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.  

Generosity - “readiness or liberality in giving; freedom from meanness or smallness of mind or character.”   From the Latin adjective generosus meaning “of noble birth, magnanimous,” originally from the Latin noun genus, generis meaning “race, stock.”  (All information is from www.wikipedia.org, www.etymonline.com and/or www.dictionary.com.)

RELATED WORDS/PHRASES – genus, congenial, generation, homogeneous, gentle, benign, progeny (and many, many more).

SAMPLE SENTENCE:  “Saint Ignatius students often say ‘The Prayer for Generosity’ - which was written by St. Ignatius himself - at the beginning of class and before sporting events.”