Greek and Latin in Today's English
Linguistics · 3 hrs Lecture
Offered: Fall Or Winter
No prerequisites listed, you can take this course without prior coursework.
Where LING-2208 counts
Counts toward 1 more as one option among several, not as a course you must take:
- LING 3-YEAR BA
Read from the departments' own calendar pages, where 71 of 141 programs are only partly machine-readable, so treat these as a minimum rather than the full list. Confirm with an academic advisor.
Description
Of the 20,000 words in common use in English, about half have come from Latin, directly or through French. Greek, too, has made its contribution and continues to do so as the language of science expands. In addition to a thorough study of the formation of nouns, verbs, and adjectives from their Greek and Latin component parts, we will examine the Greek script, principles of transliteration, medical and scientific Greek, words from Greek mythology and society, Roman numerals, legal Latin, abbreviations of Latin words in common use, Latin mottoes and proverbs, and unusual plural forms in English. No knowledge of Latin or Greek is required.
Restrictions
Students may not hold credit for this course and CLAS-2800.
Cross-listed
CLAS-2800(3).
From the 2026-27 undergraduate calendar. Always verify details on WebAdvisor or with an academic advisor before registering.