Useful history for today
As a rule, the roots of the word and its origin go to another language from which it came to English. In fact, there are many words in English, borrowed from other languages. Some have changed in some time, others have remained almost intact. When you learn a new word, you should also find out where it came from!
When a foreign word is borrowed by the English language, it often happens that it takes on many new forms. This new word combines with other English words, and already these combinations create many other new words. However, all of these combinations are still associated with the original word! If you know the root word, you will understand all the combinations.
The Oxford English Dictionary has added 500 new words and phrases. And this is not in a year: 500 new words and phrases officially appeared in English in just three months!
English is alive language. This means that it is constantly evolving and changing. Many events and things affect both the development process and the language as a whole, but no matter how young or old the word is, you can almost always trace the chain to the root word and the moment when it came to the English language.
For example, let’s get a look at the following words:
- Transport
- Transgress
- Transaction
Have you noticed something in common? Everywhere there is the part ‘trans’, which comes from the Latin word, which means "through." Now, even if you do not know the exact meaning of the word, you can understand that this word is somehow connected with the fact that ‘it goes right through’.
Now let's look at the initial meanings of the other parts of these words:
- Port - to carry
So, it turns out that transport means that something is being transported through space. For example, “a bus transports people from one city to another”; "A plane transports people from one country to another."
- Gress - go (to go)
The verb transgress means that you cross the border, violate a rule or law.
Action - to do (to do)
The word transaction usually refers to the exchange or trade of various kinds. For example, when you give money to the cashier to buy a new shirt, this is transaction.
Having this information in hand, you are likely to be able to understand the meanings of words.
When the word casino is pronounced, most people recall Monaco and France. Gamblers consider this country and this city to be the birthplace of gambling houses. But they are wrong. Not even australia casino or a Las Vegas one.
It turns out that gambling houses came to France from Italy. The term casino itself comes from the word "casa", which can be translated from Italian as house or building. Of course, gambling in one form or another has existed throughout the history of mankind. But gambling houses, similar to modern casinos, first appeared in Italian cities during the Renaissance. Venice, Florence, Milan and some other cities argue for the title of homeland of gambling.
Words borrowed from the Greek language
Phone
Meaning: phone is a device that is used to communicate from a distance (you may even read this article through a modern version of the phone:D).
Origin: the English word ‘phone’ is an abbreviation for ‘telephone’, which comes from the Greek words “sound” (phon) and “far” (tele).
Related words: homophones - words that sound (phon) in the same way (homo), but are written differently: for example, the words ‘hear’ and ‘here’.
Hyper
Meaning: very energetic and vibrant.
Origin: hyper is an abbreviation of the word hyperactive, which is a combination of the Greek word “excessively beyond” (hyper) and the Latin word act, denoting a perfect action.
Sync
Meaning: when several events occur simultaneously or in a similar way, they occur in concert (sync). This is an abbreviation for the word synchronize, but at present it is used separately as a verb (applications on your smartphone can synchronize (sync) so that all your files are up to date).
Origin: sync comes from a Greek word that means “to be together” (sym or syn).
Air
Meaning: air is that surrounds us. It is invisible gas that creates an atmosphere. Without air, we could not breathe!
Origin: the word air went through several languages before it got into English, but most likely, its ancestor is the Greek word aer, which means "blow, breathe." You can even find words where there is both aer and air.
Words borrowed from the Latin language
Dense
Meaning: dense is something compact, tightly packed, or very tight. For example, the fog can be so dense or dense that you will hardly see through it.
Origin: the word dense comes from the Latin word for “dense, dense” (densus).
Words borrowed from the Old Norse language
Loft
Meaning: loft is a room directly under the roof or on the highest floors of the building. Usually loft in houses was used as a pantry, but now lofts began to be rented out as small living quarters.
Origin: The Old Norse word for air and sky was lopt, which is spelled loft in English.
Words borrowed from the French language
Question
Meaning: asking a question means trying to get information about something. Questions end with a question mark ‘?’.
Origin: initially the word came from the Latin language, and then from Old French fell into English as a question. The word means ask or search, comes in different forms in other words - from quire to quest. It is quite difficult to notice, because it is used both in the Latin version, and in the French one.
Words borrowed from Italian
Gusto
Meaning: pleasure. Doing something with pleasure (gusto) means enjoying the process and being completely passionate about it.
Origin: the Italian word gusto means “taste”, it comes from the Latin word gustus, which means ... also “taste”.
Words borrowed from the Arabic language
Check
Meaning: the word check means check, examine, verify, confirm. For example, in the morning, before going to work, you check whether you have taken everything you need. Also, the word check can be used as a verb with the meaning “stop” or “slow down”.
Origin: The word check has rather interesting history. This word roams the languages of the world, and its meaning changes slightly in each of them. Initially, this word appeared in Persian, from where it got into Arabic, and there it meant “king”. Over time, this word began to be used in chess, where its meaning became “control”.
The more roots and source words you know, the easier it will be for you to learn new words.
There will always be words in English that you don’t know yet. But now you know how to look for them…
Author: Serg Dum
Almost 3 years I am devoted to work as a Chief Content Editor at King Billy Casino
