More Greek Nouns
Words with Multiple Forms of the Stem
• Most verbs and adjectives have only one form. A number of them have multiple
forms.
◦ ex. aner, andros > andr- meaning man
◦ ex. gyne, gynaikos > gyn-, gynec- meaning woman
◦ ex. fos, fotos > phos-, phot-, meaning light
Greek Prefixes: Assimilation
• A lot of Greek prefixes end in a vowel - when a prefix ended in a vowel and the
following stem began with a vowel or "h", the final vowel of the prefix often
dropped off
◦ ex. ap-helion
◦ ex. a-theist - not or without God
• A final consonant of a prefix usually assimilated to an initial consonant of the
following stem.
◦ ex. Syn-onymous
◦ ex. Sym-metry
◦ ex. Sym-phony
◦ ex. Apo-cryphal
Hybrids
• Have some Greek parts and some Latin parts - these are not at all common.
◦ ex. Television - Tele > G. far away, vis. > L. see, ion > L. act of
◦ ex. Automobile - Auto > G. itself, mobile > L. moving.
◦ ex. Petroleum
◦ Pedophile - Ped- > G. child, phile - excessively fond however Ped- could
also be L. for foot.
Suffix -ine, -in
• L. -ine is often attached to animals and is from L. inus, ex. feline
• In Greek, this tends to create chemical compounds ex. toxin
• It is often attached to Latin and Greek stems
◦ ex. Insulin is L. for pertaining to islands
◦ Penicillin - ill means little, peni is penis
◦ Ex. Chlorine
◦ Ex. Cocaine
◦ Ex. Margarin
Greek Combining Forms:
• -oeidos -o- + eidos (idol): "resembling, form, shape, appearance"
◦ ex. asteroid
◦ ex. helicoid
• Combining forms < G. graph- (to write)
◦ ex. Telegraph, polygraph, seismograph, autograph, photograph
◦ -graphy (process of writing) - geography, historiography, stenography,
calligraphy ◦ -gram (something written) - telegram
• Combining forms < G. path (suffering/feeling; disease), cf. pati/pass feel or
endure
◦ sympathy - feel with someone
◦ telepathy - ability to feel something from far away
◦ pathogen - something that breeds disease
◦ pathology - study of disease
◦ pathetic - ic is pertaining to, path is feeling
Noun-suffix -ism
• the action of a verb ending in -ize - typical conduct or condition, system or
principle, peculiarity of manner or language, morbid condition
◦ ex. feminism, baptism, alchoholism, americanism, patriotism
Semantic Change
• Expedite - ite means to make, ped -foot, ex - out make foot get out of the way
• Daisy - contraction of day's eye - kind of looks like the sun which is the day's eye
• Leave them as naked as the vulgar air (King John) as in "common" air
Obsole
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