Be a note-taker

• The AccessAbility Resource Centre has requested a volunteer note-taker to take notes on behalf of students with a disability registered in this class and submit their notes online every week.
• You get a certificate of recognition, a reference letter at the end of the year, and automatic sainthood.
• Want to do it? Look at the online flyer, call 905-828-5422, email , or drop by the Centre (Davis Building, room 2047).

The idea of a scientific language

• Each part of the scientific community creates a language of its own, which makes it possible to hold productive discussions about the objects of their study.
• Much as jargon is frequently abused, technical language is in many cases indispensable.

What is science, anyway?

• Latin scientia, root SCI-, from scire, ‘to know’ (sciens, ‘knowing’) + suffix -ia, ending for abstract nouns

Why Greek and Latin?

• English, Latin, and Greek have a common Indo-European ancestor, meaning that many English words are based on Latin, either directly or through French.
• Latin was a primary language of scientific communication from Roman times until the nineteenth century, and thus most of its terminology (especially fields that

Online Resources

• All material is available on the course website.
  • This site is updated weekly with the current lecture slides.
• PDFs of readings as well as assignments are on the Learning Portal.
• Questions? Come to my office hours.

Learning Goals

• Acquire a working vocabulary of the fundamental Greek and Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes key to understanding scientific terms.
• Develop competency in using unfamiliar words to communicate and comprehend scientific results in oral and written contexts.

• Gain the skills necessary to identify the Greek and Latin elements of scientific terminology and give their meaning.
• Understand the historical processes leading to the development of current scientific terminology.

Citing a dictionary

• Provide an abbreviated form of the title, followed by s.v. (sub verbo, ‘under the word’), and finally the headword (i.e. the word you looked up to find the entry).
• Examples: OED s.v. ‘lecture’; Taber’s s.v. ‘nucleopetal’

At the bookstore

• Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary (any edition)

• Available in an online form, but worth buying, since the ability to see adjacent entries at once is extremely useful, and some students find a printed book less distracting.

• You might also want to obtain a copy of the Oxford Dictionary of English.

What do I need to do to be successful?

• The main focus: memorize and understand vocabulary (you will be tested solely on the lists provided).
• Participate in classes in order to learn how to use reference tools (key to assignments).
• Read assigned articles on the history of scientific terminology: information from these will appear on the tests and exam.

Vocabulary Lists

• Typed lists will be provided corresponding to each class, and these should provide a convenient way of breaking up the work.
• Generally speaking, we will be concentrating on word roots (i.e. components of Greek and Latin words) rather than the full words.
• These should be fairly easy to import into your favourite software, print, etc.

Memorize!

• Use whatever strategies work for you: write out flashcards (by hand), use computer-based software (Memrise, iVocabulary, etc.).
• We will be concentrating on word elements (or stems): the building blocks of words.
• This is essentially giving you a more efficient method for remembering what words mean: approaching the problem scientifically.

Assignments

• Test I (16 October): 20%
• Test II (20 November): 20%
• Weekly Vocabulary Assignments (due the day before each class): 5%
• Vocabulary Analysis Paper (due 27 November): 15%
• Final Exam (date to be announced): 40%

Roots

• Roots are the main part of a word, and carry most of the word’s force. They are originally nouns or verbs, but they have lost their characteristic endings.
  • E.g. ERG-, from Greek ergon, ‘work’, which gives us en-ERG-y

Prefixes

• Prefixes, for the most part, are Greek and Latin prepositions that have become attached to the front of a word, and further specify its meaning.
• Example: Syn-, from Greek σύν/syn, ‘with’, gives us syn-THE-sis, lit. ‘a putting together’

Suffixes

• Suffixes come at the end of a word.
• Like prefixes, they also modify the meaning of a stem. They also determine the part of speech (noun, verb, adjective etc.) of the word that is formed.

a- (an- before vowels or h)

• ‘not’, ‘without’
• atheist, anaesthetic (inducing a lack of sensation)

amphi-, ampho-

• ‘both’, ‘on both sides of’, ‘around’
• amphibious, amphitheatre

ana-

• ‘up’, ‘back’, ‘again’
• analysis, anatomy, anachronism

anti-

• ‘against’, ‘opposite’
• antidote, antagonist, antarctic

apo-

• ‘from’, ‘off’, ‘away’
• apology, apostle, apheliotropism (the habit in plants of bending away from the light)

cata-

• ‘down’, ‘against’, ‘according to’
• catalyst, catastrophe, category, catholic (universal, i.e. ‘in respect of the whole’)

dia- (di- before vowels or h)

• ‘through’, ‘across’, ‘between’, ‘apart’
• diameter, diagnosis, diocese

dys-

• ‘bad’, ‘disordered’, ‘difficult’
• dysentery, dystrophy

es-, eis-

• ‘inward’, ‘into’
• esoteric, esodic (or eisodic)

ec- (ex- before vowels or h)

• ‘out’, ‘out of’, ‘outside’
• exodus, exodontist

en- (em-, el-)

• ‘in’, ‘into’, ‘inward’
• energy, embryo, emphatic

en- + anti-

• ‘opposite’
• enantiopathy (the treatment of disease by contraries), enantiobiosis (the condition in which associated organisms are antagonistic to each other)

endo-, ento- (end-, ent- before vowels or h)

• ‘within’, ‘inner’
• endocrine, entophyte, endarteritis, entoptic

epi- (ep- before vowels or h)

• ‘upon’, ‘on’, ‘to’, ‘in addition to’
• epidemic, epidermis, epitaph

eu-

• ‘well’, ‘good’, ‘normal’
• eugenics, eulogy

exo-, ecto-

• ‘outside’, ‘external’
• exoskeleton, ectoparasite

hyper-

• ‘over’, ‘excessive’, ‘more than normal’
• hypercritical, hypertension

hypo- (hyp- before vowels or h)

• ‘under’, ‘below normal’, ‘slightly’
• hypodermic, hypothesis, hyphen, hypaesthesia

meta-

• ‘after’, ‘change’, ‘transfer’
• metamorphosis, metencephalon

para- (par- before vowels or h)

• ‘beside’, ‘resembling’, ‘disordered’
• parasite, paratyphoid, parenthesis, paramedical

peri-

• ‘around’, ‘near’
• periscope, perimeter

pro-

• ‘before’, ‘in front of’, ‘forward’
• program, prologue, prostate

pros-

• ‘toward’, ‘in addition’, ‘fronting’
• proselyte, prosthetic, prosencephalon

syn- (sym-, syl-, sy-, sys-)

• ‘with’, ‘together’
• synthetic, symphony, systole, synonym

Articles

• All class readings are online.
• They will be the basis for some questions on the tests and final exam.
• Make notes on these each week, to make studying for tests more efficient.
• Since these function as the textbook for the course, you’ll want to pay attention to key figures in the history of science that keep appearing.
• But you’ll mostly want to pay attention to methodology.

Academic reading is not like reading a novel.

Critical Reading

• To make judgements about how a text is argued.
• Requires standing back from text, reflecting on it from a distance.
• Read twice: once to get basic understanding, again to get detailed knowledge.
  • Look for ‘ways of thinking’ rather than ‘information’.
  • Always ask ‘how’, not ‘what’.

Keys to Success

• Do ask, ‘How does this text work? How is it argued? How is the evidence (the facts, examples, etc.) used and interpreted? How does the text reach its conclusions? How appropriate is the methodology?’
• Do not
  • extract or make lists of evidence, lists of facts, examples (when taking notes or highlighting);
  • ask, ‘What information can I get out of this text?’

SPAR

1. Survey (begin by skimming)
2. Process (understand the argument)
3. Ask (look for patterns)
4. Review (make brief notes)

ALG-

• ‘pain’ (-algesia, ‘sense of pain’)
• an-ALG-esia, the inability to feel pain; an-ALG-esic, a drug acting to relieve pain; nost-ALG-ia, a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past

ARTHR-

• ‘joint’, ‘speech sound’, ‘articulation’
• dys-ARTHR-ia, impairment of speech articulation

BI-

• ‘life’
• sym-BIO-sis, living together for mutual benefit

BALL-, BOL-, BLE-

• ‘to throw’, ‘to put’
• BALL-ist-ics; sym-BOL; em-BOL-ism, destruction of a blood vessel by foreign matter lodged in it; em-BOLO-LAL-ia, insertion of meaningless words into speech

BRADY-

• ‘slow’
• BRADY-LEX-ia, slowness in reading; BRADY-CARD-ia, slowness of the heart

CRYPT-

• ‘hidden’
• CRYPT; CRYPTO-GRAPH-y; CRYPT-ic; CRYPTO-PHYTE, a plant the produces buds underground or underwater; CRYPT-ORCH-ism; condition wherein the testes do not descend

DROM-

• ‘running’, ‘course’
• syn-DROME, symptoms that occur together and characterize a particular disease; a-DROM-ia; failure of impulse conduction in muscles or nerves

GE-

• ‘earth’
• amphi-GE-an; living around the world; GEO-CARP-y, ripening of fruits underground (peanuts, for instance)

HOD-, OD-

• ‘road’, ‘way’
• HODO-phobia, fear of travel; UR-OD-eum, a tract for carrying urine

MNE-

• ‘to remember’
• a-MNE-sia, loss of memory; ACOU-st-a-MNE-sia, inability to remember sound; AUTO-ana-MNE-sia; history related by the patient

MORPH-

• ‘form’
• meta-MORPHO-sis; changing form; PHYLLO-MORPHO-sis; variation of leaves in different seasons

ODONT-

• ‘tooth’
• ex-ODONT-ist, a specialist in tooth extraction; pros-TH-ODONT-ia; the replacement of teeth by artificial means, a branch of dentistry

PHOR-, PHER-

• ‘to bear’, ‘to go’
• eu-PHOR-ia, exaggerated feeling of well-being; meta-PHER-y, displacement of organs

PLEX-, PLEG-

• ‘to strike’, ‘to paralyse’
• apo-PLEX-y, sudden paralysis with loss of consciousness, when a blood vessel in the brain breaks or is blocked

POD-, -PUS

• ‘foot’
• CEPHALO-POD; mollusc with sucker-bearing arms on its head, such as an octopus

PROCT-

• ‘anus’, ‘rectum’
• PROCTO-logy; medical specialty concerned with the anus, the rectum and the sigmoid colon

STOL-, STAL-, -STLE

• ‘to send’, ‘to contract’
• peri-STAL-sis, rhythmic contraction of the alimentary canal that sends its contents downward; ana-STAL-sis, its opposite, the same as anti-peri-STAL-sis; sy-STOLE, contraction of the heart

STOM-, STOMAT-

• ‘mouth’, ‘opening’
• STOMAT-itis; inflammation of the mouth, not the stomach; ENTERO-stomy; operation to form an opening into the intestine; MICRO-STOME, a small opening or orifice

TROP-, TREP-

• ‘to turn’, ‘response to stimulus’
• apo-TROP-aic; intended to avert evil; ap-HELIO-TROP-ism, turning away from the sun; TREP-omena, a genus of spiral bacteria, including Trepomena pallidum, which causes syphilis.

UR-

• ‘urine’, ‘urinary system’
• UR-EM-ic, describes the presence of urine in the blood; UR-OD-eum, a tract for carrying urine; URE-ter, the duct by which urine passes from the kidney to the bladder or cloaca (URE-, ‘to urinate’)

Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

• The most accessible and accurate resource for detailed information on the meaning and origins of words, and is updated continuously in its online form, which can be accessed through the library.
• Nonetheless, some of its entries have not been recently updated (some have escaped revision for over a hundred years), and it sometimes provides more specialized information than you need for a basic understanding of a word.

Oxford Dictionary of English (ODE)

• For simplified definitions and etymologies, and for checking current spelling, you may instead wish to use the Oxford Dictionary of English, which is available on Oxford Dictionaries (with recordings of word pronunciation).
• There are also a number of other reliable dictionaries that include etymologies, but this is the most accurate one with easy access (and Canadian/British spelling).

Oxford Latin Dictionary (OLD)

• The most up-to-date and accurate Latin-English dictionary, but is not yet available online, and does not include authors beyond the second century. There is a second edition (2012), but its contents are mostly unchanged from the first edition (published between 1968 and 1982).

Lewis and Short (L&S)

• This is a very old book (last updated in 1879; based on an even older dictionary from the seventeenth century)
• For many purposes, however, Lewis and Short’s Latin Dictionary is still the quickest reference tool, for two reasons:
  • It has much broader coverage of Latin (sparodically up to the Renaissance).
  • It is available online in various places; I suggest using Logeion.

Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon (LSJ)

• The most complete Greek-English lexicon.
• The version online is from 1940; a supplement to it was produced in 1996, but it doesn’t make much of a difference for our purposes.
• Also on Logeion.

Technical dictionaries

• Stedman’s Medical Dictionary (in reference)
• Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary (in reference)
• Medical Meanings: A Glossary of Word Origins, by William S. Haubrich (on reserve)
• Elsevier’s Dictionary of Chemoetymology (in reference)

How do I find an etymology?

1. If it’s a common word, start with the Oxford Dictionary of English, which will give you the simplest derivation.
2. If it’s not there, move on to the Oxford English Dictinary.
3. Look in a technical dictionary such as Taber’s or Haubrich. Sometimes this will not provide enough information.
4. Look in a Latin or Greek dictionary.

BUL- (BOUL-)

• ‘will’, ‘volition’
• a-BUL-ia, loss of ability to make decisions

CARDI-

• ‘heart’
• MYO-CARDI-al, pertaining to the muscular tissue of the heart

CEPHAL-

• ‘head’ (enCEPHAL-, ‘brain’)
• CEPHALO-POD; pros-ENCEPHAL-on, forebrain or anterior brain vesicle of the embryo; met-ENCEPHAL-on

CHONDR-, CHONDRI-

• ‘cartilage’, ‘granule’ (orig, ‘groat (hulled grain) of wheat’)
• peri-CHONDRI-um; fibrous connective tissue covering cartilage

DEM-

• ‘people’, ‘country’
• apo-DEMI-ALG-ia, morbid dislike of home life and a desire to wander; epi-DEM-ic, occurring widely within a certain geographic area; ec-DEM-ic, of foreign origin, opp. of en-DEM-ic

DERM-

• ‘skin’
• PODO-DERM; dermal layer of a hoof; the DERM-is is between the epi-DERM-is and the subcutaneous tissues

GAM-

• ‘marriage’, ‘union’
• a-GAMO-GENE-sis, asexual reproduction; GAM-ete, a sexual cell capable of uniting with another to form a new individual, such as sperms and eggs

LECITH-

• ‘yolk’
• CENTRO-LECITH-al, having the yolk aggregated in the centre; LECITH-in describes a group of yellow-brown fatty substances first isolated in egg yolks

OPHTHALM-

• ‘eye’
• MEGAL-OPHTHALM-us or MEG-OPTHALM-us, excessive largeness of the eyes

OST(E)-

• ‘bone’
• OSTEO-DERM-ia, bony formations in the skin; OSTE-ana-GENE-sis, regeneration of bone

PHYLL-

• ‘leaf’
• PHYLLO-POD-ous, having leaflike swimming feet, as in branchiopods, (some shrimp, for instance)

PHYT-

• ‘plant’, ‘growth’
• endo-PHYTE, a plant growing within another; ZOO-PHYTE, an animal resembling a plant, such as a sponge

PLAS(T)-

• ‘to form’, ‘to mould’
• hyper-PLAS-ia, excessive formation of tissue; meta-PLAS-ia, transformation of one form of adult tissue to another

SOM-, SOMAT-

• ‘body’
• SOM-AESTHE-sia, sensibility to bodily sensations; GYMNO-SOMAT-ous, having no shell or mantle, as certain molluscs

THEC-

• ‘case’, ‘sheath’
• THECA, spore or pollen case; THECA-PHORE, a structure on which a theca is borne; THEC-ODONT, having teeth in sockets

THERM-

• ‘heat’
• a-dia-THERM-ancy, imperviousness to heat waves; hyper-THERM-algesia, abnormal sensitivity to heat

TOM-

• ‘cut’, ‘section’ (enTOM-, ‘insect’)
• LITHO-TOM-ous, stone-boring, as certain molluscs

TOP-

• ‘place’
• a-TOPO-GNO-sia, lack of ability to locate a sensation accurately; OST-ec-TOP-y, displacement of a bone

TROPH-

• ‘nourishment’, ‘development’
• AUTO-TROPH, organism capable of self-nourishment; TROPHO-TROP-ism, tendency of an organism to turn towards its food supply; dys-TROPH-y; deficiency of nourishment

ZO-

• ‘animal’, ‘living being’
• ZOO-logy; ZOO-GAM-y, sexual reproduction in animals; ZOO-PHYTE

Vocabulary Analyses

• For each class, a link to a recent scientific article is provided on the Learning Portal.
• Provide a list of ten words that you think have Greek and Latin words.
• The mark is pass/fail (based on whether you completed it or not; the final mark will also take class participation into account).

An example

• Hofmann, Rebecca, and P. Martin Sander. 2014. ‘The First Juvenile Specimens of Plateosaurus Engelhardti from Frick, Switzerland: Isolated Neural Arches and Their Implications for Developmental Plasticity in a Basal Sauropodomorph’. PeerJ 2 (July): e458. doi:10.7717/peerj.458.

• dinosaur
  • modern Latin, dinosaurus, from Greek δεινός/deinos (fearful, terrible) + σαῦρος/sauros lizard (OED s.v. ‘dinosaur’)
• morphometric
• plasticity

• [etc.]

Final Vocabulary Paper

• A formal version of the weekly vocabulary assignments, applying the skills you’ve been practising each week.
• Full details online.

ACOU-, (ACU-)

• ‘to hear’
• ACOU-smat-a-GNO-sis; inability to recognize spoken words; an-ACU-sia, complete deafness

AMBLY-

• ‘dull’
• AMBLY-CEPHAL-idae, a genus of broad-headed, nonpoisonous snakes, bluntheads; AMBLY-ACU-sia

ANTH-

• ‘flower’
• ANTHO-philous, attracted by flowers, feeding on flowers; ex-ANTH-ema, an eruption on the skin

CHROM-, CHROMAT-, CHRO-

• ‘colour’
• meta-CHRO-sis, the change or play of colours seen in the squid, chameleon, etc.

DACTYL-

• ‘finger’, ‘toe’
• DACTYLO-lysis, a tropical disease in which a toe is slowly and spontaneously amputated by a fibrous ring

DE-; DESM-

• ‘to bind’; ‘binding’, ‘ligament’
• amphi-DESM-ic, furnished with a double ligament; syn-DESMO-logy, the study of ligaments; syn-DE-sis, the state of being bound together

ENTER-

• ‘intestine’
• an-ENTER-ous, having no alimentary tract; MY-ENTER-ic, relating to the muscular coat of the intestine; dys-ENTER-y

ERG-

• ‘work’
• endo-ERG-ic; relating to the absorption of heat, endothermic; ADREN-ERG-ic, activated by adrenaline

AESTHE-, (ESTHE-)

• ‘to feel’, ‘to perceive’
• syn-AESTHE-sia, a secondary sensation accompanying an actual perception; ACANTH-AESTHE-sia, a sensation as of pricking with a needle

GER-, GERONT-

• ‘old person’, ‘old age’
• GERONTO-phobia, morbid fear of old age; GER-ODONT-ia, dentistry for the aged; GERONTO-logy

GNATH-

• ‘jaw’
• dys-GNATH-ic, pertaining to improperly developed jaws; GNATHO-THECA, the horny outer covering of a bird’s lower jaw

GNO-

• ‘to know’
• BAR-a-GNO-sis; loss of perception of weight; AUTO-TOP-a-GNO-sia, loss of ability to orient parts of one’s own body

GRAPH-, GRAM-

• ‘to write’; ‘thing written’
• DROMO-GRAPH, instrument for registering the velocity of blood current

HEPAT-, HEPAR-

• ‘liver’
• HEPAR-in, a substance or mixture of substances occurring in liver and other tissues having the property of prolonging the clotting time of blood; HEPAT-itis, inflammation of the liver

KINE- (CINE-)

• ‘to move’
• a-KIN-AESTHE-sia, loss of muscle sense or sense of movement; eu-KINE-sia; normal power of movement; TELE-KINE-sis; the alleged ability to move objects without touching them

LEX-

• ‘to read’
• BRADY-LEX-ia, abnormal slowness in reading; dys-LEX-ia, impairment of the ability to read

MY-, MYS-, MYOS-

• ‘muscle’
• MYO-CHROME, any muscle pigment; MY-ENTER-ic; MYO-CARDI-al

NEPHR-

• ‘kidney’
• peri-NEPHR-ium, the connective or adipose tissue surrounding a kidney

OSM-

• ‘smell’
• an-OSM-ia, absence of the sense of smell; MACR-OSM-atic, possessing a highly developed sense of smell

THE-

• ‘to put’, ‘to place’
• ALL-en-THE-sis, introduction of foreign substance into the body; meta-THE-sis, a chemical reaction in which there is an exchange of radicals

About 89 per cent

• According to Turmezei (2012); 86% without post-classical Latin.