, and don't ever use a J in Greek. Also
"q" and "qu" are not uncommon elements, though they are more noticeable in Arabic words. Epidemic fits all these rules, and as we'll see in a minute, very narrowly works with others, but really is best here. Of course, though, knowing the root words is the best route. ;)
The next element to examine is the Latin element. Oh, Latin. There are
so many words in our language from the Latin. In fact, nearly
60 percent of English words are from Latin at some point or other in their development. That's a lot. About
25 percent carried straight through with little to no alteration in spelling, only meshing various Latin words, prefixes, and suffixes together to form words. Can you say
Antidisestablishmentarienism? How about
Floccinaucinihilipilifacation? I know it's a long example, but let's try it for fun.
Floc = care.
Nauc = no account.
Nihil = nothing.
Pili = hair.
Fac = do. The ending simply makes it a verb. Literally, this strange word means, "I care no account for you, I do nothing for the hair on your head." The actual definition is, "The mistreatment of someone or something." :) Amazing, isn't it? That's the 25 percent. The other 35 percent works like this:
transverse. Take
trans, meaning "across," and add
versus, meaning, "line." Across the line. In the Middle Ages, someone decides that dealing with cases is a bit too complicated, takes off the last two letters, and adds an
e to make it work with Middle English. TADA! In the 15th century, the word
transverse was already in use. How do we identify such words? Well, more likely than not, you already know some Latin roots, such as
aqua (water),
ama (love), and
tri (three). Those should help you to identify Latin words. However, there are some ways strictly limited to spelling, as well. Double consonants in the middle of words, the \u\ sound followed by d, j, l, r, or s sounds is almost always spelled with a
u, (if you've studied Latin this should make sense),
ious is common at the end of words, and
k and z are not really there unless it passed through another language.
I have lots more to say, but I'll give you a break. If this is interesting to you, let me know and I'll post more. If not...you can disregard this comment. ;)
Meridian
