Getting started on Classical Latin

2 Links between English and Latin

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?

Activity 1

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

Answer

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.

Activity 2

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)

Answer

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.

Activity 3

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)

Answer

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.

Activity 4

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 _______________________________________________

Answer

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