The Significant Origins

Latin and Greek are significant elements in the understanding of English vocabulary.

The basic importance of Latin in English can hardly be exaggerated. It is safe to say that more than half the words we use in our daily talk come to us from or through Latin, and the spelling of these words and their accurate use is immeasurably helped by the knowledge of their origins.

For hundreds of years after the fall of the Roman Empire, Latin was used throughout Europe as the language of education and knowledge. European scholars wrote their works in it and educated men corresponded in Latin with other educated men of their own or different nationalities. As late as the end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, Francis Bacon wrote his scientific works in Latin, although he was considered to be one of the most accurate and precise writers of English that the English language had ever produced. In fact, the writing of works in Latin in order to secure an international audience continued up into the eighteenth century.

The fact that Latin was the language of the educated accounts for the fact that practically any term we use connected with knowledge or any of the arts, or with religion or education, is of Latin origin. The terse primitive words in English that refer to the home, the family, or the farm are mostly from the Anglo-Saxon, but even here there is an important Latin influence.

Common Greek and Latin Roots