Terminology
Parts of Speech
Basics
Language Families
History of English
100

This is added at the beginning of a word and often changes the meaning of the word to which it is added.

What is a prefix?

100

These name persons, places, or things. 

What are nouns?

100

An older word from which a newer word is formed.

What is a root?

100

The languages highlighted on this members are members of this family. 

What is the Romance family of languages? 

100

In 1066 CE, England was conquered by a group of warriors who spoke this language.  

What is Norman French? 

200

This is added at the end of a word. 

What is a suffix?

200

According to an old definition, these signify "to be, to do, to suffer." 

What are verbs?

200

A newer word that has been formed from an older word. 

What is a derivative?

200

The languages highlighted on this map are members of this family. 

What is the Germanic family of languages? 

200

This technology came to Europe in 1439 CE, and its influence on English vocabulary was immense. 

What is the printing press with movable type? 

300

Latin and Greek have several of these elements added in the middle of a word- English, well...

What is an infix?

300

These describe persons, places, or things. 

What are adjectives? 

300

A series of letters that marks a word as having been formed from an older word. 

What is a base?

300

Languages that form a family have this in common. 

What is an ancestor language? 

300

In the 1400s and 1500s CE, ancient Latin and Greek books and ideas became more widely available in western Europe than they had been previously. That period is often called by this name. 

What is the Renaissance? 

400

This is the general term for an element added to a word that may change the meaning of that word. 

What is an affix?

400

These general words stand in for more specific terms that might name persons, places, or things. 

What are pronouns?

400

The study of the origin and historical development of particular words. 

What is etymology? 

400

The languages highlighted on this map belong to this family of languages. 

What is the Indo-European family of languages? 

400

Under the influence of this institution, English speakers formed the habit of borrowing technical terms from Latin and Greek. 

What is the church? 

500

We won't be seeing any of them this semester, but some languages have elements they can add to words in two parts- one part at the the beginning, one at the end. 

What is a circumfix?

500

These words are not part of the grammatical structure of a sentence- a person just tosses them out. 

What are interjections? 

500

Sometimes called an "intrafix," this is a sound inserted between parts of a word not to change the meaning of the word, but simply to make it easier to say. 

What is a combining vowel? 

500

This is the relationship of Latin to the Romance family of languages.

What is the ancestor of the Romance languages? 

500

It left Britain for the last time in 449 CE. 

What is the Roman army? 

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