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-news.  Here, then, is this week’s edition of the Etymology Word of the Week.  

 

Genuflect

 

Definition: “to bend or touch the knee in reverence or worship.” 

Origin/Derivation: From the Latin stems genu meaning “knee, angle” and flectere, flexum meaning “to bend”. 

Related Words: hexagon, octagon, trigonometry, pentagon, polygon; reflex, reflect, inflection, flexible

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

 

 

 

 

Trivia Question of the Week:

Most people know that Aurora Borealis is a synonym for the “Northern Lights”.  But what is the alternate name for the “Southern Lights”?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANSWER:

Aurora Australis