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    Read more about Greek and Latin Roots: Part I - Latin

    Greek and Latin Roots: Part I - Latin

    (1 review)

    Peter Smith, University of Victoria

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    Publisher: BCcampus

    Language: English

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    Reviewed by Kirsten Day, Associate Professor of Classics, Augustana College on 11/14/18

    Smith provides an impressively thorough overview of the many ways Latin has made an imprint on the English language. In doing so, he includes the grammatical principles of Latin that are essential to understanding how a knowledge of Latin roots,... read more

    Table of Contents

    • Chapter 1: Introduction
    • Chapter 2: The Latin Noun (Declensions 1 & 2)
    • Chapter 3: The Latin Noun (Declensions 3, 4, 5)
    • Chapter 4: Simple Latin Adjectives
    • Chapter 5: Turning Latin Nouns into Adjectives
    • Chapter 6: Turning Latin Adjectives into Latin Nouns
    • Chapter 7: Latin Diminutives
    • Chapter 8: Latin Prefixes
    • Chapter 9: The Latin Verb System
    • Chapter 10: Turning Latin Verbs into Latin Nouns
    • Chapter 11: Turning Latin Nouns into Latin Verbs
    • Chapter 12: Latin Present Participles and Gerundives
    • Chapter 13: Turning Latin Verbs into Latin Adjectives
    • Chapter 14: Compound Words in Latin
    • Appendices
    • I. Key to Exercises (Latin)
    • Appendix I
    • Key to Exercises (Latin)
    • II. Summary of Vocabulary Tables (Latin)
    • Appendix II
    • Summary of Vocabulary Tables (Latin)

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    About the Book

    Greek and Latin Roots: Part I - Latin is part one of a two part series. This series examines the systematic principles by which a large portion of English vocabulary has evolved from Latin and (to a lesser degree) from Greek. This book focuses on Latin roots. A link to the second part focusing on the Greek roots can be found below. Part I will try to impart some skill in the recognition and proper use of words derived from Latin. There is a stress on principles: although students will be continually looking at interesting individual words, their constant aim will be to discover predictable general patterns of historical development, so that they may be able to cope with new and unfamiliar words of any type that they have studied. They will be shown how to approach the problem by a procedure known as “word analysis,” which is roughly comparable to the dissection of an interesting specimen in the biology laboratory. The text assumes no previous knowledge of Latin, and does not involve the grammatical study of this language—except for a few basic features of noun and verb formation that will help students to understand the Latin legacy in English. Although there will be some attention paid to the historical interaction of Latin with English, this text is definitely not a systematic history of the English language. It focuses on only those elements within English that have been directly or indirectly affected by this classical language. In order to provide the broadest possible service to students, the text emphasizes standard English vocabulary in current use. The more exotic technical vocabulary of science and medicine can be extremely interesting, but is explored in only summary fashion. Nevertheless, this text should be of considerable value, say, to a would-be botanist or medical doctor, if only by providing the foundation for further specialized enquiry.

    About the Contributors

    Author

    Peter Smith (1933 – 2006) was founding Chair of the Classics Department (now named Greek and Roman Studies) and later served as Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, both at the University of Victoria.

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