Lesson 3: Building Vocabulary
- Objectives
- Morphology Crash Course
- Anglicization
- Vocabulary list
- Vocabulary practice
- Reflection Questions
Objectives
- Look at Greek and Latin morphology
- Introduce suffixes
- Prepare to look at scientific names
Morphology Crash Course
Morphology comes from the Greek words morphe (shape, form) and logos (word, reason). It’s the way that words are formed. Now that you have some familiarity with the Greek and Latin alphabets, it’s time to take a quick look at the languages themselves. There are some differences in the way that Greek and Latin words are formed, versus how English words are formed, which influence the way that scientific names look.
Inflected Languages
Greek and Latin are both inflected languages. Inflected languages have words that are spelled differently according to a word’s grammatical function in a sentence. This gives both languages some flexibility when it comes to word order. In English, we determine the grammatical function of a noun by its placement in the sentence. Consider the following two sentences:
- Julius sees Marcus.
- Marcus sees Julius.
In both sentences, Julius and Marcus’s names are spelled the same way. However, you know from context clues that in the first sentence, Julius is the one who is doing the seeing; in the second sentence, Marcus is the one seeing.
The word order determines the function of a particular word in the sentence. Grammatically speaking, the subject of the sentence is the noun or pronoun that performs the action. The object of the sentence is the noun or pronoun that receives the action. We would say that Julius is the subject of the first sentence, and Marcus is the object of that sentence. In the second sentence, Marcus is the subject, and Julius is the object.
If we were to write the same two sentences in Latin, we’d arrive at something like this:
- Julius videt Marcum.
- Marcus videt Julium.
(Do you recognize a familiar root in videt?)
Note that here, the names have different spellings. The -us ending indicates which person is the subject, while the -um ending indicates which is the object. These functions are called cases. In these sentences, we saw the subject and object cases. (We’ll see the possessive case as well, which, as the name suggests, indicates posession.)
Unfortunately, Latin is a little more complicated than just one consonant change and a pair of cases. (We haven’t even started on Greek!) For now, it suffices to say that different words follow different patterns when it comes to determining the spelling changes between cases. We call these patterns declensions. Both Latin and Greek have multiple declensions, which means that their nouns and adjectives tend to have multiple different endings.
English has some inflection in its pronouns. For example, she/her, it/its, I/me/my.
Latin Endings
The following table lists some common Latin noun and adjective endings, along with their English equivalents, if applicable.
| Latin ending | English ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -us | -e or unchanged | genus, gene |
| -um | -e or unchanged | bacterium, date |
| -arium/-aria | -ary or unchanged | aquarium, library |
| -orium/-oria | -ory or unchanged | auditorium, oratory |
| -ianus | -ian | civilian |
| -osus | -ose, -ous | verbose, subaqueous |
| -io | -ion | affection |
| -ia* | -y or unchanged | misery, insomnia |
| -es | unchanged | species |
| -a* | unchanged | flora |
| -is* | unchanged | stasis |
| -er* | unchanged but rare | tuber |
| -itudo | -itude | latitude |
| -itas, -etas, -tas | -ity, -ety, -ty | celerity |
| -entia | -ence | science |
| -(i)ens | -(i)ent | sapient |
| -alis | -al | natural |
| -ficio | -fy | magnify |
Endings marked with an asterisk (*) indicate that there is a Greek ending with the same spellings, both transliterated and Anglicized.
During the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods, many scientists had Latinized names to both uphold the classical tradition in science, as well as to establish legitimacy for themselves as learned people. The language of science and education was Latin, so having a Latin-sounding name made one more accepted as a scholar.
Greek Endings
Many of the surviving Greek endings originally came from adjectives, but over time they were used as nouns. The Greek endings here have been transliterated.
| Greek ending | English ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -istos, -astos | -ist, -ast | botanist, gymnast |
| -ikos | -ic | specific |
| -ikia | -ics | physics |
| -on | unchanged | protozoon |
| -idae, -ida, -id | unchanged, rare outside biology | arachnid |
| -itis | unchanged | arthritis |
Plurals
Because of the casing systems of both languages, some plural forms are not particularly intuitive. Though in modern usage, most of these rules are ignored in favor of just tacking on an “s” or “es” to the end of any word, here are some singular/plural patterns you should be aware of.
| Singular | Plural | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -on | -a | phenomenon/phenomena |
| -um | -a | datum/data |
| -us | -i | cactus/cacti |
| -x | -ices | vertex/vertices |
| -ma | -mata | stigma/stigmata |
| -sis | -ses | analysis/analyses |
Anglicization
Anglicization is a slightly different process from transliteration. Where transliteration is the process of rewriting words from one alphabet to another in a way that best preserves the original sounds, Anglicization is the process of adapting words from other languages, like Latin and Greek, specifically into English. Often, words may change their spellings and/or pronunciations. For example, the Latin scientia (knowledge) became science.
This happens commonly with classical names. Almost ironically, just as some Renaissance and Enlightenment-era writers created Latin versions of their own names, there were many classical writers whose names dropped their original endings. For example, the poets Ovid and Virgil would have been called “Ovidus” and “Vergilius” by their Latin-speaking peers, respectively.
Because Latin and Greek have a higher degree of inflection than English, Anglicization not only simplifies spelling and pronunciation; it also simplifies grammar. It lets English speakers have only one form of the word to remember and use, rather than trying to figure out some compromise between all the possible forms of a noun.
Vocabulary list
| Root | Language of origin | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| pod/pus | Greek | foot | octopus |
| derm | Greek | skin | dermatology |
| phys | Greek | nature | physical |
| zoo | Greek | animal | zoology |
| arthr | Greek | joints | arthritis |
| botan(e) | Greek | plants, herbs | botany |
| sarc | Greek | flesh | sarcophagus |
| cyt(e) | Greek | cell | cytology |
| ethn(o) | Greek | nation, people, race | ethnic |
| gymn | Greek | naked | gymnast |
| proto | Greek | first | proton |
| sta(s/t) | Greek | to stand | static |
| plas(t) | Greek | to make, to form | plastic |
| tom(y) | Greek | to cut | anatomy |
| ana | Greek | up to, up from | anabolic |
| endo | Greek | inside | endoderm |
| exo | Greek | outside | exoskeleton |
| ec(s) | Greek | out of | ecstasy |
| en | Greek | within, into | endemic |
| bacter | Latin | rod | bacteria |
| verb | Latin | word | verbal |
| cut(a) | Latin | skin | cuticle |
| scien(t) | Latin | to know | scientist |
| sapien(t) | Latin | to be wise | sapience |
| audi(t) | Latin | to hear | auditory |
| ora(t) | Latin | mouth | oral |
| natur(a) | Latin | nature, habit | nature |
| pend | Latin | to hang | suspend |
| flex/flect | Latin | to bend | inflect |
| re | Latin | again | renew |
| retro | Latin | backwards | retrograde |
Vocabulary practice
Practice Set A. Given the spellings of the original Latin and transliterated Greek, change each of the following words to their plurals.
- criterion
- bacterium
- octopus
- helix
- sarcoma
- metastasis
Practice Set B. Identify the roots in each of the following words, give their language of origin, and their definitions. Try to figure out the meanings of the endings, if they are found in the Latin and Greek tables.
- arthropod
- anatomy
- generic
- hypodermic
- audible
- subcutaneous
- append
- appendix
- appendectomy
- exothermal
- reflection
- sarcoplasm
Reflection Questions
- Look at the examples given in the Latin endings and Greek endings tables. Choose two and give what you think their original Latin or Greek forms would be. (Make sure to choose ones that actually have changed their endings!)
- So far, we’ve touched briefly on Latin being the language of science in earlier times. What do you think is the language of science today? And why?
- Find something around your home that has a Greek or Latin ending that’s changed its spelling in English. Tell what it is, and what you think the original form of its spelling would have been.
- Which of the endings do you think are nouns, adjectives, or verbs? (There are no prepositions.)
- Create a Latin version of your own name! (You can look up the Latin names of Renaissance scientists for inspiration on how to translate your own name into something that sounds like Latin.)