Word Relationships: “Amateur,” “Enemy,” “Amorous,” and “Amiable”
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Authors
Brown, Anna
Date of Issue
2024
Type
Presentation
Language
en_US
Subject Keywords
Other Titles
Abstract
Where do words come from? For this project, I look specifically at the words “Amateur,” “Enemy,” “Amorous,” and “Amiable,” to examine their common origin and how they have developed into the words we see today. Most words have origins going back to the Proto-Indo-European language, which is a prehistoric language that was not written down but has been reconstructed. Linguists examine the similarities in different languages to arrive at what must have been the root word. The following project incorporates different languages and their pronunciations and usages of these words as they developed from the Proto-Indo-European word “em.” By looking at word development, I examine the different ways words can be formed, such as prefix, suffix, metathesis, and semantic shift (or changes in word definitions). Studying word origins is important because it gives insight into how other cultures have influenced our own and what our language has borrowed and pieced together to make the words we speak today.