What Are Greek and Hebrew Derivations?

Greek derivations form a large and growing part of English vocabulary, whereas Hebrew derivations are few and far between. In fact, most of the Hebrew found in English is better described as loanwords. A derivation is a new word created from an old word or an old word plus an affix. A loanword borrows from another language with little change in meaning.
  1. Science and Medicine

    • Anatomy, biology or physiology are all Greek derivations.

      Much of our scientific and medical vocabulary is derived from Greek. Simply consider all of the words that end in the suffix -logy, a Greek derivation (from logos) that can mean word or study, but which combines to form life science, the study of human cultures and the study of the Earth's crust: biology, anthropology and geology, respectively. Medical specialties are also derived from Greek roots: gynecology and gerontology come from the Greek words for woman and old man, respectively.

    Fears and Madness

    • Spider + fear = the Greek-derived arachnophobia.

      The terms -phobia and -mania are very productive, combining affixes of Greek origin. They can join other Greek roots, as in agoraphobia and claustrophobia, to describe the fear of open and closed spaces, respectively. The Greek roots pyr and madness mean fire and madness, thus the word pyromania. New words can be derived from these roots, such as Beatlemania, the madness that the Beatles provoked in the 1960s.

    Literature

    • Aristotle's "Poetics" remains the basis for literary analysis.

      Since the study of literature in Western culture began with Aristotle's "Poetics," many terms from this book have been borrowed directly into English, such as protagonist, antagonist and catharsis. The addition of a Greek-derived suffix, -ize, allows the formation of antagonize. Catharsis, which originally meant cleansing, can become the adjective cathartic. Synecdoche, allegory and metaphor are figures of speech derived from Greek, which produce adjectives with the addition of the suffix -ical.

    Hebrew

    • Yarmulke and menorah appear in English dictionaries, but they have not been adapted for new meanings.

      Hebrew has given English much liturgical vocabulary. Amen, meaning truly or verily, has passed into English from Hebrew via Greek, Latin and Middle English. Jehovah and Adonai are Hebrew words for God. Jewish religious rituals have lent their names to English, including bar mitzvah, mikvah and get, a ritual divorce unrelated to the English verb. Hebrew has given English these and many other words; however, they are not truly derivations as they do not combine with affixes to form new words as shown above with Greek.

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