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.
Progress - "a movement toward a goal or to a further or higher stage.” From the Latin deponent verb progredior, progredi, progressus meaning “to go forward,” which combines the Latin preposition pro meaning “before, in front of” and the deponent verb gradior, gradi, gressus meaning “to go, step, or walk” (All information is from www.wikipedia.org, www.etymonline.com and/or www.dictionary.com).
RELATED WORDS/PHRASES – egress (exit), congress, progressive, aggressive, digress, ingredient, regression, transgression; gradation
SAMPLE SENTENCE - “As the old joke goes: if ‘pro’ is the opposite of ‘con,’ what is the opposite of ‘progress’?
FINISH THE PHRASE: You can lead a horse to water…
Answer: …but you can’t make it drink.