Word origins

1. Word origins What is in a word ?

2. To know the origin of words is to know how men think, how they made their civilisations. Key idea

3. For Example • Politics – comes from the word ‘polis’ meaning ‘city state’ or ‘community’ • Democracy – ‘demos’ meaning people and ‘kratis’ meaning ‘power’. • Gymnasium – from ‘gumnasion’ meaning ‘exercise naked’

4. Each of these words could only come from the Ancient Greeks, as before their time, none of these ideas existed. So when you use the word ‘Democracy’ - it comes straight from that era – over 3000 years ago. We make words today, that are particular to our time and place. Every year The Oxford English Dictionary adds a few words to its pages that have become part of our language as they are in common use and express meaning today in our lives NOW

5. 21st Century Words • Chillybin – a box for keeping things cold – if you were going on a picnic. • Supersize – larger than average, extremely large • Fanboy – a male fan, especially one who is obsessed with comics, sciencefiction, or popmusic. • Can you think what their origins might be ?

6. Here are some Greek word ‘roots’ – can you think what they might mean ? -bapti -nano -bol -mania Baptism Nanosecond Ball, bowl Maniac Back to the Greeks ….

7. What’s My Meaning ! Let’s play this game. Get into pairs – take your word, look it up, write the definition on one side of the card, and the word on the other (its Greek root underlined). Then take another piece of card and find an alternative definition and make another card. In teams of 8 (ie 4 pairs) present to another team of 8, your words, and see if you can guess which is the real meaning. Keep a score.