The Greek & Latin Roots of English (15 page)

B. Choose five of the transliterated words above (1–45) that have come into English unchanged and use that word in an English sentence. If necessary consult your English dictionary.

46. ______________________________________________________________

47. ______________________________________________________________

48. ______________________________________________________________

49. ______________________________________________________________

50. ______________________________________________________________

Footnotes

1
. For that reason, the genitive case of nouns and adjectives will be given only when it is the basis for the formation of the English derivative.

2
. Almost every Greek word has an accent mark, but it does not affect the transliteration of the word.

3
. Many Greek words were borrowed by the Romans and given Latin endings; thus, the Greek
-os
,
-on
becomes the Latin
-us
,
-um
.

GREEK INTO ENGLISH

Delphi, the home of the oracle of the god Apollo

Numbering, preeminent among subtle devices, I found for them, and the combining of letters, For remembering all things, the mother of the Muses Skilled in all crafts
.

AESCHYLUS (fifth-century BCE tragic playwright),
Prometheus Bound
, ll. 459 ff.

GREEK SUFFIXES

As was previously noted, the rules for the formation of Greek-based words in English are not as regularized as for Latin-based vocabulary. Thus, only those Greek suffixes most frequently found in English are given.

I. ADJECTIVE-FORMING SUFFIXES

Examples

II. NOUN-FORMING SUFFIXES

Examples

The poet Homer, whom the ancient Greeks credited with the creation of
The Iliad
and
The Odyssey
(Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

III. LEARNED BORROWINGS

The following suffixes are Greek in origin but most often appear in English as learned borrowings.