Vocabulum VI: From Bleats to Boo
Many interesting words starting with b- come to us from the Latin.
Onomatopoeia is the formation of a word from a sound associated with its name. Think buzz and sizzle. Latin, as with English, is filled with such words because humans instinctively understand the meaning of various sounds. In our study of b- Latin root words, we will see a few interesting sources for sounds we still use thousands of years later. (Welcome to Manuscribit, a unique study guide to English grammar based upon Latin. It’s best to start at the first post and work your way through with a sketchbook in hand.)
balo, balare: I bleat, to bleat Anyone who has heard the nursery rhyme “Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool” can understand the basis for this Latin word, and our continued usage of it.
barba: beard barber It wasn’t very long ago that men when to the barber shop not only for a hair cut, but also to get a shave. The barber would keep a separate cup with shaving soap for each customer, and use a long, sharp razor to shave the man’s face.
barbaria: a foreign country, also used figuratively to indicate stupidity barbarian, barbaric Here the elitism of the Roman empire shows its ugly head. Often we will see terms that are used to define foreigners are also used to criticize or belittle them. After all, who could be better than a citizen of Rome? See the next entry which follows.
bardus: a Gallic poet, also used as an adjective to describe one who is dull or stupid bard The Gauls were a group of Celtic people who inhabited areas outside of the Roman empire, regularly fought against it, and were the subject of Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars documentation. In English, the word bard is still used, in a complimentary way, to indicate a poet or epic writer such as Shakespeare.
basilica, basilicus: large law building in the center of the city; magnificent basilica
bene: well benediction (literally, well spoken), beneficial (literally, well made), benefit
benignus: kind, friendly benign, benignity
bibere: to drink imbibe
bilis: bile, gall, bitter or melancholy bilious
bombus: booming bomb, bombastic
bonum: moral good bonus, bonanza
boo: I cry aloud Boo-hoo!
bovis: cows bovine
brevi, brevitas: shortly, shortness brevity, brief
Britannia: British Isles Britain, British
brutus: heavy, unwieldy, stupid, irrational brutal, brute
bulbus: onion bulb, bulbous
Next week, we will begin with the C’s which is a treasure trove of English derivatives.
Until then, may God’s peace be with you.