More on Greek and Latin Roots

Have you ever wondered how the English language was established? Who was the genius who put together this language and how? Some people may think some guy back in the day just made up sounds and put them together to mean something. That’s what I had in mind before I did this paper. Greek roots have a big part in the English language. The root can be in the beginning of the word, in the middle, or even at the end. The meaning of that Greek root has a very similar meaning to the actual English word that it is in. A word is made up of prefixes and suffixes. Prefixes are placed at the beginning of a word to make up its meaning. A suffix is placed at the end of a word. I am going to give you an example of three.

The Greek root, -bene, means good. An English example of that is benevolence. This means an act of kindness which is a noun. An act of kindness means being good, so -bene has an affect on the word. If you want to use that word in a sentence, an example would be, “My best friend is filled with benevolence because she can cheer me up on those sad days.” Another word with -bene in it is beneficiary. That means a person receiving kindness. “After my grandma died from brain surgery, I was a beneficiary to her estate.” That is also a noun. There are some good examples of the Greek root –bene.

Next, we are going to look at the root –pan. That means all. Panorama means to view in all directions. Panacea is a cure for all life’s illnesses. As you can see, -pan is at the beginning of these English words. Pantheist means a person who believes in all gods. All of these words are nouns. Pandemic means a large spread illness. There is a pandemic in the US involving the swine flu. All of these words have a meaning that is “all.”

Finally, we have –loc/loq. This Greek root means talk. To talk plenty or loudly. You will notice that in these English words, the root is not at the beginning of all of them. Loquacious means excessive talk or to be wordy. This word is an adjective. My cousin is loquacious when the teacher is talking. Eloquent means to speak very well or with praise. This is also an adjective. My father at my church is eloquent with his sermons. That word has the root in the middle. Elocution also has the Greek root in the middle of it. This is a style of speaking which is a noun. There are way more Greek roots than I have given you. I hope this has taught you the meaning and the usage of some of them. I have learned that Greek roots are very important.

By Rina M.