2012考研英语指导：高分秘笺之拉丁语入门

Latin is a classical language in Europe ,it is one internationally used language of learning in the 18th century. Latin has laid emphasis upon the languages of Europe, such as English,German,French,Italian,and Spain et. After some linguists’ investigation and statistics,we have known that there are almost 50%of vocabularies in English derived from Latin.

In the recent period the phrases and idioms of Latin are utilized in many papers and books. In order to research the English vocabularies , owning some knowledge of Latin is very useful. www.examｗ.com

Here are some major aspects in Latin , I think, when you grasp them, and transplant them in your English, you will find that there is a bridge to English kingdom.

1. General considerations

In the skeleton of Latin grammar,there are three main sections:gender,number and case.I am not ready to discuss them detailedly,but to indicate that when a noun is a derivative of Latin,its plural is often constructed as following:

Stem+a

Stem+i

(Furthermore,there are many declensions in plural formation,but ut supra are most universal.)

2. Latin roots

With the addition of prefixes and suffixes , Latin roots can combine immense words.Basically, according to the etymology,the meanings of a word are determinated by its root.As we now know that there are a great deal of derivatives in English and we can not learn them one by one,hence,we should deduce its meanings according to its root;on the other hand,root adding context can validly deduce the relevant expression of the aimed word.

Here are a concise list of key and powerful roots of Latin in English . You’d better memorize them clearly.

Infra- below

Pend- hung

Aqua- water

Quin- five

Aud- hear

Acr- sharp

Am- love,like

Ceed- go

Cide- kill

Duc- lead

Fed- group

Fess- declare

Grad- step

Folio- leaf

Jec- throw,place

Jus- law

Loc- location

Loq/loc- speak

Mand- order

Mon- warn

Melan- black

Pass/pat/path- suffer

Pound- put

Preci- value

Rend- give

Rect- guide;straight

San- health

Semble- appearance

Spec- examine

Tail- cut

Term- end

Tox- poison

Via- way

Voc-call

As we have known that the ut supra roots are most common found in English words,we can refer to many relevant books about roots or etymology to find detailed materials.

3. Pronunciation

The pronunciation of Latin is very simple comparing to English.It is valuable to understand the accent(or stress) of vocabulariy, for it is the original rule of English accent.

Generally,its accent lies in the second syllable from the end.On some occasions it may lay in the third from the end,or the first like German.

4. Latin phrase

Here are some frequent and effective Latin phrases which appear in the newspaper or books often.

Vice versa-on the other hand

Ut infra-as the following description

Ut supra-as stated previously

Status quo-keeping the present state

In toto-in all

All of them can add power to your speech and writing.

To sum up,there are many advantages in English learning if you apprehend some Latin.I think that everyone who wanna learn English successfully should learn some basic linguistic knowledge----and the Latin is the base of the base.