Saint Ignatius High School

Etymology Word of the Week

Director of Admissions Pat O'Rourke '90, a self-proclaimed "word nerd," brings you his Etymology Word of the Week. Every other week he presents an online Etymology lesson just for fun!

Etymology Word of the Week – As some of you know, in addition to working in the Admissions Office, I also teach Latin at Saint Ignatius and am something of a "word nerd."  Thus, each week, I’ll sneak a vocabulary word (sometimes derived from Latin, sometimes not) into the e-blast.  Here, then, is this week’s edition of the Etymology Word of the Week.  

Inundate - “to overwhelm; to flood, to overflow, to run over; to cover or overspread with water.”  From the Latin preposition in meaning “in, on, into, onto” and the Latin noun unda meaning “wave” (all information is from www.wikipedia.org, www.etymonline.com and/or www.dictionary.com).

RELATED WORDS/PHRASES – undulate, undulation, surround (super “above” + unda), abound, abundant

SAMPLE SENTENCE - “Man, I took a vacation to Yosemite last month and went off the grid; when I returned to the office, I was inundated with voicemails!”  

INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE:  “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t - you’re right.”  Henry Ford, American industrialist and business magnate