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.
Coniferous - “bearing or carrying cones, as evergreens such as pines, firs, and spruce trees or shrubs do.” From the Latin noun conus meaning “cone, peak of a helmet” and the Latin verb fero, ferre, tuli, latum meaning “to bear, bring, carry, wear.” (all information is from www.wikipedia.org, www.etymonline.com and/or www.dictionary.com).
RELATED WORDS/PHRASES – conical, conic (as in sections), transfer, aquifer, circumference, confer, defer, differ, infer, Lucifer (the Morning-Star or Light-Bearer - a fallen Angel), offer, prefer, reference, suffer, vociferous
SAMPLE SENTENCE - “The coniferous trees in the woods are still green and strong in the dead of winter - a wonderful sign of life in an otherwise gloomy, gray season.”