The Greek & Latin Roots of English

By Tamara M. Green

Book Overview

Over 60 percent of all English words have Greek or Latin roots; in the vocabulary of the sciences and technology, it's over 90 percent. Thus, studying the Greek and Latin roots of English is essential to understanding English vocabulary and how the history of the English language has shaped our perceptions of the world around us. Now in its third edition, The Greek & Latin Roots of English is one of the foremost resources for students of etymology across many academic disciplines.

The third edition retains the tried-and-true approach of previous editions, with even more resources for students. New exercises have been added to the end of each chapter, and many lessons are revised, updated, and expanded.

Author Tamara M. Green opens with an introduction to basic principles of Latin and Greek. Green then organizes the remaining chapters thematically-students will find chapters on the Greek and Latin roots of words in biology and medicine, science and mathematics, politics and government, literature, and religion and philosophy. Unlike texts which treat Greek and Latin roots separately, this book treats them as an organic whole. This unique, focused approach makes The Greek & Latin Roots of English as valuable to a medical student studying terminology as it is to a student of language and the classics.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0742514668
• ISBN13: 9780742514669
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.0" x 1.1" x 7.1"

Customer Reviews

The Greek and Latin Roots of English by Tamara M Green

This is an excellent work for anyone studying the Englishlanguage for the first time or for an English literature major.Students of the English language will appreciate the exhaustivedelineation of the roots of words and word families.In the area of city planning alone, the author providescomparable Greek and Latin words alongside the standardEnglish. For instance, urbs and urbis means city.Porta or portae means city gate. Domus or domi means house.The work methodically reviews language families, the workingsof Greek and Latin, prefixes, government vocabulary andvocabulary of the sciences and social sciences. There are classic utilizations of the Latin in English.For instance, "in principio" means in the beginning."Status quo" means the state in which something exists."Ad Infinitum" refers to infinity and "finis" is the end.This work could be helpful to students studying Latin orGreek because the author explains the foreign languagerelationship to English. The work could be very helpful foranyone desiring to improve his/her vocabulary. There arenumerous exercises throughout the text. These are designedto give students ample practice with word utilization andapplication in a number of important contexts. This versionhas an extensive constituency or strategic audience.i.e. English majors, foreign language experts, writers,editors and newspeople and a variety of scientific professionalpeople. The work could be useful during formal study for thestandardized SAT exam given for college aspirants.