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.
Compensate - “to repay for something; to counterbalance, offset, be equivalent to; to make amends for.” From the Latin verb compensare meaning “to weigh one thing against another” which combines the Latin intensive prefix com- and the Latin verb pendere, pensum meaning “suspend, hang; weigh, weigh out; pay; (figuratively) consider, ponder” (all information is from www.wikipedia.org, www.etymonline.com and/or www.dictionary.com).
RELATED WORDS/PHRASES – pensive, expensive, impending, pending, pendant, pennant, ponder, preponderance
SAMPLE SENTENCE - “The American public is tired of the MLB owners and players fighting over compensation during these tough times; they just want them to get back on the field and play some baseball.”
INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE: “It’s amazing how much can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.” - attributed to Harry S. Truman, John Wooden, and many others