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.

Mortgage

Definition: “The conveyance of an interest in real property as security for the repayment of money borrowed to buy the property.”

Origin/Derivation: From the French words mort meaning “dead” and gage meaning “pledge”.

Related Words: mortal, immortal, mortify, amortize, morbid, mortar, mortuary, post-mortem, remorse; wage

 

 


(All information is from www.wikipedia.org, www.etymonline.com and/or www.dictionary.com)


Trivia Question of the Week:
What grassland/ecosystem - home to the Great Migration - is mentioned in the lyrics of the 1982 Toto song “Africa”? 
 
 
 
 

 


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Answer:
The Serengeti
 
NOTE: this same song, a Yacht Rock staple, also mentions Mount Kilimanjaro - thus making it a Geography teacher’s dream!