Modern Engineering Thermodynamics

Appendix B: Greek and Latin Origins
of Engineering Terms
English is a complex combination of numerous languages and is thought by some to be the most colorful and
expressive language we have. To understand why English is such a complicated language, you need to be aware
of several milestones in the history of the English culture. Around 1000 BC, Celtic-speaking armies from central
Europe conquered the British Isles, and after several centuries of occupation, the language of the prehistoric
Britains was completely replaced by Celtic. Gaelic, Welsh, Irish, and Scotch are modern remnants of Celtic.
Britain was again conquered in the first century AD by the Roman empire, and for the next several centuries,
Latin words began to be absorbed into the British Celtic tongue. Also, some Greek words were introduced during
this period by Roman Christian missionaries.
In the fifth century, Britain was conquered by the Teutonic Angles, Saxons, and Jutes from Germanic Europe.
Their combined language, called Anglo-Saxon, was the basis of modern English (in fact the word English is really
Anglish).
In the eighth century, the Danish invaded parts of Britain and fragments of their language were assimilated into
the Celtic-Anglo-Saxon English.
In the 11th century, Britain was again conquered, this time by the French. Norman French then became the official
language of the country, but the masses continued to speak English. By 1500, the French had been driven
out, and English, now ripe with French words, was reestablished as the official language of the land. It is clear
that the English language has had a long, colorful history and the assimilation of numerous words from different
languages is one of the things that gives the English language versatility and complexity.
New words normally enter a language not as replacements for existing words but to describe new concepts or
ideas. The words most often taken from the occupying forces in Britain were of this type. The new concepts were
often, as they are today, from science, technology, or religion. During the Middle Ages, Arabian science and
technology were quite advanced. Consequently, technical words, such as algebra, alcohol, and alkali, entered
the English language (they can be recognized by the fact that they begin with the Arabic definite article, al).
The Greek language has had a much smaller impact than Latin on the evolution of English. Greek words have
generally entered the English language indirectly, having been absorbed into Latin first, borrowed directly from
Greek authors, or through the coining of new scientific or technical terms.
Long ago, it became customary for professionals to carry out their business in a dead language from an earlier
culture. Thus, the Romans used Greek, and the English used Latin (with a smattering of Greek). Whether this
was to keep the masses from understanding professional dialogue or merely to exercise scholarly activity is not
known. Even today, we go to either Latin or Greek to name a new scientific phenomenon or technology. Xerox,
for example, is a trade name that comes from the word xerography, which is Greek for “dry” (xero) “copying
process” (graphy).
Many long technical words are compound words formed from the following basic elements: (a) the root word,
(b) the combining vowel, and (c) the suffix or prefix. The root word is the core of any technical term. It can be
either Latin or Greek, and it is often linked to the prefix or suffix by a combining vowel. For example, therm is a
root word meaning “heat,” o is a connecting vowel, and dynamics is a suffix meaning “able to produce power.”
Thus, the term thermodynamics loosely translates as “the process of converting heat into power.”
A prefix is a syllable or syllables placed in front of a root word to alter its meaning. Table B.1 is a list of common
Greek and Latin technical prefixes.
789