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.
Taxidermy - “the art of preparing and preserving the skins of animals and of stuffing and mounting them in lifelike form.” From the Greek taxis meaning “arrangement, order, regularity” and derma meaning “skin, hide.” (All information is from www.wikipedia.org, www.etymonline.com and/or www.dictionary.com.)
RELATED WORDS/PHRASES – taxonomy (as in Bloom’s), syntax, tactics, pachyderm, dermatologist, hypodermic, epidermis
SAMPLE SENTENCE: “One of my favorite The Far Side cartoons involves taxidermy - the one with the hunter who sneaks up on a bear and shoots him, then has him stuffed in a menacing pose.”