by Shane Templeton, Ph.D., 2024 Conference Presenter
Why words have come to be spelled the way they are, and mean what they mean, is explained by their etymology. Etymology refers to the origins and historical development of words.
Why consider etymology – word histories – in our word study? Wilfred Funk offered a very simple reason: “To know the life history of a word makes its present meaning clearer and more nearly unforgettable” (p. 2). C. S. Lewis, author of the “Chronicles of Narnia” tales – most notably The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – described how words have a “semantic biography.” Readers and writers who develop a sense of these “biographies” may grow deeper and more nuanced meanings as they read and write, a consistent objective in Colorado’s Reading, Writing, and Communication standards.
Now, I’m not suggesting we attempt to include the history of every important vocabulary word in our instruction. The occasional story and consideration of how etymology works, however, should benefit all learners in their word learning journeys. In this blog I’ll share some possibilities and examples of how these legacies can explain the spellings of both individual words as well as processes that apply to the spelling and meaning of literally tens of thousands of words. I’ll also share sources and resources for growing your own etymological knowledge base and how you can in turn support students’ learning.
In the primary grades, children can begin to develop an interest and curiosity about words – what researchers have termed word consciousness (Scott, Skobel, & Wells. 2008). They can also begin to learn how etymology can help explain the meaning, spelling, and pronunciation of words. For example:
Why are there silent letters in some words? Because many words and their meanings are linked by how they are spelled:
Write the word two, and then directly underneath, write the words twice, twelve, and twenty. Ask the children, “What’s the same in all of these words?” After noting the tw, ask “What do twice, twelve, and twentyhave to do with two?” Combining children’s responses and your own explanation (as necessary!), children realize that “twice” means something happens two times; “twelve” is two more than ten; and “twenty” is two tens. The twspelling is what connects these words and their meanings together. In fact, a lot of today’s “silent” letters were once pronounced, and as the years went by the sounds they stood for were dropped from the word – but their spellings remained.
After learning about the “magic e” rule (a final silent e makes the preceding vowel long, as in bike), children wonder about the “exceptions.” We can group some of these exceptions together, and one important category will be revealed – in words like have, love, and give, children come to realize that English words do not end with the letter v! We may need to encourage this awareness, of course, by asking, “What letter comes before the final silent e?”
What’s going on here? Long ago, if v were doubled to mark the short vowel in these words, it would have looked like a w, so printers added an e instead!
Historically, most “silent” consonants were pronounced. Centuries ago in English, the initial k, the w in wr and answer, and the g in gn were all sounded. For example, the word climb in Middle English was climben in which the b was pronounced; the word limb comes from Latin limbus in which the b was pronounced.
In these ways – through learning about processes that apply to many words, an awareness of etymology can grow children’s nuanced connections between words, their meanings, their spellings, and their pronunciations.
Although the Reading, Writing, and Communication standards in Colorado do not explicitly address etymology until the secondary level, the study of Greek and Latin word roots and affixes (prefixes and suffixes) begins in earnest in the intermediate grades, and learning how they work to determine the meaning of words can be enriched through etymology:
Many words in English have come from words and word parts that were spoken and written in Greece over 2,000 years ago. The suffixes –phobia and –phobic, for example, come from Phobos, the name of the Greek god of fear. Many more words with Greek word parts – such as telegraph and microscope – never existed back then but have been created from the word parts that did: tele (far off), graph (writing, written), micros (small), and skopos(watch, see). These word parts remain readily available for assembling into new words to stand for new concepts.
October and November both come from the Roman names for the 8th (Oct) and 9th (Nov) months in the Roman calendar. In our calendar they’re the 10th and 11th months in the year. What happened? The explanation for the difference is that the original Roman calendar began in March, and they counted forward from there.
January comes from Latin. When the Romans revised their calendar so that it didn’t begin in March anymore, they named the first month of the new year after Janus, who in Roman mythology was the god of doors. Doors swing backwards and forwards – so, Janus would look back to the old year and forward to the new year.
Etymology explains “chameleon” prefixes such as in– and com– in which the spelling often changes. Why, for example, is in– also spelled im and ir? A long time ago, when in– was added to a word like mobile to create the word that meant “not mobile,” it was awkward to pronounce the /n/ sound before the /m/ sound. Over time it became easier
to pronounce just the /m/ sound instead of both the /n/ and /m/ sounds. The spelling later changed to reflect this. (Have students pronounce both INmobile and IMmobile – which is easier to say?) When in– was added to regular, it was awkward to pronounce the /n/ before /r/, so the spelling changed to reflect the easier pronunciation (INregular vs. IRregular).
As intermediate students are learning how Greek and Latin roots and affixes determine the meaning of so many words in English, it’s fun as well as insightful to explore the etymologies of some common words. For example:
If students have learned the meaning of the prefix dis– (“not”, “opposite”), ask them what the base word of diseaseis. They probably haven’t thought about this common word this way, and may be surprised to realize the base word is ease. “So, if you have a disease, you are literally not at ease!” Words evolve and change in meaning over time, and disease, which once had meanings including “trouble” and “discomfort,” is a good example.
Visit has two roots! We know the vis means “to see” (vision, visual) – but it is also a root – it means “to go.” So, visit literally means “to go see” someone or something. Once students have this insight, look at the words exit (ex– = “out”; exit = “to go out”) and transit (trans = across; transit = “to go across”).
A common spelling error in the later grades is illustrated by the word circumference, which is often misspelled as “circumfrence.” Students (and many adults) misspell such words because the common pronunciation often deletes unstressed syllables such as the third syllable in circumference. Although we can point out that a careful pronunciation can help them remember the fer spelling, such encouragement usually doesn’t work that well. This is where a combination of etymology and morphological analysis may be more effective:
Point out that the spelling f-e-r not only stands for a syllable, but for a word root as well. Display the unabridged dictionary entry for circumference: “Let’s check the
etymology for circumference. We can find it right at the end of the entry. It shows that the word is composed of circum– plus this Latin root [point to –ferre–], and it tells us this word means ‘to carry around,’ from combiningcircum with ferre. It also gives us the meaning of the root –ferre–, ‘to carry.’ While you’ve probably learned how to figure out the circumference of a circle, it’s interesting to know that originally this word simply had something to do with going around a circle.”
As a last example, let’s return to those “silent” letters that run rampant in English spelling:
Why is there a “silent” c in scissors? In the 1500s, during the English Renaissance, Greek and Latin were thought to be much richer, logical, and expressive languages than English. So, English language scholars wanted to make the spelling of many English words look like the Latin and Greek words they thought were the words’ ancestors (Templeton & Bear, 2018). So sisoures became scissors, because the scholars thought the word came from Latin scindere, which meant “to cut.” Similarly, dette was changed to debt, based on the Latin debere; doute was changed to doubt, based on Latin dubitare.
Resources
In our books Teaching Reading and Writing: The Developmental Approach; Words Their Way; and Vocabulary Instruction: Word study for middle and secondary students, we describe and share a number of examples of the role etymology can play in word study. In addition, the following are excellent resources:
The Online Etymology Dictionary etymonline.com
John Ayto (2009). Oxford school dictionary of word origins: The curious twists & turns of the cool and weird words we use. Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/education/product/9780192733740/?region=international
Jeff Zafarris (2020). Once upon a word: A word-origin dictionary for kids. Simon & Schuster.
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Once-Upon-a-Word/JZafarris/9781646112593
Conclusion
Not many of us have a background in historical linguistics! But that’s certainly not necessary in order to begin to blend these intriguing etymological legacies into your word study. Over time, as your build your knowledge base, you should become even more engaged and motivated – with the payoff, of course, being your students’ engagement, motivation, and learning.
Shane Templeton, co-author of Words Their Way, is Foundation Professor Emeritus of Literacy Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, and a former classroom teacher at the primary and secondary levels. His research has focused primarily on developmental word knowledge in elementary, middle, and high school students, and he has been published in both research and practitioner journals. In addition to Words Their Way, he has authored or co-authored a number of books on the teaching of literacy and word study.
References
Bear, D. R., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2020). Word Study: Phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction (7th Ed.). Boston: Pearson.
[Formerly Words Their Way]
Colorado Academic Standards: Reading, Writing, and Communicating (2019). Colorado Department of Education. https://www.cde.state.co.us/coreadingwriting
Crystal, D. (2014). Spell it out: The curious, extraordinary, and enthralling story of English spelling. Macmillan. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250028860/spellitout
Funk, W. (2011). Dictionary of word origins. Arcade Publishing Company.
Gehsmann, K. M., & Templeton, S. (2022). Teaching reading and writing: The developmental approach (2nd ed.). Pearson.
Lewis, C. S. (1990). Studies in words (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/literature/english-literature-general-interest/studies-words-2nd-edition-3?format=PB&isbn=9781107688650
Scott, J. A., Skobel, B. J., & Wells, J. (2008). The word-conscious classroom: Building the vocabulary readers and writers need. Scholastic.
Templeton, S. (2023). Spelling: Theory, assessment, and pedagogy. In Tierney, R.J., Rizvi, F., & Erkican, K. (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Education, vol. 10, pp. 374-387. Elsevier. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818630-5.07053-6.
Templeton, S., & Bear, D. R. (2018). Word study, research to practice: spelling, phonics, meaning. In D. Lapp & D. Fisher (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Teaching the English Language Arts (4th ed.) (pp. 207-232). Routledge/Taylor & Francis.
Templeton, S., Bear, D. R., Invernizzi, M., Johnston, F., Flanigan, K., Townsend, D. R., Helman, L., & Hayes, L. (2023). Vocabulary instruction: Word study for middle and secondary students (2nd ed.). Pearson.
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