252

The Loom of Language

Romance languages other than French render TH by T, RH by R
and Y by I, as in the Spanish words fotografia, teatro, diarrea, sintoma
Many words of Greek origin can be recognized at sight by their
prefixes, of which the following are specially important. Of the examples
given, the first of each pair is literary, the second a product of the new
technical humanism.

amphi-
both or around
as in
amphitheatre^
amphibious

a- or an-
not
as in
amnesty,
amorphous

ana-
back) again,
as in
anachronism^
anabolism

anti-
against
as in
antithesis^
antiseptic

apo-
away
as in
apostasy^
apogamy

auto-
by itself
as in
autocrat^
auto-erotic

dia-
through
as in
diagonal^
dia-magnetic

dys-
bad
as in
dysgenic.
dyspepsia

ec-, ex-
from, out of
as in
exodus^
ecdysi*.

endo-
within
as in
endogenous^
endometnum

epi-
upon
as in
epigram.
epidiascope

eu-
good
as in
eulogy.
eugenic.

hemi-
half
as in
hemisphere,
hemicycle

hetero-
different
as in
heterodox,
heterodyne

homo-
same
as in
homophone,
homosexual

hyper-
above
as in
hyperbole,
hypertrophy

hypo-
below
as in
hypothesis,
hypophosphate

iso-
equal
as in
isosceles,
isomer

kata-
dozun
as in
catastrophe,
catalysis

meta-
after
as in
metaphysics,
metabolism.

neo-
new
as in
neologism,
neon

palaeo-
old
as in
palaeography,
palaeolithic

pan-
all
as in
pantheism,
panchromatic

para-
beside
as in
paradox.
parameter

pen-
around
as in
periphrasis,
periscope

poly-
many
as in
polytheism,
polydactyly

pro-
before
as in
prologue,
prognosis

proto-
first
as in
protocol,
protoplasm

pseudo-
false
as in
pseudonym,
pseudopodium

syn-, sym-
together
as in
synchronous,
symbiosis.

To these we should add the numeral prefixes mono- (i) as monogamy,
di (2), tn- (3), tetra- (4), penta (5), hexa- (6), in tripod, tetrahedron,
pentagon, hexagon; hepta- (7) as in heptameter, octo- (8), as in octopus
and octagon* deka- (10), as in decalogue, kilo- (1000) in kilometer or
hlogram. One of the foregoing prefixes, ex- or ec- is like its Latin equiva-
lent and is not diagnostic. So also is pro- The only outstanding Greek
suffixes are -ic or -ics in dialectic and mathematics, with the derivative
-ical and -ism, e g in theism. The last exhibit in the language museum