Vocabulary Games: Etymology

ETYMOLOGY (Based on Balderdash)

Overview
This activity has been designed to help students understand that every word has a specific reason for its sound and structure, and that it has come into being to serve a particular communications need. The activity allows them to speculate on the etymology of certain words, and choose the most plausible explanation for how a word originated.
Procedures
            1. The students organize into small teams of no more than three students each.
            2. The teacher writes an activity word on the board, such as "escape." Each team must then think of a possible etymology for this word and write it out. They may base their etymology on the different parts of the word, on an adoption from another language, on the name of a person or place, or on whatever their imaginations allow. The teacher may wish to provide some models prior to the activity: sandwich, named after the Earl of Sandwich, who supposedly was the first to eat something placed between two slices of bread; NATO, an acronym for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; xenophile, from "xeno" for "foreign, and "phile" for "lover of....": a lover of foreign things; and woodchuck, which was the early settlers' way of pronouncing the name that Native Americans had bestowed upon this critter (a process known as "folk etymology").
3. The teacher then collects their guesses, mixes them up, and reads them to the class. When they are mixed together, the teacher should add a description of the word's real etymology and read it along with the others. After an initial reading in which the students consider the potential verity of each etymology, the teacher reads each one again.
            4. After each etymology in the second reading, the students vote on whether they think it is the correct one. Each student may vote only once, and the students may not vote for the etymology that their teams have made up. Here, the students vote individually, rather than as a team. Every time an etymology receives a vote, the team that suggested it receives one point. Make sure that students do not count up the votes for their guess and announce them while the round is in progress; they may identify their own attempts only after the round is over. Furthermore, if a student votes for the real etymology, his or her team receives one vote. Any team that actually writes out a correct etymology for a word receives ten points.
Let's say, for instance, that a class divides into eight teams. The first word is "escape." Each team writes out a possible etymology, submits it, and the teacher collects all of these attempts and mixes them together with the real etymology. The teacher then reads all of these out loud once in a random order, and then prepares to read them again so that students may cast their votes. The first etymology read is, "A road in ancient Greece that curved through the mountains in the shape of an 'S,' upon which criminals would often flee from their pursuers." Five students vote for this as correct. The second etymology read is, "A French word named after the legendary musician Pierre Escapee, who was often known to depart hastily from the chamber of a young maiden before her husband arrived home." Three students vote for this as correct. The third etymology read is, "Derived from 'es' meaning 'out,' and 'cape'; it meant getting out of one's cape, leaving it in the hands of a pursuer." Four students vote for this as correct. The teacher reads the rest of the attempts, recording the number of votes for each one.
At the end of the round, point totals are tallied. As it turns out, the correct answer was the third one read. Any student who has voted for this etymology earns one point for his or her team. Then, points are awarded for votes for each attempt. The first etymology read was written by Team #3; they receive, therefore, five points, since five students voted for it. Similarly, Team #7, which wrote the second one read, receives three votes. The scores for the other teams are tallied in this fashion. When the totals are recorded, the teacher starts fresh with a new word from the activity word list, and repeats the same procedures. The activity proceeds in this manner until the class period is over, with the winner being the team with the most points at the end.
            Condensed Procedures for Etymology
1. The class forms teams of 2-3 students.
2. The teacher leads a review of what etymology means, and gives several examples.
3. The teacher writes a word on the board, and students write out a possible etymology for it.
4. The teacher collects all etymologies and mixes them together with the real etymology, and then reads them through twice. On the first reading students simply listen. On the second reading they vote for the etymology they believe is correct. Each student may vote only once and may not vote for his or her team's guess. Students vote individually rather than as a team.
5. Teams that have correctly written the word's etymology receive 10 points.
Teams that guess the correct etymology receive 1 point.
Teams receive 1 point for each vote cast for their etymology.
6. Repeat Steps #3, #4, and #5 as long as time allows.
            METHOD #1
            ETYMOLOGY ACTIVITY WORDS
salary - from "sal," for "salt," which Roman soldiers were    originally paid with
companion from "com," meaning "with," and "pan," meaning "bread":       a companion was someone to share your bread with
bonfire - this was a huge fire built in the Middle Ages to destroy the bones of corpses during the plague
panic - the wild effort by nymphs to escape when the Greek god Pan appeared
trivia - from "tri," meaning "three," and "via," meaning "way" or     "road": in Rome, when three roads crossed in the same spot,         people on their way to market stopped to talk about "unimportant" things
curfew - from "couvre-feu," or "cover fire," in the Middle Ages in France, when peasants were told by the ringing of a bell to put out their fires for the night
alphabet - comes from "alpha" and "beta," the first two letters of the Greek alphabet
malaria - from "mal," for "bad," and "aer," for "air": people             thought this disease came from the bad air in swamps
terrier - so named because it digs in the earth (terre) for small          animals
preposterous - from "pre," for "before," and "post," for "after": a situation where what should come first comes last, and vice versa; in other words, ridiculous
berserk - means "bear shirt," because ancient Norse fighters would sometimes fight ferociously wearing only a bear skin
bridal - this was originally the drink, "bride ale," that was drunk at weddings
perfume - the root of this is "fume," for smoke: it comes from the smell arising from the smoke coming from incense burned in sacrifices in ancient religions
admiral - from the Arabic "amir-al-bahr," or "king of the sea."
assassin - originally "Hashashin," or "hashish eaters," a secret         murder cult of Muslims in the 11th century
chauffeur - from the French word for "heat," because early steam    engine cars were hot
dunce - from the religious philosopher Duns Scotus, whose followers were called Dunses and were thought to be stupid
posh - an acronym from the expression "Port out, starbord home," so that the wealthier passengers could avoid the hot afternoon sun no matter whether they were coming or going
capitol - from the Latin "caput," or head of cattle, which were an early form of wealth
checkmate - the object of chess is to trap the king. "Checkmate"      comes from "shah," for "king," and "mat," for "dead."
hazard - from the Arabic word, "az-zahr," or dice, which were         thought to be risky
tuxedo - from an Indian term meaning "wolf," because a tuxedo was           wolf's clothing
ukulele - means "jumping flea" in Hawaiian, because the fingers     move so quickly on the strings
kangaroo - the Australian word for "I don't know," which the          Australians replied when asked by English visitors about the         funny looking animal that lived on their continent
snafu - a Navy term, meaning "Situation normal: all fouled up"
cabbage - from an old French word meaning "head"
guillotine - named for its inventor, Dr. Guillotin
boycott - named for Charles Boycott, an Englishman who refused to           reduce his rents and was therefore faced with a mass rent            payment freeze by his tenants
saxophone - named after Adolphe Sax, its inventor
derby - named after the Earl of Derby, who made it popular
leotard - named after the French gymnast Jules Leotard, who           developed it
graham cracker - named after the flour developed by the nineteenth century nutritionist Sylvester Graham
            For additonal words, consult John Train's Remarkable Words with Astonishing Origins or Robert Hendrickson's Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins.

METHOD #2
The first step in adapting Etymology to Method #2 is writing your own word activity list comprised of words from VCBS. Since most of the words in a particular chapter are likely to be formed in a similar way (e.g., Chapter 4, "Words Derived from Greek") we recommend that you choose words from several chapters of VCBS when composing your list so that your students can work with the variety of ways in which words are formed.
Levine provides definitions for word elements in Chapters 4, 5, and 7, and histories for every word in Chapter 6, "Words from Classical Mythology and History," making your word activity list easy to write for these chapters. To find the etymologies for words from other chapters in VCBS, you will need a good dictionary and an additional sourcebook on etymology such as The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins.
The Method #2 procedure for Etymology is identical to Method #1 with one exception. You may wish to define some of words from the Method #2 activity list for your students as you write them on the board. In cases where the definitions are not common knowledge, we have provided them for you.
The following word activity list is based on words from Chapters 4-6 ("Words Derived from Greek," "Words Derived from Latin," and "Words from Classical Mythology and History") and Chapters 8-10 ("French Words in English," "Italian Words in English," and "Spanish Words in English").