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For this project, I divided up the English language into these categories:
Greek
,
Latin
,
French
,
Germanic
,and
Excluded
Many factors affect how
you speak and write. The Latinometer™ will enable you to choose
your word from the right group.
First, you need to
understand an ancient fault line that cuts through cultures and
creates these oppositions.
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upper-class
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culture
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abstract
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reason
|
hypocrisy
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male
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Latinate
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lower-class
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nature
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concrete
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emotion
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sincerity
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female
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Germanic
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English, like many
languages, reinforces these divisions by matching them with two
sets of words. As English speakers, we connect lofty subjects (the
top row) with words derived from the classical languages, and we
connect every-day things in the real world (the bottom row) with
words derived from Anglo-Saxon, a Germanic language. English does
this with its division between words derived from Anglo-Saxon, a
Germanic language, and words from the classical languages, Latin,
French and Greek.
To make the contrasts
more clear, I excluded the common words (Excluded words) and gave
different values to words from the classical languages.
Excluded
(function
words, foreign words, names) Not
counted
Germanic
(Anglo-Saxon)
0
points each
French
(Modified
Latin or Greek words) 0.25
points each
Latin
1
point each
Latin Shorts
1
point each
Greek
1.25
points each
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Excluded
Words
The
Germanic density would be much higher if I included function
words (prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns) in the count.
Following the advice of statisticians, I omitted them in the
interest of clarifying the distinction between Germanic words
and words from Latin, French, and Greek.
English
has adopted an open door policy for words from other languages,
welcoming words from all over the world. Words like tortilla
that have retained a non English pronunciation or spelling I
have classified as foreign.
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Germanic
Words
When
one talks in plain English, one uses Germanic words (words
derived from Anglo-Saxon). In Jane Austen’s novels, educated,
intelligent upper-class people use more Latinate words, while
ignorant, frivolous, or lower-class people use more Germanic
words. Austen did not regard heavily Latinate language as
admirable. Speakers of high density include the pedant Mary
Bennet from Pride
and Prejudice
and the hypocritical Mr. Elliot of Persuasion.
Sailors in her novels speak at a low density, and they are
almost all admirable.
Many
English words have become naturalized citizens even though they
come from far-away languages. Sugar, for instance, comes from
Sanskrit. I am counting words of this type as Germanic because
they are not noticeably foreign.
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French
Words
By
French
I mean words that are derived from Latin or Greek but underwent
changes early on, before the printing press standardized
spelling:
Losing
a syllable: frail
from fragilis,
“able to be broken”
Adding
a vowel: appear
from appareo,
“appear”
Making
other changes: governor
from gubernator,
“governor”
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Latin
Words
Sometimes
the wordsmiths have made adjustments, particularly clipping off
endings that don’t look English. Here are some typical
changes that don’t stop a word from being classified as
Latinate.
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Words
ending in –a:
dropped
the –a:
person
from persona,
“mask”
or
replaced –a
with silent –e:
fortune
from fortuna,
“fortune”
Words
ending in –us:
dropped
the –us:
cat
from
cattus,
“cat”
or
replaced –us
with silent –e:
prime
from primus,
“first”
Words
ending in –is
lost their –is
ending: civil
from civilis,
“of citizens”
Words
ending in –tas
became –ty:
probity
from probitas,
“honesty”
Words
ending in –tia
became –ce or –cy: avarice
from avaritia,
“greed”
I
becomes J
before a vowel: January
from ianua,
“door”
–ae-
became
–e
or –cy:
equal
from aequalis,
“equal”
-io
became –ion:
cognition
from cognitio,
“knowledge”
Latin Shorts: This category includes words like line and space which blend in with
Germanic words. They have the same weight as regular Latinate words, but if you prefer,
you can assign them different values.
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Greek
Words
The
return of Greek literature to Europe is said to have
precipitated the Renaissance. Latin was never lost. Greek was
less well known, more intellectual, and therefore snazzier. For
that reason I gave Greek words an extra quarter point.
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Want to change your image?
It is now possible to change the values of Greek, Latin, Latin Shorts, and French. For example, if
you think short Latin words deserve less weight than the long ones, you can change them temporarily
and try out the new values.
Too
Germanic
?
Click on a
green
word, and be transported to thesaurus.com, to pick up a Latinate
substitute.
Or
too Latinate? Click on a blue
word, a purple
word, or a red
word to be carried to thesaurus.com, to pick up a Germanic
substitute.
NB: Be sure you know the
meaning of the word you will use as a substitute. It is worse to
be caught misusing a word than not knowing it.
Please
email your questions and comments to us at latinometer@gmail.com.
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