{"id":32,"date":"2021-06-14T13:00:44","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T07:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iem.edu.in\/iem-blog\/?p=32"},"modified":"2021-06-14T13:36:28","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T08:06:28","slug":"the-origin-of-words-in-the-english-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iem.edu.in\/iem-blog\/2021\/06\/14\/the-origin-of-words-in-the-english-language\/","title":{"rendered":"THE ORIGIN OF WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Authored by<\/strong> : Prof.Arun Kumar Chatterjee<\/p>\n

To start writing an article like this, one is spared the trouble of deciding
\nwhich comes first, the chicken or the egg!! There is no doubt that in the
\nevolution of any language words are formed first and then, these are
\nCONNECTED to form phrases and sentences. The connections must
\nfollow certain rules of grammar and syntax, to be able to convey
\nunderstandable meanings. It cannot be denied that a large repertoire of
\nwords is a must. It is not a question of how many words one knows, but
\nmore importantly how many words can one use (EFFICIENTLY and
\nEFFECTIVELY) in communication. Here, I mean ,the most appropriate
\nword must strike the lips(while talking) or hit the tip of the pen(while
\nwriting)
\nWhile talking of words and their usage one often wonders on the origin
\nof (these) words.
\nThe study of the origin of words is known as etymology<\/strong>,in much the
\nsame way as the word aetiology<\/strong>(pronounced as \u2018eetee\u2019ology) refers to
\nthe origin or the cause(s) of a specific disease or disorder. In medieval
\nLatin \u201caetiologia\u201d stands for \u201cstatement of causes\u201d.
\nA few examples will be taken up to illustrate the origin of certain words
\nand how the root(s) link and relate to other similar words.
\nWe begin with a simple word tripod<\/strong>. Its two major parts are tri<\/strong> and pod<\/strong>.
\nThe first refers to \u201cthree\u201d and the second refers to \u201clegs\u201d or \u201cfeet\u201d.
\nWe have seen tripod stands in the chemistry Labs and also tripods being
\nused by surveyors and photographers.
\nIf one has a disease, very specific to the feet, he or she must visit a
\npod<\/strong>iatrist\u2026..a doctor who specialises in the disease(s) of the feet. And
\nsoon we encounter podium, a small stage or platform where one can
\nstand, in order to address a gathering( and we need feet<\/strong> to stand !!).
\nWe now take a look at words with the prefix \u2018iso<\/strong>\u2019.
\nThis prefix stands for same<\/strong>. We thus have words like iso<\/strong>bars, iso<\/strong>clines, iso<\/strong>tones, iso<\/strong>gonal.<\/p>\n

Iso<\/strong>bars are lines that connect places with the same (or almost same)
\naverage atmospheric pressure, measured over fairly long periods of
\ntime.
\n[Students of physics will recall that pressure is measured in bars. A
\npressure of 1 bar is equivalent to that is 1,00,000 Newton per square
\nmetre. This is marginally less than the current average atmospheric
\npressure of 101300 Pascal, which is called a pressure of 1 atm<\/strong>.]
\nIso<\/strong>gonal refers to same angles. All regular hexagons, for example, have
\nthe same value for each of their interior angles, each being equal to All
\nequilateral triangles are isogonal, each interior angle being equal to
\nIso<\/strong>clines refer to families of curves with the same<\/strong> inclination. The
\nmethod of iso<\/strong>clines is a handy numerical method to solve differential
\nequations of the form
\nIso<\/strong>tones refer to atomic species that share the same number of
\nneutrons but have different number(s) of protons. A common example is
\nthe family of carbon-12,nitrogen-13,and oxygen-14. Each has six
\nneutrons but 6,7,and 8 protons respectively.
\nAnd what is common to trigonometry and goniophotometer. The word
\ntrigonometry in its own right breaks up into (tri)(gono<\/strong>)(metry)respectively
\n(three)(angle)(measurement).Because the subject originated from the study of (properties of) triangles.From this we single out the part
\ngono<\/strong>,which in some sense must refer to angle. Otherwise why do we
\nhave goniophoto<\/strong>meters in photometric laboratories? Typically
\ngoniophotometers measure the light intensity in a specified
\ndirection,determined by a specific angle<\/strong>.
\nAnd here we pay some respect to our friend \u201cphoto\u201d<\/strong>
\nAll of us have a fair idea that this refers,in some sense, to light<\/strong>. We thus have words like photovoltaic<\/strong>, photograph<\/strong>, photoelectric<\/strong>, photosynthesis<\/strong>, the meanings of which we are familiar with.
\nWe leave the technical words for a moment and take a few examples
\nfrom our immediate and common (word-space) surroundings. What or
\nwho is a philosopher (originating from philo<\/strong> and sophos<\/strong>).
\nThe first stands for love<\/strong> (or love for) and the second for knowledge<\/strong>. A
\nphilosopher is thus, justifiably, a person who is actively in pursuit of
\nknowledge. The pursuit of knowledge cannot be accomplished without
\nsome independent thought. And it is qutecommon,therefore, to use the word philosophise<\/strong> to mean \u201cto think\u201d or to \u2018express a thought\u201d . A bibliophile<\/strong> is a lover<\/strong> of books. So,at the end of a research paper, for
\nexample, we generally include a Bibliography( literally a picture of books,
\nso to say).
\nIt is not only in English that we have logical constructs. The German
\nlanguage is one which words are formed very scientifically. The word
\nlehren<\/strong> is the infinitive of teaching. Lehrer is a teacher. While Dorf<\/strong>
\nstands for village and Schule <\/strong>for school, the single word Dorfschullehrer<\/strong> stands for the village school teacher. (ALL German nouns start with a capital letter, without
\nexception).
\nLikewise fahren<\/strong> means to travel<\/strong>. And Karte<\/strong> is the German word for
\nticket. Together Fahrkarte<\/strong> stands (very logically<\/strong>) for the ticket for the<\/strong>
\njourney<\/strong>.
\nThere are many more examples which can be included, but that would
\nmake the article unduly long.
\nThe basic focus has been to highlight some pattern(s) of word formation
\nin English (mainly) and (marginally) in German. This is a very interesting
\narea of study in all languages, whether as a hobby or a passion or for
\nresearch. Goodluck to all interested readers!!<\/p>\n

Hashtags <\/strong>: #IEM #UEM #words #origin #wordsoftheday
\n#englishvocabulary #english #Etymology #English language
\n#thehistoryofwords #wordsintheenglishlanguage #bibliography<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Authored by : Prof.Arun Kumar Chatterjee To start writing an article like this, one is spared the trouble of deciding which comes first, the chicken or the egg!! There is no doubt that in the evolution of any language words are formed first and then, these are CONNECTED to form phrases and sentences. The connections … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpautop"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTHE ORIGIN OF WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE - IEM Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/iem.edu.in\/iem-blog\/2021\/06\/14\/the-origin-of-words-in-the-english-language\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"THE ORIGIN OF WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE - IEM Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Authored by : Prof.Arun Kumar Chatterjee To start writing an article like this, one is spared the trouble of deciding which comes first, the chicken or the egg!! 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