Origin of words
The purpose of being acquainted with the language of origin of words is to help you remember several important rules, tips and guidelines for getting the correct spelling. This study is commonly known as ‘Etymology’ and has significant role in understanding English language more deeply. This study includes earliest known use of words, its transmission from one language to another, and its transformation in form and meaning while they are migrated. Learning the etymological story is quiet interesting and gives us a ‘wow’ feeling while decoding many popular words. Let’s take an example with a very common word ‘disaster’ and see how it is actually derived.
In the olden times, many people believed that the influence of stars was responsible for all calamities. Evidently, the word can be related back to the Old Italian word ‘disastro’, which meants ‘unfavourable to one’s stars’. Hence the word disaster was derived to English. The word was first seen in the late 16th century by Shakespeare used on his tragic play King Lear. Linguistic researchers have recorded that English has borrowed words from more than 300 different languages all around the world but most of the vocabulary of the English language can be attributed to either Latin or Greek.