Although Latin is not the direct ancestor of English, as it is of Italian, French and Spanish (the so-called ‘Romance’ languages), it has nevertheless given us an enormous number of words. According to some estimates, nearly half of all English words come from Latin. You may be familiar with the idea that words such as science, transport and solution are derived from Latin, but did you know that street and kipper come from Latin words which entered ordinary speech during the period from the first to the early fifth centuries AD, when Celtic Britain was part of the Roman Empire?
There are other homely words in this category. Try matching the English words on the left with their Latin origins on the right.
English word | Latin origin |
---|---|
beer | libra |
box | saccus |
candle | caseus |
wine | mille passus |
cheese | uallum |
lb (an imperial pound in weight) | bibere |
mile | pisum |
peas | uinum |
pound | buxus |
sack | salarium |
salary | castra |
sock | pondo |
street | strata (uia) |
wall | candela |
caster/cester/chester (as in Lancaster, Gloucester, Chester) | soccus |
English word | Latin origin |
---|---|
beer | bibere (= to drink) |
box | buxus (= boxwood) |
candle | candela |
cheese | caseus |
lb (an imperial pound in weight) | libra |
mile | mille passus (= 1,000 paces) |
peas | pisum |
pound | pondo (= by weight) |
sack | saccus (= large bag) |
salary | salarium (= salt ration) |
sock | soccus (= slipper) |
street | strata (uia) (= paved way) |
wall | uallum (= palisaded earthwork) |
wine | uinum |
caster/cester/chester (as in Lancaster, Gloucester, Chester) | castra (= camp, fort) |
In the sixth century, the Latin of the Christian church added such words as monastery and minster, pope and noon (from nona hora = ninth hour = 3pm) to the language, which was then essentially Anglo-Saxon. When William the Conqueror and his Normans came to Britain in the eleventh century, a vast number of words, derived both from Norman French and from written Latin, entered English. Among these are duke, general, soldier, army, palace, law, chivalry, merchant, mutton, beef and pork. In some instances, English was further enriched by having two versions of what was originally a single Latin word.
Words from Latin through French | Words from Latin |
---|---|
treason | tradition |
rage | rabies |
ray | radius |
poor | pauper |
reason | ration, ratio |
firm | secure |
abridge | abbreviate |
The Renaissance in Europe, the Enlightenment in Britain, and the nineteenth- and twentieth-century growth of science and technology produced thousands more words derived from Latin, such as administration, computer, decimal, horticulture, interface, molecule, missile, satellite and superhuman.
This is a huge and fascinating topic. If you would like to think about it in greater depth, you could read Latin in our Language by Peter Barker (1993). This book contains many vocabulary exercises.
In addition to the words which have been derived from Latin or from Latin through French, English also uses a number of words taken straight from Latin without any change. See if you can match each of the Latin/English words on the left with the appropriate word from the list on the right, which gives the meanings of the original Latin words.
Latin/English word | Meaning of original Latin word |
---|---|
agenda | teacher |
album | lentil |
arena | more |
camera | thing to be referred |
curriculum | rule/method |
data | things to be discussed |
doctor | sand |
exit | empty thing |
formula | spoke |
fungus | less |
index | take! |
innuendo | arched roof |
lens | he/she goes out |
media | things given |
minus | mushroom |
plus | sign/title |
rabies | things in the middle |
radius | race course |
recipe | by hinting |
referendum | fury |
vacuum | blank white stone tablet |
(on which notices | |
could be written) |
Latin/English word | Meaning of original Latin word |
---|---|
agenda | things to be discussed |
album | blank white stone tablet (on which notices could be written) |
arena | sand |
camera | arched roof |
curriculum | race course |
data | things given |
doctor | teacher |
exit | he/she goes out |
formula | rule/method |
fungus | mushroom |
index | sign/title |
innuendo | by hinting |
lens | lentil |
media | things in the middle |
minus | less |
plus | more |
rabies | fury |
radius | spoke |
recipe | take! |
referendum | thing to be referred |
vacuum | empty thing |
In English there are often two words expressing the same idea, one of Anglo-Saxon origin, the other of Latin origin. Anglo-Saxon words are used in a simple, straightforward style, while Latinate words are the language of elevated discourse and scientific and academic writing. So simple words such as go down, high, sad, speed up, watch, hate, do well and hide, for example, might in some situations become descend, elevated, miserable, accelerate, observe, detest, succeed and conceal.
Use your English dictionary to identify the words of Latin (and French) origin in the following passage from The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The words already in bold come from Greek.
Peter got down very quietly off the wheelbarrow, and started running as fast as he could go, along a straight walk behind some black-currant bushes.
Mr. McGregor caught sight of him at the corner, but Peter did not care. He slipped underneath the gate, and was safe at last in the wood outside the garden.
(Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, p. 59)
Now, in order to see the contrast, see how many of the words in the following excerpts from an educational book are derived from Latin. Words derived from Greek are in bold; the name Chomsky is Slavonic.
Chomsky's ideas were enormously influential and have stimulated a fresh interest in the biological basis of language. But the search for truly universal similarities in all languages has revealed very few, and rather unimpressive ones at that (all languages have nouns and use vowels). There do seem to be many common grammatical rules, but they are not absolutely universal and the exceptions raise doubts about just how much of the essence of language is specified in the genes. […]
In 1981 … [they] began a large comparative study of the four types of treatments: interpersonal therapy, which focuses on personal relationships; cognitive therapy, which teaches people how to interpret their experiences more positively; imipramine, an antidepressant drug; and a placebo tablet, without any active ingredient.
(Colin Blakemore, The Mind Machine, pp. 179, 206)
Beatrix Potter passage:
quietly, Mr., caught, corner, safe
Colin Blakemore passages:
ideas (from Greek through Latin), enormously, influential, stimulated, interest, basis (from Greek through Latin), language, search, universal, similarities, languages, revealed, unimpressive, languages, nouns, use, vowels, common, rules, absolutely, universal, exceptions, doubts, just, essence, language, specified, large, comparative, study, treatments, interpersonal, focuses, personal, relationships, cognitive, people, interpret, experiences, positively, imi (= ammonia) + amine (= ammonium), -depressant, placebo, tablet, active, ingredient
Did you manage the derivations of imipramine? You may have found it difficult because it is a compression of several words.
To conclude this section on links between Latin and English, below is a list of some basic Latin words. Give as many English derivations from them as you can.
Latin word | English derivations |
---|---|
Familia | _______________________________________________ |
Filia | _______________________________________________ |
Habito | _______________________________________________ |
Seruus | _______________________________________________ |
Celo | _______________________________________________ |
Clamo | _______________________________________________ |
Intro | _______________________________________________ |
Porto | _______________________________________________ |
Timeo | _______________________________________________ |
Uoco | _______________________________________________ |
Amo | _______________________________________________ |
Curo | _______________________________________________ |
Ingenium | _______________________________________________ |
Multus | _______________________________________________ |
Senex | _______________________________________________ |
Below are some suggestions of words you might have come up with.
Latin word | English derivations |
---|---|
familia, household | family |
filia, daughter | filial |
habito, I live, dwell | habitat |
seruus, slave | servant |
celo, I hide | conceal |
clamo, I shout | exclaim |
intro, I enter | enter |
porto, I carry | porter |
timeo, I fear | timid |
uoco, I call | vocation |
amo, I love | amiable |
curo, I look after | curator |
ingenium, talent | ingenious |
multus, much, many | multi-storey |
senex, old man | senile |
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