Word Building:

Intro to Language

Reviewing important new terms:

Base: from the Greek noun βἀσις meaning “stepping, pedestal, foundation.” A base contains the core meaning of the word – the foundation. It is the form of a word to which prefixes and suffixes can be added to create new words. Everyone word has a minimum of one base.

Prefix: from the Latin pre- meaning “before, in front of” and the Latin fix meaning “attach.” → i.e. To attach in front of. A prefix is an element added to the beginning of a base or word. It modifies the base by giving it a new meaning.

Suffix: from the Latin sub- meaning “under, beneath” and the Latin fix meaning “attach.” → i.e. To attach under/at the end. A suffix is an element added to the end of a base or word. It modifies the base by giving it a new meaning.

Combining Form: A convenient way of identifying a base and suffix combination that is added to another base without specifying these elements individually.

Combining Vowel: A vowel (usually “o” or “i”) that is sometimes used to link a base with subsequent elements.

Adapted from Greek Art in the Archaic Period:

Met Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

Read the paragraph and identify today’s Greek bases:

A macroscopic change appears in Greek art of the seventh century B.C., the beginning of the Archaic period. The abstract geometry in the patterning that was dominant between about 1050 and 700 B.C. is supplanted in the seventh century by a more naturalistic style – not through autonomy alone, but also with significant influence from the Near East and Egypt. Trading stations in the Levant and the Nile Delta, continuing Greek colonization by oligarchs into the east and west, as well as contact with eastern craftsmen, notably on Crete and Cyprus, inspired Greek artists to work in techniques as diverse as gem cutting, ivory carving, jewelry making, and metalworking. Eastern graphic motifs were introduced—palmette and lotus compositions, animal hunts, and such composite beasts as griffins (part bird, part lion), sphinxes (part woman, part winged lion), and sirens (part woman, part bird). In the mania of Archaic art production, Greek artists rapidly assimilated foreign styles and motifs into new portrayals of their own mythology and customs, thereby forging the foundations of Archaic and Classical Greek art.

Indo-Europeans & their language (Proto-Indo-European)

Comparative Linguistics:

the study of similarities and differences between languages, in particular the comparison of related languages with a view to reconstructing forms in their lost parent languages.

Latin and Greek are “Inflected” Languages

In inflected languages, the morphology (formation) of a word changes based on its syntactic function (the role it serves in the grammar).

“she/her/her,” “he/his/him,” and “they/their/them

​

• Subject: she/he/they
• Possessive: her/his/their
• Object: her/him/them

“I/my/me” and “we/our/us”

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• Subject: I/we
• Possessive: my/our
• Object: me/us

3rd person:

1^st person

English Examples: Pronouns

Latin Example: felix

You do NOT need to know/memorize this chart. This is just for comparison.

state

statute

status

institute

standard

establish

constant

statistics

substance

sto, stare, steti, statum

state

statute

status

institute

standard

establish

constant

statistics

substance

sto, stare, steti, statum

st_*t

=

‘stand’

​

* insert (almost) any vowel here

Applying this to Understanding English Vocab

antidisestablishmentarianism

Greek prefix meaning “against, contrary to”

Latin prefix meaning “apart from,” and therefore “not”

… you know what this means.

From Old French, establir, which itself is from the Latin

stabilire “to make firm,” and therefore, “to found”

English form of Old French verb suffix, -iss

Suffix forming an abstract noun from a verb, from French, from Latin (-mentum)

Latin suffix forming an adjective or noun related to beliefs or concepts.

Greek suffix forming a noun from a verb (e.g. criticism) or to reflect a belief (e.g. Marxism)

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Greek – “lung” / “lung related

Latin – “beyond”

Greek – “small / one millionth”

Greek – “Looking”

Latin – “like sand”

Latin – “volcano” (from a Sicilian island)

Greek – “dust”

Greek suffix – “condition of”

Hamlet and Newton Assignment:

1. Break into groups of 3-4
2. Use your collective knowledge to make some guesses as to what words originated from Greek or Latin (several of them do!)

How can you tell if a word could be from Greek or Latin?

• Is the word similar in form to other English words you know? (ex: “please” and “pleasure.”)
• Is the word similar in form & meaning to words you know in other Indo-European languages? (ex: English “erratic” and Spanish “errático.” German “Vater” and English “Father.”)
• Does the word include common prefixes or suffixes? (ex: “anti-”, “pre-”, “super-”)