Author: the word explorer

quarantine (kwôrənˌtēn)

  • Usually bustling with student life, the Ursuline campus in Louisville has become desolate because of school closures.
  • Streets are eerily quiet as Louisville residents quarantine themselves.

Quarantine is the buzzword that’s sweeping across the internet, social media, and the news. But what does it mean exactly?

The word quarantine actually originated during another pandemic, hundreds of years ago. The Bubonic plague lasted from 1347 to 1353 and killed over 20 million people in Europe – wiping out one third of the continent’s total population.

To prevent the spread of the Black Death in Italy, ships were isolated for trentino days if they were returning from plagued areas. Trentino is the Italian word for thirty days. Sailors were required to stay on their ships for the thirty day period. About a century later, trentino was extended to quarantina, a forty day period instead.

Scholars don’t know exactly why isolation was increased to forty days. Obviously, more time in isolation allows the disease to run its course and prevent its spread. Others believe that the forty day period is Biblical in nature – for example, Lent lasts for forty days.

The word quarantine comes from the Italian word quarantina meaning forty days. This is my 29th day at home and I do not expect to go back to school for the remainder of the year. To stay sane during quarantine, I’ve been reading, blogging, and Facetiming my friends. My family has also been baking a lot; they made me a chocolate cake from scratch for my 15th birthday last week. Even though I’m enjoying the time with my family, I am definitely looking forward to life returning to normal.

How are you passing the time?

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Hi everyone!

My first online etymology workshop will be held on April 10, 2020 from 2:00-2:30 PM EST. Please let me know if you are interested by sending a message to bluegrassliteracyproject@gmail.com. Anyone interested in learning more about etymology is welcome to register.

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Name That Animal: Challenge #10

What would you name this animal? Image from https://deutschstyle.de/15-kreative-tier-surreale-fotos.

It’s been a while since my last Name That Animal Challenge, so here it is!

Pretend that you are a scientist and you have just discovered this new species and you have the privilege of naming it. Scientists usually name new species by using Greek or/and Latin roots because the prefixes, stems, and suffixes are like building blocks that can be utilized in countless ways.

Your challenge is to name the unique animal in the picture above using your knowledge of Greek and Latin roots. Keep in mind that you can use characteristics like size, color, or shape to name this animal. Feel free to search my blog to find root words to help you. I’ve provided you a list of roots with their definitions to get you started.

Greek Roots

Root                Meaning
-morph-                   shape
-cephal-                    head
-dasy-                       hairy
-ornith-                    bird
-pter-                        wing
micr-                        small
ailur-                        cat
leuk-                        white
trich-                        hair

Latin Roots

Root                Meaning
-iform                        shape
-corp-                        body
-capit-                        head
hirsut-                       hairy
avi-                             bird
ali-                             wing
-feli-                          cat
fusco-                      dark

Greek roots usually link with -o-, and Latin roots usually link with -i-. What would you name this animal? Be sure to comment and let me know!

If you haven’t already done so, be sure to check out Name That Animal Challenge #1, Name That Animal Challenge #2, Name That Animal Challenge #3, Name That Animal Challenge #4,  Name That Animal Challenge #5, Name That Animal Challenge #6, Name That Animal Challenge #7, Name That Animal Challenge #8. and Name That Animal Challenge #9.

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pandemic (panˈdemik)

The novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, is affecting the lives of people worldwide. Image from www.cdc.gov

A novel coronavirus, more specifically SARS-CoV-2, was named a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) a few days ago. Since then, the word “pandemic” has been in the headlines a lot. Let’s break it down.

According to the WHO, a pandemic is an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people. Pandemic consists of two Greek roots: pan- meaning all, and dem- meaning people. A pandemic is something that affects all people. COVID-19, the disease that is caused by the coronavirus, has spread to all the continents (except Antarctica). As of yesterday, the death toll was 6,470 and the number of cases was 164,837.

The threat of COVID-19 is transforming the daily lives of people worldwide. People are panic buying essential goods and panic selling stocks. It is important to note that the word panic and pandemic originate from two different Greek words. Panic is derived from the Greek god of the wild, Pan. It is said that when Pan was in the midst of battle, he would release a great shout, scaring his enemies away and often causing mortals unspeakable terror, forcing them to flee from him.

In Louisville, Kentucky, schools are closed for two weeks, events have been cancelled, and gatherings of 50 or more people are discouraged. The streets are strangely empty as people stay home to contain the spread of the disease. What’s it like in your part of the world?

I hope everyone stays safe and healthy during this time!

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hematite (hēməˌtīt)

Hematite, an important component of iron, is responsible for the many red pigments found on Earth.

Recently, a young speller reached out to me to ask a question about the word “hematite.”

Hematite literally means “blood stone.” The word contains the Greek root hemato- meaning blood and the Greek suffix -ite*, commonly used for minerals and rocks. The combining forms for blood also include hema- and hemo-.

An important rule in spelling is that, when combining roots, you shouldn’t have random letters left over. If we break the word hematite down using hemo- or hema-, then we would be left with -tite as the ending. The root/suffix -tite does not exist. This is the first clue that you’ve broken down the word wrong.

The more roots you study, the better you’ll be able to recognize them in the words you come across every day. I hope this insight is helpful to those of you studying for your regional competitions or the Scripps National Spelling Bee!

* -ite can also be used to indicate a person belonging to or associated with a place, tribe, leader, system, etc. such as in the words: Israelite, Londonite, and Lincolnite.

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ouroboric (ôr-ə-bôr’-ĭk)

An ouroboros is a snake that eats its own tail. (photo from shutterstock)

Recently I read an article in CSO Magazine about how Nestlé is finally converting its packaging to recycled plastics. By continuing the ouroboric cycle of “make, use, reuse, remake, recycle,” companies can minimize waste and emissions that are harmful to the environment. While these cycles can be positive, they can also have negative consequences. Society’s focus on social media can often be an ouroboric cycle that leads to hours of lost time.

Ouroboric is an adjective meaning “self consuming” (Wiktionary). The word ouroboric actually comes from the Greek phrase “drakon οὐροβόρος” (ouroboros). Drakon refers to a serpent-like dragon. The word ouroboros comes from the Greek root oura meaning tail and bora meaning food. Ouroboros literally means a snake that eats its own tail (for food or otherwise).

The word ouroboros has a long history in mythology. In Egypt, the ouroboros symbolized the beginning and end of time, and was associated with the god of the Sun (Ra). It most famously appears in Norse mythology as the legend of the Midgard Serpent, the son of Loki and the sworn enemy of Thor.

Jörmungandr (or the Midgard Serpent) is a giant snake that encircles Midgard/Earth and is so long that he ends up swallowing his own tail in an effort to cling to the world. Jörmungandr symbolizes never-ending suffering. Over time and across religions, the ouroboros has come to represent eternity, the end of the world, or the schism of birth and death.

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origami (ȯr-ə-ˈgä-mē)

"Hojyo Takashi's Violinist" by Joey Ilagan.

Hello everyone!

For the last two weeks, I was at the Ohio State University studying Linguistics as part of their Summer Linguistics Institute for Youth Scholars, also known as SLIYS (pronounced SLICE).

It was a great opportunity to learn about the sounds of languages, the meaning and structure of words, and different writing systems. I also learned about how linguists gather data about languages through consultations with a native speaker of a foreign language. During my first week, I worked with a native speaker of Farsi. I had to figure out linguistic rules, morphosyntactic agreement, and how to create consonant and vowel charts for Farsi. It was particularly challenging because our consultant was not allowed to speak English on the first day. I also learned about many other languages such as Greek, Japanese, and Tagalog.

In this post, I want to introduce you to a couple of Japanese words and talk about rendaku – a linguistic phenomenon that occurs in the Japanese language.

Most everyone is familiar with origami, the Japanese art of folding paper into beautiful figures. The word origami is a compound word that consists of the Japanese word ori meaning fold and kami meaning paper.  Yes, you read that correctly. Logically, the word should be ori-kami, not ori-gami. Here’s where rendaku comes in.

The reason the word is ori -gami and not ori-kami is because of rendaku. Rendaku occurs when the second part of a compound word changes from a voiceless consonant to a voiced consonant. If you can feel a vibration in your throat when you say a certain consonant, that means it is voiced. If you cannot feel the vibration in your throat, that means that the sound is voiceless.

In this example, the k-sound in kami becomes a g-sound when it is added to ori. Below is a chart of other sounds that can be changed:

K ———–> G

T ———–> D

CH ———> J

S ———-> Z

Rendaku doesn’t always occur. For example, when the first word ends with an voiceless sound, rendaku usually doesn’t happen.

I look forward to sharing more linguistics-related posts as I delve deeper into the field! Please comment and let me know if you enjoyed this post.

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Name That Animal: Challenge #9

What would you name this unusual creature? Image from Twitter @animalhybrids

It’s been a while since my last Name That Animal Challenge, so here it is!

Pretend that you are a scientist and you have just discovered this new species and you have the privilege of naming it. Scientists usually name new species by using Greek or/and Latin roots because the prefixes, stems, and suffixes are like building blocks that can be utilized in countless ways.

Your challenge is to name the unique animal in the picture above using your knowledge of Greek and Latin roots. Keep in mind that you can use characteristics like size, color, or shape to name this animal. Feel free to search my blog to find root words to help you. I’ve provided you a list of roots with their definitions to get you started.

 

Greek:

branchio-                gills

-cephal-                    head

cerato-                      horn

ichthy-                      fish

-morph-                   form, shape

rhino-                       nose

 

Latin:

pisci-                         fish

-iform                       shape              

-corp-                        body

-capit-                       head

 

The letter “o” is the most common way to link Greek roots, and the letter “i” is used to link Latin roots.

My sister would name this unique creature biceratoichthyomorph. What would you name it? I’m looking forward to reading all the fabulous names you come up with so don’t forget to leave a comment!

 

If you haven’t already done so, be sure to check out Name That Animal Challenge #1, Name That Animal Challenge #2, Name That Animal Challenge #3, Name That Animal Challenge #4,  Name That Animal Challenge #5, Name That Animal Challenge #6, Name That Animal Challenge #7, and Name That Animal Challenge #8.

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