Admissions Test for Class of 2029

Take the first step towards becoming a Wildcat and take an Admissions Test at Saint Ignatius – 3 Dates Available: Oct. 12, Nov. 2 and Nov. 13

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.

Platypus

Definition: “Semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal with webbed feet, a beaver-like tail, and a duck-like bill.”  

Origin/Derivation: From the Greek words platys meaning “flat, broad” (plateau also comes from this root) and pous meaning “foot”.

Interesting Related Words: Oedipus, a character from Mythology whose name literally means “swollen-foot”.  Oedipus acquired his name because his ankles were pinned together when he was just a baby.  His father, the king of Thebes, left him to die of exposure in the mountains to avoid a prophecy that Oedipus would one day kill his own father.  2500-year-old spoiler alert: baby Oedipus was saved by a neighboring shepherd and did in fact kill his father (albeit unwittingly).  

 

 


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



“Old Saw” of the Week:
See if you can “complete the phrase” of this time-worn (but true!) adage:


“Idle hands are..”


.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

the devil's workshop.