LIN 16 — Back to Basics: Understanding Latin and Greek Roots of English Words
Quarter: Fall
Instructor(s): Barbara Clayton
Date(s): Sep 24—Dec 3
Class Recording Available: No
Class Meeting Day: Thursdays
Class Meeting Time: 6:30—8:20 pm (PT)
Please Note: No class on November 26
Tuition: $585
Refund Deadline: Sep 26
Unit(s): 2
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Fall
Day: Thursdays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 6:30—8:20 pm (PT)
Date(s): Sep 24—Dec 3
Unit(s): 2
Tuition: $585
Refund Deadline: Sep 26
Instructor(s): Barbara Clayton
Recording Available: No
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Please Note: No class on November 26
This is a course for word lovers (philologists) of all kinds. More than half of all English words trace their roots to Latin or Greek, and even a small knowledge of these ancient languages can transform the way we understand modern English. Words belong to families. They have parents and siblings, distant cousins, and sometimes progeny of their own. We’ll uncover surprising relationships between words and follow their connections across centuries. Why does calligraphy literally mean “beautiful writing,” while cacography means “bad writing”? What unexpected link connects calculus and kidney stones? How is rectum related to rectify? Beginning with the foundations of Latin and Greek etymology, students will learn how roots, prefixes, and suffixes shape English today. The course then explores vocabulary from politics, medicine, religion, and the arts, uncovering how the ancient Greeks and Romans continue to influence the way we think, write, and speak in fascinating ways most of us rarely notice.
BARBARA CLAYTON
Independent Scholar
Barbara Clayton has taught Classics at Oberlin College, Santa Clara University, and Stanford, where she was a lecturer in a freshman humanities program for many years. Since 2015, she has taught for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. She is the author of A Penelopean Poetics: Reweaving the Feminine in Homer’s Odyssey. Clayton received a PhD in Classics from Stanford. Textbooks for this course:
(Required) Tamara M. Green, The Greek and Latin Roots of English, 6th Edition (ISBN 978-1538128633)