English
Not One Language But Several
Diana Hanbury King
Founding Fellow/AOGPE
Founder, The Kildonan School
and Camp Dunnabeck
Email: [email protected]
Diana H. King
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Grimm's Law
A treatise specifying the correspondence between Germanic languages and Sanskrit,
Greek, and Latin languages.
Over hundreds of years, these changes took place in three stages.
Stage #1
Unvoiced stops changed to unvoiced fricatives
P-F ........ pisces-fish; pod-foot; penta-five; pyre-fire; pater-father; pinnate-feather;
pedal-foot
T-TH ..... toast-thirst; trinity-three; thresh (threshing floor was where people always
gossiped) - trite (lacking power to evoke interest through overuse or
repetition); tumor-thumb/thigh
K-H........ cornet-horn; canine-hound; cannabis-hemp; cardiac-heart
(So unvoiced p, t, k were missing from the language now)
Stage #2
Voiced stops changed to unvoiced stops
B-P ........ bursar-purse; boast-puff; labial-lip
D-T ........ dentist-tooth; decade-ten; domestic-tame; dual-two
G-K........ agriculture-acre; grain-corn; grate-scratch; genuflect-knee
(You cannot prolong “stops” [AKA plosives] whether they are voiced or unvoiced,
therefore older students can’t hear them and may drop them when spelling voiced stops)
(Now there was no b, d, and g)
Stage #3
Unvoiced H disappeared
BH-B
DH-D
GH-G
(The Indian language has a BH, DH, & GH: Bhagavita = Indian sacred book; dhoti =
loin cloth; ghee = clarified butter)
Therefore, 9 consonants changed in words of Germanic origin, but not in words of Latin
or Greek origin.
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Scholars have reconstructed over 2,000 roots and
80 PERCENT OF ENGLISH WORDS ARE DERIVED FROM
AN INDO-EUROPEAN ROOT
The other 20% come from other origins
INDO-EUROPEAN *
DEIW
♦ To shine, but also the (shining) sky
♦ Germanic:
o The god's name survives in many versions: Jove, whence the figurative
JOVIAL, Zeus, and the Germanic Tiw, whose day was TUESDAY.
♦ Latin:
o The sky god who was the head Indo-European DEITY (from Latin).
o DIVINE, a less obvious one is ADIEU (literally, "to God"-"God be with
you").
o We find a rather different sense in Latin dies, diumurn, day - originally, the
"shining" (daylight) hours - whence the DIARY or JOURNAL that records
the day's events
o A JOURNEY (originally, a day's march or ride)
o DIAL that marks the day's hours ("The bawdy hand of the dial is on the prick
of noon"-Shakespeare)
o DIET that tells you how much to eat each day
o The meeting that's ADJOURNED - put off to another day or time
o Latin dies malus, evil day, is - DISMAL
PA
♦ To protect
♦ Germanic:
o FEED, whence FOOD, FODDER, and FORAGE
o The "protect" sense evolved into the Germanic FUR and the FOSTER parent
who both feeds and protects a child.
♦ Latin:
o PASTURE where animals feed
o PASTOR who protects them (and the pastor who protects his religious
"flock")
o REPAST at which we "feed intensively"
o ANTIPASTO ("before the repast")
o Perhaps PESTER, from a VL word meaning "tie up" (an animal), but more
likely from Lpestis, plague (people who pester you plague you)
o Also from the "feed" sense is L panis, bread (in ancient Rome, as still in many
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places, the staple food), whence the PANTRY where bread was kept
o COMPANION one “shares bread with"
o COMPANY = either those we invite to share bread ("Company tonight!") or a
group of business people who hope to share "bread"
BHERGH 2
♦ High, hill, hill fort
♦ Germanic:
o Whence BELFRY, originally a high tower (its later connection with bells is
pure coincidence)
o The fort evolved into a (fortified) town or BOROUGH
o Whence the innumerable "-bergs ... ... burghs," and "-burgs" of British,
German, and U.S. town names
o Whence BURG - the quintessential American small town (also, a
contemptuous term for any town or city)
o Town dwellers were BURGHERS or BOURGEOIS - though some were also
BURGLARS
♦ Latin:
o A less certain relative is Latin fors, fort-, strong (perhaps from "strong fort"),
o Whence such obvious descendants as FORCE, FORT, FORTIFY,
FORTITUDE, and the FORTE of musicians who play “strongly" (loudly)
o Hardly less obvious are EFFORT, ENFORCE, and REINFORCE.
o COMFORT originally = to support (give strength to), as in "aid and comfort
to the enemy," whence the later sense of "relieve distress"
♦ Whether this is a true word family is controversial. Some believe that the various
"town" senses derive from the “protect” sense of BERGH1. And Latin fortis and
its descendants may come from DKER2, to hold firmly
KERS
♦ Latin currere, curs-, to run
o Whence COURIER ("runner")
o COURSE on which horses or people run
o Running CURRENT of water or electricity
o CORRIDOR that (often) runs the length of a building
o CARFER - originally, run rapidly, but now also the way one's (professional)
life runs
o CURSOR that "runs" on a computer's visual display terminal
♦ Figurative senses:
o All Latin, include CONCUR ("run with" [someone's opinion])
o DISCOURSE that often “runs to and fro” is DISCURSIVE
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o EXCURSION “runs out" somewhere
o INTERCOURSE is a "running between”
o PRECURSOR is a forerunner
o RECOURSE and RECUR both refer to different kinds of "running back”
o OCCURS means "runs to meet" us
o Someone who SUCCORS us "runs under" or supports us
♦ Another branch of the family stems from Gaulish carros, CART (running on
wheels),
o Which evolved into Latin:
§ CARRIAGE
§ CAR
§ CHARIOT, plus the
§ CARPENTER who made the wagon
§ CARGO it was used to CARRY - i.e., was CHARGED with, in its
original sense (burdened).
§ CARICATURE is idiomatic; its Italian original = load, burden, hence
exaggeration.
♦ A controversial member of the family is Germanic HORSE
o Which Eric Partridge once suggested could mean "the runner"
o It makes some sense phonetically - the K-to-H shift is standard in Germanic
and also semantically: the domesticated horse could draw a light cart or
chariot at a run, while its predecessor, the ox, could at best achieve a
shambling trot
BHEDH
♦ From Germanic we get the soft, dug-up BED of a garden
o Whence (!) the soft bed you sleep in
UL
♦ Germanic to HOWL
o Whence “howling” OWL
WOPSA
♦ Germanic WASP
♦ In some British dialects, wasps are still called “WOPSES.”
• Claiborne, Robert. The Roots of English – A Readers Book of Word Origins. New
York: Random
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INTERESTING ETYMOLOGIES
v
Images of various sorts
WORD
DERIVATION
COMPARE WITH
petrify
literally to change to stone (L)
Peter, petroglyph
astonish
literally thunderstruck (L to OF to Eng)
company
break bread together
sophomore
literally wise fool (Gk)
French for bread =
pain
sophisticated & moron
hippopotamus
river horse (Gk)
hippodrome
cockpit
muscle
v
pit for fighting cocks so called because of its
size
Latin for mouse from appearance when muscles
are flexed
cigarette
small cigar (Fr)
cigarra: Spanish for
cicada
dandelion
Lion’s tooth from shape of leaves (Fr)
dentist
daisy
literally day’s eye from its appearance
Old Eng. dæges eage
tulip
from Ottoman Turkish turban, which it
resembles in shape
Superstitions and beliefs
WORD
DERIVATION
gauche
French for left
sinister
left in Latin
disaster
against the stars (L)
lunatic
from the belief that sleeping in moonlight
would steal ones wits away (OE & L)
tadpole
COMPARE WITH
left-handed
compliment
left-handed
compliment
aster, asterisk
literally toad + head (OE)
a married woman’s property, apart from her
dowry, which was carried in the wedding
procession (Gk)
poll tax
noon
the ninth hour after sunrise (L)
nones, November
pen
Latin penna; feather
penknife
paraphernalia
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Latin root fer
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v
Sort of historic
WORD
candidate
bonfire
gymnasium
DERIVATION
from the white tunic worn by those running for
office (L)
literally, bonefire, a fire in which bones are
burned; from the time of the plague (ME)
from the fact that the Greek athletes practices
naked (Gk. gymnos = naked)
architect
chief carpenter (Gk to L)
holiday
literally, holy day or saint day (OE)
lieutenant
place holder (Fr)
Wednesday
Wodan’s day (OE)
January
salary
pecuniary
villain
diploma
alarm
curfew
neighbor
from Janus, the tow-headed god of doorways,
hence beginnings (L)
Literally, salt money; soldiers were paid in salt
(L)
pertaining to money; pecu (PIE) = cattle,
originally cattle were a form of wealth
Roman times where the country people who
came in on market days were supposed to be
responsible for crimes (L. villa = country
house)
literally, paper folded double as it once was
(Gk)
COMPARE WITH
candid
gymnosperm
In lieu of,
tenant
other weekdays named
for Norse gods
Pecos Bill
Italian = all’arme; literally to the arms
literally, cover the fire; (Fr) military in origin,
the order to cover the fire to prepare for sleep
nigh gebur or near-dweller, hence the spelling
(OE)
umbrella
originally, shade
penumbra
mortgage
literally, death pledge (Fr)
mortal
husband
OE hus + bondi = house master
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v
Places
WORD
DERIVATION
gypsy
from Egypt, whence they were supposed to originate (ME)
peach
originally malum Persicum or Persian apple (L)
bedlam
from St. Mary’s of Bethlehem Hospital in London, a lunatic asylum
tawdry
from St. Audrey’s Fair where cheap and flashy things were sold;
shortened from tawdry lace an alteration of St. Audrey’s lace
bologna
named for sausage from Bologna, Italy
hamburger
from Hamburg, Germany
calico
corruption of Calcutta, India, a seaport where Europeans first obtained it
jeans
meander
dollar
v
from French jean fustian “twilled cotton cloth from Genoa (Italy)”
originally mid-19th century
from the Greek river Maiandros (name of river in Phrygia) noted for its
winding course
from Joachimstaler, Germany, where the silver was minded in mountains
of Czechoslovakia
People
WORD
DERIVATION
boycott
the Irish landlord, Captain Boycott (1880)
the 4th Earl of Sandwich(1718-1972) who was reluctant to leave the
gaming tables so he ate slices of cold meat between bread
7th Earl of Cardigan (1791 to 1868), general who lead the Charge of the
Light Brigade at Balaclava in the Crimean War
sandwich
cardigan
leotard
Jules Leotard, 19th century French aerial performer
derrick
after a 26th century hangman named Derick
guy
from Guy Fawkes who tried to blow up the House of Parliament (1605)
and is burned in effigy on Nov. 5th every year
silhouette
from Etienne de Silhouette (1709-1767) who perfected the art
guillotine
quisling
quixotic
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after Joseph Ignace Guillotin (1738-1813) a French physician who
proposed humane beheading
World War II Norwegian traitor Vidkun Quisling, head of Norway’s
government during the Nazi occupation
after Don Quixote
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Tips for determining a word’s origin.
Knowing what language a word comes from will help with
pronunciation and spelling.
Anglo-Saxon / Germanic
1. Names of common things
a. 100 common words in the language (Dolch and Fry lists) and most of the words that are a
problem for spelling
b. numbers from 1 to 100
−
including cardinal and ordinal numbers (first, second)
c. basic colors (red, yellow, blue)
d. animals from farm, forest, and sea (cow, deer, shrimp)
e. outer body parts or those a hunter would know (head, arm, foot)
f. short common verbs (come, go, play)
2. Pronouns (he, she, us)
a. they, them, their - 3rd person plural is Norse
3. Consonants
a. k in short words (kilt, hook)
−
one-syllable sk words are usually Norse (ski, skip)
−
NB: long words are probably from Greek (kilometer)
b. hard g before e, i, y (gift, give, get)
c. ng (sting, bang, long, hung)
d. tw with the meaning of two (twin, between, twilight)
4. Di/trigraphs: ch, sh, th, wh, ck, tch, dge
a. ch in short words (church, cheap, punch)
b. sh = in short words (shop, shame, wish)
c. th in short words (this, that, path)
d. wh (which, why, where)
−
originally hw; changed by French scribes to match ch, sh, th
e. end spelling pattern: -ck, -tch, -dge (long spelling right after a short vowel)
−
ck (duck, wick)
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−
tch (witch, stitch, patch)
−
dge (edge, ridge)
5. Consonant patterns
a. Doubled consonants in the middle (rabbit, ladder)
b. Floss rule words - end in ff, ll, ss (bluff, hill, moss)
6. Short words with unexpected long vowel sounds
a. Most old trolls and colts are kind and mild.
7. Short words with silent letters
a. wr with meaning of twist (wring, write, wrench)
b. gh (laugh, high, ghost)
c. kn and gn - still pronounced in German (knight, gnat)
d. ld (should, would, could)
e. mb (limb, thumb)
8. Vowel teams (rain, clay, see, beak, might, fry, boat, flow, book, moon)
a. except: ow followed by er as in flower, tower, shower are from French
9. Most 2-syllable consonant-le words (bubble, puddle)
a. Except: some French words and words of three or more syllables
−
uncle is French
−
article is Latin
−
chronicle is Greek
Latin
v
> 50% of English words are Latin in origin
v
Academic words used in literature and textbooks
Characteristics:
1. Long words often consisting of prefix, root, and/or suffix (rejection, disrupt, ingredient)
2. Final blends ct and pt (act, erupt)
3. Soft c before e, i (cent, receipt, circular)
4. sc = /s/ (science, conscience, scissors)
5. Silent initial h (honor, herbs)
6. Absence of vowel teams
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a. Long vowels generally vowel-consonant-e
b. Mostly open, closed, silent-e, and Vr syllables
7. Assimilated prefixes - create double letters
a. in and con (illegal, comment)
b. sub and ob (suffer, oppress)
c. dis and ex (differ, effort)
d. ad (arrest)
8. Suffix: -tion, -sion/-ssion (motion, explosion, mission)
9. /sh/ spelled ti, ci, si, but never sh (partial, special, vision)
10. Latin connectives:
a. -i- = /ĭ/, /ē/, /y/ (experiment, curious, million, opinion)
b. -u- and -ul- (monument, turbulent)
−
-ular: connective -ul- + suffix ar (regular, modular, cellular)
11. tu =/choo/ and du=/joo/ (natural, future, education)
Greek
§
Scientific, medical, technical words (cardiac, Xerox)
§
Words connected to theatre (comedy, orchestra)
§
Word connect to the Olympics (discus, marathon)
1. th in long, scholarly words (mythology, thermometer)
2. k in long words (kleptomania, kerosene, kinesthetic)
3. ph = /f/; no f in Greek (phrase, phonics, physician)
4. ch = /k/ (chrome, ache, chorus, Christmas)
5. x in the initial position (xenophile, xylophone, Xerox)
6. Silent letters:
a. Silent p combinations: ps (psychology), pn (pneumonia)
b. rh (silent h) - rhythm, rhombus, rhinoceros
c. mn (silent m) - mnemonic,
7. Medial y = /ī/ and /ĭ/ (cycle, gym, system)
8. Words formed by combining two elements (usually nouns) with a connective o between them
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a. photograph, psychology, xylophone, neurology, geography, sophomore, technology,
mythology, carbon monoxide
b. –ology = study of (biology, astrology)
9. Endings -ic and -ac
a. dramatic, epidemic, cardiac
French
Ø
Government (prince, parliament) , legal (judge, plaintiff), religion (monastery, relic, saint),
military (lieutenant, regime), and gourmet (Chablis, venison) terms
Ø
Sophisticated cultured words (chic, trousseau)
Ø
Silent letters and generally difficult spellings that are a nightmare for dyslexic students
1. ch = /sh/ (Chicago, machine, chef, chateau)
2. ou = /oo/ (soup, route, cougar)
3. i = /ē/ (chic, cliché, marine, limousine)
4. oi and oy
a. /ä/ entered English after 1066 (reservoir, savior fare, fois gras)
b. /oi/ entered English before 1066 (loyal, royal, voyage, gargoyle)
5. ge = /zh/ or /j/ (beige, rouge, collage, damage, salvage)
6. qu and que = /k/ (mosquito, conquer, antique)
7. -eau = /ō/ (beau, bureau, beauty)
8. -ee = /ā/ (matinee, negligee)
9. et, ez, and accented é = /ā/ (ballet, rendezvous, attaché, fiancé)
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RESOURCES
−
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 2000 (4th ed.) Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Company.
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Ayto, John. 1990. Dictionary of Word Origins. New York: Arcade Publishing.
−
Beck, Isabel, McKeown, Margaret, & Kucan, Linda. 2002. Bringing Words to Life. New York,
NY: Guilford Press.
−
Bryson, Bill. 1990. Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way. New York: Avon Books.
−
Carreker, Suzanne. 1995. Word Detective: Discovering the history of the English Language.
www.Neuhaus.org
−
Claiborne, Robert. 1989. The Roots of English: A Reader’s Handbook of Word Origins. New
York: Times Books.
−
Henry, Marcia. 1990. Words - Integrated Decoding and Spelling Instruction Based on Word
Origin and Word Structure. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
−
King, Diana Hanbury. 2000. English Isn’t Crazy! The Elements of Our Language and How to
Teach Them. Baltimore: Pro-Ed, Inc.
−
Kleiber, Margaret. 1993. A Systematic Study of Latin and Greek Roots. Bronx, NY: Decatur
Enterprises.
−
Lerer, Seth. 2007. Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language. NY: Columbia
University Press
−
Morgan, Kenneth. Dynamic Roots. http://www.dynamicphonics.com/
−
Potter, Simeon. 1975. Our Language. Middlesex: Penguin Books, Ltd.
−
Yoshimoto, Ron. Complete OG. (on CD)
−
Websites of interest:
o Etymology On-Line http://etymonline.com/
o French words and Expressions. http://french.about.com/library/bl-frenchinenglishlist.htm?PM=ss14_french
o Word Information (history and etymology of words) http://www.wordinfo.info
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