Follow-the-String: On the Origin of Words
By Irene Calderon (Summit Country Day)
Etymology (the study of word origins) often gets a bad rep. It’s easy to get
lost in the heap of memorization and information. But fear not! Despite
etymology’s complexity, knowing the origin of words truly pays off in the long
run.
Etymology...
...can help you memorize and decipher the meanings of unknown words. If
you study more advanced science and law, you’ll often see really technical words
in their jargon that aren’t really used in common speech! Often times, however,
these words will use Latin or Greek roots, and you sometimes can piece together
the definition of a word based on its roots. For example, the androecium and
gynoecium of a flower describe its reproductive structures. How can you
remember their functions, and how can you differentiate between the two? If you
know the prefixes andr- and gyn- come from the Greek words for man and woman
(respectively), and that -oecium comes from the Greek noun oikion meaning
house, it’s much easier to associate the androecium for male reproductive
structures, and the gynoecium for female ones!
...helps with spelling. The English language is one of the hardest languages
in terms of spelling! Sometimes it seems like there are just as many exceptions as
OJCLers
holding up
the Ohio
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