Tag Archives: foreign languages/linguistics

Word Root Exercise: Ped/o

Yesterday, I posted a worksheet on the Latin roots ped, pedi, and -pede; if you scroll down–it’s 12 posts below this one–you’ll find it. As that post relays, in Latin these roots mean foot and feet.

Now here’s a worksheet on the Greek word root ped-o. In Greek this root means, simply, child. As with its Latin counterpart, this is a very productive root in English, forming the basis of words like pediatrics and pedagogue.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Word Root Exercise: Ped, Pedi and -Pede

Here is a worksheet on the Latin word roots ped pedi and pede. These roots in Latin mean simply foot and feet and give use words in English like pedestrian and pedicure. Needless to say, this is a very productive root in English

Please take care not to confuse these Latin roots with the Greek root ped: in Greek, this root, also very productive in English gives us words like pediatrics and pedagogy. I have a worksheet on the Greek root as well, and will publish it in the next couple of days.

Aside: is there a lesson in comparative linguistics here? If the foot is the base of the human body, can childhood be the base of human life? This is a thought I’ve gotten stuck on a time or two. What do you think?

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

A Lesson Plan on the Latin Word Roots Deca, Dec, Deka, and Deci

Here is a lesson plan on the Latin word roots deca, dec, deka, and deci. The first three mean ten, but deci means tenth. As you have probably already inferred, especially you math teachers, this is a very productive root in English, and will lead students to understand a wide variety of words for transfer across the curriculum.

I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the noun cipher. This word root worksheet is the mainstay of this lesson.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Word Root Exercise: Sphere

OK: finally, on this rainy April morning, here is a worksheet on the Greek word root sphere. It means ball. I’ll assume I needn’t belabor the point that students should know this root, which is also, per se, a noun in the English language as well as combining to make a variety of nouns in the sciences and mathematics.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

A Lesson Plan on the Latin Word Root Cred

Before I move on to other things today, here is a lesson plan on the Latin word root cred, which means believe. Other than to observe that this is an extremely productive root in English, and forms the basis of words–credit, credibility, incredible–we use pretty much constantly, I won’t belabor the point, even though, in fact, I just did.

Anyway, I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the noun tenet. Finally, here is the word root worksheet that is the centerpiece of this lesson.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Word Root Exercise: Ocul-

OK, finally for today, here is a worksheet on the Latin word root ocul. It means, you will all but certainly be unsurprised to hear, eye. This is a very productive root in English, and is at the basis of words students really must know.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Word Root Exercise: Tom, -Tome, -Tomy, -Stomy

Here is a word root worksheet on the Greek roots tom,-tome,-tomy,-stomy. They mean, oddly, to cut. There are a lot of commonly used words from educated discourse that grow from this productive root–think, for example, of surgeries like hysterectomy, thyroidectomy, and tonsillectomy.

This is another of those words students aspiring to careers in the healthcare professions ought to know.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

F., Fe., Fec., Fecit

“F., Fe., Fec., Fecit: (Lat., fecit, fecerunt= has made it) On a print, signifies that the artist whose name it follows was the etcher or engraver. Used like indicit and sculpsit.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

Kyoka

“Kyoka (Izumi Kyoka, 1873-1939) Japanese fiction writer and playwright, known for his many tales of the bizarre, grotesque, and supernatural. One of the most distinctive Japanese stylists, Kyoka rejected the modernist trends of Meiji literary movements such as shizenshugi, which promoted a tedious confessionalism, and sought inspiration in traditional motifs and sources. His work thus recalls the nativism of Ueda Akinari and foreshadows the neotraditionalist writing of Tanizaki Jun’ichiro. The unorthodox quality of Kyoka’s writing has also been seen as symptomatic of a well-documented psychopathology, including  mother fixation and assorted obsessive-compulsive disorders.

One of Japan’s greatest authors, Kyoka has been little translated—in part owing to his notoriously difficult, labyrinthine prose style. Translations include the short stories Koya hijiri (1900; tr The Saint of Mount Koya, 1956) and Sannin mekura no hanashi (1912; tr A Tale of Three Who Were Blind, 1956). Kyoka was also a playwright, and many of his works were performed for the popular Shimpa stage.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

Word Root Exercise: Liter

OK, finally this morning, here is a worksheet on the Latin word root liter. While it sounds like it should be related to a measure of liquid (as we use it by itself in English), it actually means letter. Now you know why you find it at the root of words like literature in English. Needless to say, this is a very productive root in English.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.