English Words
from Latin, Greek,
and Anglo-Saxon
Increase spelling, vocabulary, and
reading comprehension
Adapted from Susan Ebbers
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Basic Terms
root form: inspector, thermal
base word: unlikely
prefix: re-, un-, dissuffix: -able, -ive, -ly
affixes
}
derivation-a word formed from an existing word,
root, or affix: electric, electricity
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Three Periods of the English Language
•Old English ~A.D. 450-1100
•Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, (some) Latin
•Middle English ~A.D. 1100-1500
•French-Norman, Latin, Greek
•Modern English ~A.D. 1500-present
•Greek, Latin, Adopted English
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Susan Ebbers 2005
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Anglo-Saxon: Indo-European Origins
common words: love,
child, house, heart
(often one syllable)
vowel teams: teeth, foot
r-controlled: farm, star,
storm, shirt
wh-what, sh-ship,
th-thumb, ch-church,
ng-king, nk-thank
prepositions, articles,
conjunctions: with, to,
for, and, the, but…
compound words:
mankind, blackbird
words with silent letters:
knee, night, comb,
wrinkle, could, thought
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Basic Old English Words
Down-to-earth and true-blue,
the first learned and the last forgotten.
We work and eat and laugh and weep,
Sing and play and rise and sleep,
Hope and pray with all our might,
Shun the wrong and love the right.
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Susan Ebbers 2005
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Latin: Some Common Roots
trans port
able
to carry
dis
rupt
ion
to break
pre
script ion
to write
re
tract
or
to pull
inter cept
ion
to take
pro
ject
ile
to throw
de
struct ion
to build
con duct
or
to lead
dis
miss
al
to send
sub vers
ive
to turn
e
dict Susan Ebbers 2005
to speak
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20 Most Frequent Prefixes in School Texts
1.
unable
2.
review
inedible (impotent, illegal,
irresponsible)
distrust
enlighten
(empower)
nonsense
inside,
implant
overcome
misguided
submarine
prefix
interrupt
forewarn
derail
transfer
supersonic
semicircle
antitrust
midterm
underfed
Analysis: White, Sowell,
Susan Ebbers 2005
and Yanagihara 1989
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Prefixes: Meaning and Connotation
Often Negative
Somewhat Positive
dis-,
de-
non-
sub-
pro-
co-
bene-
in-
un-
mis-
super-
com-
be-
mal-
anti,
contra
a-
en-,
em-
ad-
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Derivational Suffixes
Derivational suffixes change the part of speech
•
•
•
•
words ending with –tion are often nouns
words ending with –ive are often adjectives
words ending with –ish are often adjectives
words ending with –ity are often nouns
What about -ment, -ous, -ness?
Susan Ebbers 2005
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English Language Learners
PROFICIENCY LEVELS
Intermediate Level:
•Understands roots and affixes
•Decodes multi-syllabic words
Advanced Level:
•Uses word parts to determine word meanings
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Cognates Connect English and
Spanish through Latin Origins
Romance Languages (e.g., Spanish, Portuguese,
French, Italian, etc.) share the same Latin roots
Morta: Roman goddess of death
Example: The Latin root for the word death is mort.
The French spell it morte and the Spanish, muerte.
In English, we have a whole network of related
words: mortal, immortal, mortality, mortician,
mortuary, postmortem, etc.
Ebbers, 2004
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Greek Combining Forms
hydro
graph
geo
pyro
polis
neuro
ortho
scope
photo
therm
crat
psych
chron
phobe
pseud
onym
crypt
helio
logy
sphere
the, theo
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Counting in Greek and Latin
mono
uni
di
bi
du, duo
tri
tetra
quadri
penta
hexa
sept
oct
nove
deca
deci
cent
milli
poly
multi
semi
hemi
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Developing content-specific,
academic vocabulary
depends on a basic
understanding of Greek
and Latin
Sixty percent of the words
in English texts are of Latin
and Greek origin
Bear et al., 1996; Henry, 1997
Susan Ebbers 2005
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Content-Specific Greek Terms
Anatomy and Medical Terms
esophagus, thyroid, diagnosis, psoriasis, dyslexia
Studies and Sciences
biology, seismology, morphology, geochronometry
Animals and Plants
arachnid, amphibian, chlorophyll, dinosaur, nectar
Theatre and the Arts
charisma, drama, chorus, muse, symphony, acoustics
Susan Ebbers 2005
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grammar school
grammar books
rules of grammar
grammatical
grammatically
ungrammatical
ungrammatically
grammatology
grammar
photograph
polygraph
mimeograph
phonograph
telegraph
paragraph
gram, graph
to write,
written
Greek
graph
telegram
mammogram
histogram
gram
anagram
cryptogram
monogram
electrocardiogram
graphite
grapheme
graphologist
graphic
graphically
Susan Ebbers 2005
photographer
cartographer
geographer
cryptographer
autobiographer
xylographer
paleographer
biographer
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Look Inside—Look Outside
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
1. Look inside the word for known word parts:
prefixes, roots or combining forms, suffixes.
2. Use the analogy strategy—“I don’t know this word,
but I know pneumonia and I know volcano, so by
analogy, this word might have something to do with
lungs and heat.”
3. Look outside the word at context clues, visuals
The coal miners, coughing and wheezing, suffered
from pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
Susan Ebbers 2005
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SO MANY SYNONYMS
ANGLO-SAXON, FRENCH, LATIN, and GREEK
AngloSaxon
French
Latin or
Greek
cook
sauté
concoct
holy
sacred
consecrated
kingly
royal
regal
wreck
sabotage
subvert
hearten
encourage
inspire
show
cinema
theater
See also Bryson, 1990; Lederer, 1991; King, 2000
Susan Ebbers 2005
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ENGLISH: A RICH VOCABULARY
SO MANY SHADES OF MEANING
“A Positive Emotion”
GLAD
PLEASED
DELIGHTED
OVERJOYED
HAPPY
CAREFREE
LIGHTHEARTED
MERRY
JOYOUS
JOYFUL
CHEERY
CHEERFUL
CONTENT
BLITHE
BLISSFUL
SATISFIED
BOUYANT
BEATIFIC
ECSTATIC
EUPHORIC
EUPEPSIC
Susan Ebbers 2005
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THANK YOU
Merci
Danke
Gratias
ευχαριστώ
/efharisto/
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