In THIS POST, we talked about prefixes, suffixes, and root words. To date, that post has had more than 1,400 page views. I have no idea why it was so popular, but let's see if we can break that record by discussing more meanings of word parts (I'm not telling Willy Dunne Wooters about the 1,400+ because he'll say it's spambot; I'm sticking my tongue out at you, WDW).
According to our source, Vocabulary for a New World by Linda J. Palumbo and Frank J. Gaik, "learning the building blocks of words can help you to figure out and remember the meanings of many new words you encounter."
Palumbo and Gaik point out in one section of the book how the root "patri or pater, for father, spawns several related words."
Patri plus archy, which means rule gives us
patriarchy = rule by the fathers
Patri plus mony, which means wealth gives us
patrimony = the wealth of the father
and
patrimonialism = a system of authority based on inherited wealth
The suffixes -ic, -al, and -ous mean "made of or characterized by" and can be "used to turn some words into advectives."
poetic = in the form or spirit of a poem
porous = having pores
aquatic = of the water
Do you recognize these word parts related to forms and measures?
morph
plasty
meter
macro
micro
chron
Neo, of course, means new, as in neo-Nazi, but I'd say a Nazi is a Nazi is a Nazi.
Infinities of love,
Janie Junebug
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| Thanks, fishducky! |
My father, who was a German Jew, would certainly agree that a Nazi is a Nazi is a Nazi.
ReplyDeleteWe do have a fascinating language don't we?
Yes, we do.
DeleteHi Janie - love Fishducky's image ... fun. I still find I make simple mistakes ... but thankfully in a blog they can be corrected when they're pointed out, or I spot them first ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteI make plenty of mistakes.
DeleteThat was fun and informative. The only reason I would have to doubt that this one will reach the popularity of the previous post is that you used a yellow font on a white background.
ReplyDeleteI'm doomed.
Delete"a Nazi is a Nazi is a Nazi" so true, neo or not! I'd say something but it's too early for me to get political. The dogs got me up to go out but now that they've all had their morning constitutionals, I'm going back to bed until feeding time...
ReplyDelete1400+ page views is impressive! Here's a toast to this one faring as well...
Michele at Angels Bark
Franklin and Penelope quite often want to go out sometime between two and four in the morning. They pee and run around for a few minutes. Then we head back to bed.
DeleteHahahahaha, Muriel!
ReplyDeleteI am Muriel.
DeleteI love words and all their parts. One of the really nerdy things I used to do when having to sit through a boring talk at work was to (mentally) take a root word and see how many derivatives I could make. Hours of entertainment. ;-)
ReplyDeleteA boring talk at work would put me right to sleep.
DeleteLove the cartoon, oh queen! Hope you are having a wonderful week. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm fine except that it's too darn hot.
DeleteLove that Muriel, but she needs to move back next door from the retirement home...
ReplyDeleteMy kids studied Latin because it helped with root words. It was also fun.
My daughter took Latin in high school and college. She even joined a Latin reading group in college, which she described as a bunch of nerds sitting around reading poetry in Latin.
DeleteMuriel is me, about 30 years from now . . .
ReplyDeleteMuriel is me, right this minute.
DeleteI love Muriel !
ReplyDeletecheers, parsnip
I wish I didn't know "micro" as well as I do, Janie.
ReplyDeleteLove ya.
We need more Muriels. Autocorrect is bullshit. Do an image search under "autocorrect memes" and you'll see some great goofs.
ReplyDeleteHm. Spellchecker flags "autocorrect." Something suspicious there.
It is times like this when I don't feel like my one year of Latin in high school had the staying power it needed to be useful!
ReplyDeleteMy mother is another Muriel :)
ReplyDeleteLearning other languages is a big help in figuring out the meaning of unfamiliar words because English gets so many words from other tongues. I took Latin and French in high school and learned more than I ever expected.
It's been a while since I've spoken with Muriel.
ReplyDeleteI wish I'd had teachers like you when I was in high school. Maybe I wouldn't have skipped so many classes :)
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy our language which is one big soup. There is no such thing as neo Nazis, they are just Nazis who must be dealt with...Nuremberg trials anyone?
ReplyDeleteChron and plasty are new to me, I've heard them before but haven't used them enough. I've heard macro/micro used in economics, and macro is some form of diet that is waaay too specific for a simpleton like me.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I learned the meaning of 'porous' from the SpongeBob theme song.
That was a fun read, and so nice of you to share. Greetings.
ReplyDeleteI love that cartoon!
ReplyDeleteDid you take orthology in grade school? I found it fascinating.
I enjoy our grammar lessons, Janie. Thank you:)
It's always interesting to read your word part meanings.
ReplyDeleteSome things just make me loose my mind.
ReplyDeleteThis cracks me up. Or pisses me off, depending.
DeleteIt's okay to think it's funny. Penwusser intended it as a joke, right Penwusser?
DeleteI have wondered if the neo before the Nazi is there to make them sound less horrible and disgusting. I'm with you, a Nazi is a Nazi and there's nothing new about them at all.
ReplyDeleteForgot to say, I'm off to read that other post, so look out for number 1401 or something like that.
ReplyDeleteHi Janie,
ReplyDeleteI love root words and word parts. That was what made learning Arabic so fun because if you can pull out the three letters that make up a root, you can translate the meanings. It was so much fun. One reason why I love learning languages.
I love this entry and I'm glad you wrote this. I hope this entry is as popular as your other one.
Love,
Jessica
A Nazi by any other name would smell just as foul.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, "politics" comes from the prefix meaning "many" and the root word "tick" meaning a blood-sucking pest.
ReplyDeleteHave a super weekend, grammar queen.
This was great. Unlike Tolkien I an not a linguist, but I do love words. Also we need more people like Muriel!
ReplyDeleteActually, I prefer Muriel to auto correct, JJ! But what I really hate is auto predict which causes me a lot of grief. I could have used this as a lesson in my classroom. We definitely spent time on roots, prefixes, suffixes, and the meanings of roots in my classroom! Not just in reading and writing, but in math, science, and social studies. Words are great fun! Enjoy your weekend!
ReplyDeleteAlways so interesting to see where words come from. Autocorrect sometimes kills me. I don't know why my phone picks the words it does. :-/
ReplyDeleteI know I've been absent; please don't hate me. I love that I popped in to find a grammar post. I have to go reply to a comment that cracks me up.
ReplyDeletexo
-andi
I like these posts!
ReplyDelete