Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Building Vocabulary

Academy - 1474, from Latin academia, from Gk. Akademeia "grove of Akademos," a legendary Athenian of the Trojan War tales (his name apparently means "of a silent district"), whose estate, six stadia from Athens, was the enclosure where Plato taught his school.

ad hoc - 1659, from L., lit. "for this (specific purpose)."

aesthetic - 1798, from Ger. ästhetisch or Fr. esthétique, both from Gk. aisthetikos "sensitive," from aisthanesthai "to perceive, to feel," from PIE *awis-dh-yo-, from base *au- "to perceive." Popularized in Eng. by translation of Immanuel Kant, and used originally in the classically correct sense "the science which treats of the conditions of sensuous perception."

Façade - a word which derives from the Latin faccia or face

Window - derives from the Anglo-Saxon and in it survives the idea of the wind-eye, an opening in a primitive house that provides ventilation and light.

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