Understanding Western Cultures Revealed by Greek and Latin Roots in English Words

Synopsis
A preliminary attempt is made to understand western cultures from some Greek and Latin roots in English words, some "interesting" comparisons with Chinese cultures are also made when possible.


I. Introduction
Chinese characters are graphic because they were created to simulate real world objects or ideas with complex symbols. Each Chinese character has one or two roots (radicals in a character).

Likewise, English words are informative. Each word contains one or two roots, prefixes, and/or suffixes. Most of the roots, prefixes, and suffixes were originated from Greek or Latin.

70% - 80% of English words in any English dictionary are coming from Latin, and even over 90% English words in science and technology fields are from Latin [1]. It is noted that 12% of English vocabulary is of Greek origin [2]. This figure could be larger, because as noted in [1] that Greek roots found their ways into English words directly or indirectly through Latin.
We can see how important it is to learn the Greek and Latin roots in English words. Each English word contains a long story in it. However the stories are all lost in almost every English to Chinese dictionary. Please see also the side notes for the entry of "Sunday - Sun's day" in Interesting Myths from Which Words are Derived

An attempt is made here to study some interesting western cultures that are directly embedded in the Greek or Latin roots in English words, and wherever possible, compare those with Chinese cultures.

II. Western Cultures Revealed by Some Greek and Latin Roots in English Roots

1. Western Culture about a Candidate for a Job or Office Position

The word candidate means an office position seeker in ancient Rome who wore a gown in pure white color. Why pure white? You may ask. Candidate contains a root cand, which mean pure white, it can be dissected into:

candidate = cand (white, shining white) + -id (relating to) + -ate (a person who);

so candidate means a person who wears white gown (or white formal garment) to seek a position in an office, it evolved further to mean a person who seeks an office or has been proposed for a position in an office, or an award.

This tradition is kept in the western today. In U. S., whenever you find someone seeking a job, you will almost always find that he must be wearing a black business suit. He must also be wearing a sharply white shirt under the suit, and the shirt sleeves are slightly longer than the suit's, which allows people to see that the candidate is a 'white' or transparent person. This is because white in the west means pure, candid, sincere, nothing to hide.

Comparing this job seeking tradition with that in China today: Of cause, every candidate seeking a job is always wearing a black business suit. However you may find it is not uncommon for a job seeker in China to ware a black business suit without a white shirt under it.

2. Western Culture about Water and Water Flow

1) Water Flow as Bad Things
Water, especially flood may bring terrifying feeling to both western (and Chinese) people, as indicated in the word: diluvial

diluvial = di- (away; from) + luv (wash; extended further to mean water; flood) + i (this vowel has no meaning, it is inserted for easy pronunciation only) + -al (relating to; of);
diluvial = relating to a flood, especially a great flood
The Bible recorded the Deluge story, which destroyed ancient civilization as an act of divine retribution from God.

In ancient China, great flood and fierce savage animals (洪水猛兽 in Chinese characters) were considered as the scariest things in the word. Legend has it that the ancient China land once submerged in a great flood, the first hero in China ancient history was Da Yu (大禹 in Chinese characters) who managed to control the great deluge in China.

2) Water Flow as Good Things
On the other hand, water flow also means money, as indicated by two words, affluent and refund:
affluent = af- (to) + flu (flow) + -ent (relating to);
affluent = relating to flowing out in great amount or quantity, or in abundance
affluent is extended further to mean abundant or rich

refund:
refund = re- (back) + fund (pour, extended further to mean give something liquid to; liquid is cash as defined in Webster Dictionary[3]; extended further to mean to give cash or money to);
refund = to give money back to

Similarly in Chinese, there is a word oil and water (油水 in Chinese characters), which means high profitability, bringing in a lot of money. Another Chinese saying is: so rich as to overflow with oil (富得流油 in Chinese characters).

3. Western Culture about Woman
1) Beauty of Woman
In western and Chinese cultures, some words are used to figuratively describe the beauty and poisonousness of woman, an example is belladonna:
belladonna = bell (pretty) + adonna (lady name, a lady)
belladonna = beautiful lady
Beautiful women are call belladonna because during Renaissance time, women were said to be using a poisonous plant, belladonna, to dilate their pupils to make them more attractive to men.

Unlike western culture where women were poisoning themselves, some Chinese thought that a rubicund woman could be as deadly dangerous as a disastrous deluge (红颜祸水 in Chinese characters).

2) Charm of Woman
As in China, some words were created in the west that showed a lack of respect for woman. One example is the word siren which means any of a group of partly bird and partly woman creatures in Greek mythology. They lured mariners to destruction by their singing. In China, similar phrases were created such as enchanting woman (迷人的女人 in Chinese characters), enchantress(妖妇 in Chinese characters), and Da Maid who enchanted Emperor Zhou and destroyed Shang Dynasty (妲姬迷纣王 in Chinese characters).


4. Western Culture about Number Counting
In ancient west, fingers and toes were used in number counting, as evidenced in two words: 1) digit and 2) calculate.

digit = digit (finger, toe, which were used in counting, digit is a Greek root)
digit is developed to mean numeral

calculate = calc (lime, limestone) + ul (small, diminutive) + -ate (do; make; cause);
calculate = to make reckoning or computation by using little lime stones or pebbles;
calculate = count with pebbles
calculate is extended further to mean to determine by a mathematical process

French number counting is twenty based - vigintary. Some people find their numeral words difficult to understand. This is not a surprise to me because when I was a boy, I used all my 10 fingers and 10 toes to do counting. Imagine how difficult it was when learning counting!

Calculus was invented by the great scientist Newton.
As recently as mid 1900, Chinese people used abacus in their number counting and even the numeric solution of partial differential equations (as in the design of submarine, this is true).


5. Western Culture about August 15
In the west, August 15 every year is observed in commemoration of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. So assumption originally means taking up a person into heaven from the earth:
assumption = as- (to) + sumpt (to take) + -ion (act; process);
assumption = an act of taking up something such as a position, a possession of something;
assumption also extended further to mean the act of taking something for granted (the act of assuming something as a base)

Compare Assumption with Chinese Mid Festival August 15 when every Chinese celebrates the Full and the Brightest Moon each year with extravagant food and drink.

6. Western Culture about Star
Western culture believed that the stars (or more accurately planets) in the sky had significant impact on human being. As shown in the word influence which originally meant the flowing of heavenly fluid from the stars into human bodies and to affect the behaviors of all humans:
influence = in- (in) + flu (flow) + -ence (condition; state; act; quality);
influence = an act of flowing some fluid into somebody to affect him
influence extended further to mean the flowing of heavenly fluid from the stars to humans which has an effect on humans

This was the same in China. Star Prophecy (占星术 in Chinese characters) was widely believed in China, and especially adopted by Chinese Emperors when planning important activities.

Another prophecy related culture was to observe how a bird fly to foretell an omen, as in the word auspicious:
auspicious = au (=avi, bird) + spic (looking at, examining) + -ious (full of, of);
auspicious = looking at the bird;
auspicious = foretelling an omen by looking at how a bird flies
auspicious = extended further to mean having good omen
auspicious = extended further to mean of good omen; favorable

In the west, left meant unlucky as opposed to right because left hand was considered to be clumsy. So if the bird flew to the left, it would foretell bad fortune. However left in China means being more important than the right. If you are arranged to be seated on the left in a meeting, then it means that you are an important person.

7. Western Culture about Money
The story about the creation of the word 'money' is very interesting, the following is based on the book 'Word Clues' [4]:
Money originally meant warning, according to Roman myth: Juno (who is the same as Greek's Hera, the sister and wife of Zeus, queen of the gods, and goddess of women and marriage, identified with the Roman Juno) had holy geese. Once there was a sly or stealthy night attack being planned on the Romans. The cackling of the holy geese revealed and warned the Romans of the attack. Hence the city was saved from the attack by the warning of the sacred geese. Juno was thereafter called Juno Moneta (or Juno, the Warner, and Protector). In Rome, money was coined in the Temple of Juno Moneta (or Juno the Warner), so the coin was called moneta coin or Warner Coin, hence the word money.

Comparing this with China: In China, money (钱 which means money in Chinese character) means several metallic foils or metallic coins that are strung together with a thread passing through the hole in the center of the coins or foils. The center hole is usually square, that is why people still call money as square hole brother (孔方兄 in Chinese character).

8. Western Culture about Marriage
In the west, marriage means to limit the freedom of man and woman, as indicated in the word conjugal :
conjugal = con- (together) + jug (yoke, yoke is a tool to bind, or harness oxes together to do farming work) + -al (relating to);
conjugal = man and woman who are bound together by a yoke or a marriage contract

This is the same in China, as indicated by the word Walled City or Enclosed City (围城 in Chinese characters), marriage is like a walled city.

In the west, a marriage partner is called spouse. Spouse originally means pledge, promise, answer for. So a spouse is someone for whom you will need to provide answer or responsibility.
In China a marriage partner (配偶 in Chinese characters）literally means a mate, or one with whom to make a couple, it does not convey a meaning of promise, or pledge.

9. Western Culture about Bread
Bread is the foundation of life in the west. Bread is from loaf. It is interesting to see that two important words are derived from loaf: lady and lord.
Lady means a kneader of dough for loaf. A lady, therefore, is a kneader of bread, a breadmaker. Lord means loaf-ward, keeper of bread, because a lord maintains and feeds his household and offers hospitality.

Chinese has an idiom, 柴米夫妻, its literal meaning is a firewood and rice couple, it refers to a couple who live from hand to mouth, nothing to do with a lord.

III. Conclusions

1. Information about western cultures is embedded in the Greek or Latin roots in English words.
2. By learning the meaning of the roots in English words, the true meaning of English words can be fully understood and appreciated.

IV. References

[1] http://dictionary1.classic.reference.com
[2] http://qanda.encyclopedia.com
[3] http://www.merriam-webster.com/ see entry liquid
[4] Word Clues by Amsel Greene, Harper & Row, Publishers