Transcript Etymology terms - Woodland Hills School District

Etymology terms
Euphemism
• A word or phrase that is
considered less offensive or
less vulgar than the one it
replaces
• “she passed away today”
Colloquial language
• Everyday language;
usually applies to the
spoken word
Cognates
• Words formed by
combining the roots of 2
different languages
Blend words
• Words that blend two
already defined words: for
example, “smog”
(smoke+fog) or “jazzercise”
(jazz music + exercise)
Hybrids
• A word which
etymologically has one
part derived from one
language, and another
part from another
language
• Ex: bioluminescence
Greek “bios” meaning
“living” + Latin “lumen”
meaning “light”
linguistics
• Study of the origins and
structure of human
language
• Sub-disciplines include
evolutionary linguistics,
historical linguistics,
sociolinguistics,
psycholinguistics, and
neurolinguistics
semantics
• Study in the historical
change in the meaning of
words – how language
conveys meaning
• For example, the sentence “Colorless
green ideas sleep furiously.” is wellformed in word order, but makes no
sense!
• Or “A student met every professor.” A
different student, or the same
student?
Word component
• Part of a word, such as the
root
Abstract word
• A word not perceived by
the five senses
• Ex: love, success, freedom,
good, moral , democracy,
and any –ism (chauvinism,
Communism, feminism,
racism, etc.)
Clipped words
• New words that are
shortened forms of existing
words (for example, “cab”
which was clipped from
“cabriolet,” which was a
one-horse carriage with 2
seats and a folding top)
analogy
• The process of connecting
information from one
subject to another
particular subject
• Example:
Milk : Cow :: Egg : Chicken
Analogies have been discussed
since classical antiquity by
philosophers, scientists, and
lawyers!
inflection
• Alteration of a word to
indicate different
grammatical and
syntactical relations
jargon
• Specialized expressions
native to a particular field,
subculture, or region
affix
• Word element attached to
a root word
• Can be a prefix, suffix,
combined form, or infix
(“infix” is a word inserted
within the base form)
acronym
• Word formed from the
initial letters or groups of
letters of words in a phrase
or series of words
• Examples: MADD
(Mother’s Against Drunk
Driving), NATO (North
Atlantic Treaty
Organization)
Apheresis and aphesis
• Removal of a letter,
syllable, or unaccented
vowel from the beginning
of a word, such as “coon”
for “racoon” or “till” for
“until”
Romance languages
• Comprise all the
languages derived from
Latin, the language of
ancient Rome
• 6 most common: Spanish,
Portuguese, French, Italian,
Romanian, and Catalan
(the official language of
Andorra, a small country in
southwestern Europe)
infusion
• Process by which words
are introduced into
another language
doublet
• Words in different
languages derived from
the same root
• Ex: “shirt” and “skirt” both
Germanic, the first Old
English, the second Old
Norse
• Ex: “chief” and “chef”
both from French (at
different times)
Loan words
• A word borrowed from one
language and
incorporated into another
• Ex: “hors d’oeuvre” or
“détente”
Abbreviations notes
• dim. = diminutive, a word
used to convey a slight
degree of the word
meaning, smallness of the
object, intimacy, or
endearment (such as
behaving like or talking to
children)
Abbreviations notes cont’d
• eccl. = ecclesiastical
Meaning a word associated
with the church
• var. = variant, meaning it
differs from another word in
form only, being of the
same essence/substance
Abbreviations notes cont’d
• vulgar = Vulgar Latin,
meaning dialects of Latin
spoken after the fall of the
Roman Empire (in other
words, nonstandard) as
opposed to classical Latin
(standard)