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.
Tripod - “a stool, table, pedestal, etc. with three legs.” From the Greek tripous, tripodis meaning “three-footed, or three-legged table,” which combines from tri- meaning “three” and pous meaning “foot.” (All information is from www.wikipedia.org, www.etymonline.com and/or www.dictionary.com)
RELATED WORDS/PHRASES – for tri: triangle, trident, Triduum, triathlon, triceps, and so on; for pod (or ped in Latin): biped, pinniped (flippered animals like seals & walruses), expedition, pedometer, pedigree, pedestrian, Arthropod (jointed feet), Oedipus (originally Oidipous - “swollen foot”), platypus (originally, platypus - “flat-footed”) and many, many more!
SENTENCE - This week, we had “Picture Day” at school - lots of tripods and umbrella reflectors were seen around campus!