Etymology Word of the Week

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.  

Deter - "to discourage by fear; to restrain from acting; to prevent, check, arrest.”  From the Latin preposition de meaning “from, away from, down from” and the Latin verb terrere meaning “to frighten, to fill with fear” (All information is from www.wikipedia.org, www.etymonline.com and/or www.dictionary.com).

RELATED WORDS/PHRASES – deterrent, undeterred, terror, terrorism, terrorize, terrible, terrific, and possibly even territory (though it’s more likely that word derives from terra, meaning earth)

SAMPLE SENTENCE - “It’s been conventional wisdom for a few decades now that a large stockpile of nuclear weapons can deter other rogue countries from misbehaving.”