The Origin of Words

Names in any country and culture have marrows, and children are delighted to project what their names mean. The name "John," for example comes from the Hebrew name Yochanan, meaning "YAHWEH is gracious" (Behind the Name, n.d.).

Many high schools t each(prenominal) Greek and Latin word origins, some focusing on common prefixes and suffixes. Students check over the components of words in their original languages and then engage in exercises that put those components together into words that we know. Phil Rosenthal's etymology class at greenness View racy School in Sterling, Virginia explores "the twists words bind as they make their way into English" (Birnbaum, 2008). An example is their oeuvre of the word "arena," which means "a sandy place" in Latin, coming from the sand scattered in Roman stadiums where gladiators battled each other (Birnbaum, 2008). In his etymology classes, Rosenthal "tries to give his 20-some students a sense of the stories and sunglasses behind the words they use every day" (Birnbaum, 2008).

Kristina Retherford's Daleville Junior-Senior High School etymology class in Daleville, Indiana is another class where students delight in learning word origins. Retherford's class teaches students to " see the evolution of 300 words, including dozens of Latin and Greek derivatives," on with words that may appear on the Scholastic dexterity Tests (McBride, 2008, p. 1).

To keep the study interesting, Retherford has

University of mating Carolina Online. (2007). Word formation and etymology. Retrieved February 21, 2009, from http://online.northcarolina.edu/course.php?id=10030

Lesson corner. (2009). Retrieved February 21, 2009, from http://www.lessoncorner.com/English/ breeding/Etymology

Birnbaum, M. (2008). Students dig deep for words' origins. Republished from the Washington Post. Kelso's Corner. Retrieved February 21, 2009, from http://kelsocartography.com/blog/?p=1271

Columbia encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2009, from http://plus.aol.com/aol/reference/etymolog/etymology?flv=1

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