Origins – More about life
Latin vita, life, is the origins of: 1.Vital – essential to life; of crucial importance – a vital matter; also full of life, strength, vigour, etc. 2.Revitalize – revitalize is…
PREFIXES – Words with un-.
People tend to think that un- is solely a negative prefix. It is, of course, often used as such. And unlike most of the other negative prefixes it can be…
Origins – Getting back to God
Theos, God, is also found in: 1.Monotheism – belief in one God. (Monos, one, plus theos, God.) 2.Polytheism – belief in many gods, as in ancient Greece or Rome, (polys,…
PREFIXES – Words with per-.
The basic meaning of per- is ‘through’. If you perambulate the grounds of a stately home, you walk around or through them. The root here is ambul, from which English…
Origins – The French Drillmaster
Jean Martinet was the Inspector-General of Infantry during the reign of King Louis XIV and a stricter, more fanatic drillmaster France had never seen. It was from this time that…
PREFIXES – Words with com-.
This prefix has two distinct meanings. First, it can mean ‘with’ or ‘together’, as in combine, compatriot, coexist, and cohere. But it was also used as an ‘intensifier’ to give…
Origins – To sleep or not to sleep
The root fero is found also in somniferous, carrying, hearing, or bringing sleep. So a somniferous lecture is so dull and boring that it is sleep-inducing. Fero is combined with…
Prefixes – Words with ad-
The ad- prefix is primarily a Latin preposition meaning ‘to, near, at’; it is distantly related to the English word at. Even in Latin it was much used as a…