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.  

Premonition

Definition: “A forewarning; a feeling of anxiety over a future event.”  

Origin/Derivation: From the Latin prefix pre (prae) meaning “before” and the Latin verb moneo, monere, monui, monitum meaning “to warn, advise.”     

Related Words/Phrases: admonish, monument (statue meant to serve as a reminder or warning), monitor, summon, monster

Sample Sentence: “Julius Caesar’s third wife, Calpurnia, had a premonition about his death and begged him not to convene the Senate on the Ides of March, 44 B.C.”



Photo Caption: Percy Shelley’s poem Ozymandias is about a monument to a once-great king.

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