2.1 Latin and English: the Roman empire
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 following English words with their Latin origins below.
Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter.
beer
box
candle
wine
cheese
peas
sack
sock
street
wall
caster/cester/chester (as in Lancaster, Gloucester, Chester)
a.vallum (= palisaded earthwork)
b.buxus (= boxwood)
c.caseus
d.candela
e.vinum
f.saccus (= large bag)
g.pisum
h.soccus (= slipper)
i.strata (via) (= paved way)
j.bibere (= to drink)
k.castra (= camp, fort)
- 1 = j
- 2 = b
- 3 = d
- 4 = e
- 5 = c
- 6 = g
- 7 = f
- 8 = h
- 9 = i
- 10 = a
- 11 = k