"Summer Solstice Sunrise over Stonehenge 2005". Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Today is the winter solstice. Solstices and equinoxes are astronomical phenomena connected to the seasons and describe the relationship between the sun and the Earth.
An equinox happens twice a year. The word comes from Latin, meaning aequus (equal) and nox (night). An equinox marks the day when the Earth’s Equator passes the center of the sun making night and day have almost the same length. There is an autumnal equinox on the first day of fall, September 23 and a vernal equinox, on the first day of spring, March 20.
A solstice also happens twice a year and marks the highest and lowest point of the sun in relation to the Earth. The word solstice also comes from Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still). Solstices occur on the longest day of the year, June 21, the first day of summer and on the shortest day of the year, December 21, the first day of winter.
In the paragraphs above the following words have Latin roots:
phenomena
astronomical
equinox
solstice
autumn
vernal
English contains many words that derive from Latin, so learning to recognize Latin stems helps increase your vocabulary since more than one word may share the same root.
For example, fraternity (union of people with similar backgrounds), fraternize (to associate with people in a friendly way) and fratricide (to kill a brother) all stem from the Latin frater, or brother.
Other common Latin roots are as follows:
| ami-, amic-, imic-, | friend |
| ambi-, amb-, am-, ambo-, an- | both |
| ben- | good, well |
| com, col, co-, con-, cor- | with, together |
| dexi- | right |
| err- | stray |
| fict-, fig- | to form, to shape |
| grat- | to thank, to please |
| noct- | night |
| rid- ris- | to laugh |
Here are some other English words with Latin origin. Can you match them with their meaning? You’ll find the answers at the end of the quiz.
| 1. ambivalent | a. ability to use well one’s hands to do something |
| 2. amicable | b. incorrect |
| 3. benign | c. a gift or reward, a tip to a waiter |
| 4. connote | d. made up |
| 5. dexterity | e. related to night |
| 6. erroneous | f. something that causes one to laugh |
| 7. fictitious | g. having two contradictory opinions about something |
| 8. gratuity | h. something that does no harm or that is not dangerous |
| 9. risible | i. to be associated with, to suggest |
| 10. nocturnal | j. friendly |
Answers: 1.g; 2. j; 3. h; 4. i; 5. a; 6. b; 7. d; 8. c; 9. f; 10. e