![]() It is even now used as a word- a base element itself.(OED) Apparently on the analogy of the diseases: νεϕρῖτις : nephritis-disease of the kidneys, πλευρῖτις : – pleurisy, ῥαχῖτις: rhachitis,’-spinal disease, – itis’generalized in modern medical Latin and become in English the term for inflammation. In constructing all the matrices of this post, we have ruminated long and hard about many of the elements such as Greek ‘ -ῖτις’ ‘itis’which ‘was already in Greek used to qualify ν όσος : nosos:disease, expressed as ἀρθρῖτις : arthritis-disease of the joints. For this reason a matrix is so much more powerful than a list which is finite and never exposes the elements. Matrices represent synchrony -they artfully reveal the morphemic elements of words sharing a common base element that currently exist in the language.When examining or constructing the matrix all elements are arranged and on view so that we can contemplate and synthesize them. It’s the placing of of all the close relations, those sharing a base element and therefore root, in the matrix. The creation of matrices are so instructive-they force us to question elements,suffixing patterns, suffixes, connecting vowel letters, but ultimately it’s about meaning. ῥαγ- rhag is the stem of ῥηγνύναι :rhegnynai: to break, burst (of uncertain origin).’ We noticed when initial in a base element, /r/ is represented by the digraph ‘rh’ and after a vowel letter /r/ is ‘rrh’. Our analysis of the elements ‘rrhoea’ and ‘rrhage’ was based on evidence from the OED which states that ‘Classical Latin – rrhagia is derived from ancient Greek – ραγία : rhagiato denote ‘bursting, breaking forth from’. We enjoyed discovering the specific name for the hairless moist area at the tip of the nose in many mammals as rhinarium, it’s also the term for the ‘flattened olfactory organ situated on an antenna of insects’. The first base element of the connected compound ‘rhinoceros’ is ‘rhine’ and found in a host of words including these intriguing words: rhinencephalic: the olfactory lobe of the brain rhinolalia -nasal speech r hinologist -a nose specialist rhinorrhagia-excessive nose bleeding and excessive mucus discharge is indicated in rhinorrhoea. pιν :rhin is used before a vowel which derives from ῥις: rhis: nose. So ῥινο- ‘rhino- ‘ compounded with ancient Greek κέρας: keras horn. While in Middle French it was recorded variously : rynoceron (15th cent.), rhinoceros, rhinoceront, their etymons from classical Latin rhīnocerōt-, rhīnocerōs, also rīnocerōs, and in ‘post-classical Latin and scientific Latin also rhinoceront-, rhinoceron’. ![]() The OED finds the earliest written use of rhinoceros was in 1398 entering English via Anglo-Norman and Middle French rinoceros. Some students are able to justify its inclusion, for others its a pattern they have observed that will emerge more clearly as their understanding grows. We have as yet no evidence of this ‘e’ surfacing in other words sharing these bases, but its insertion prevents the possibility that the final consonant in both bases will double with the addition of a vowel suffix. Note how the students now automatically insert a potential final, non-syllabic ‘e’ in the final position of both bases. Students hastily assumed that when a base has been identified anything that follows will be a suffix! ‘ rhine’ is a bound base element, ‘o’ a connecting vowel letter that students now spot regularly and ‘ cere’ another bound base element- not as they had initially thought another suffix. This group of students finally concluded that ‘ rhine+o+cere+os’ made structural sense. You will see from the video above that these students recognized ‘-os’ was a Greek suffix and speculated that the digraph ‘rh’ is too of Greek origins using evidence to support this claim. It also means that students read the resources with greater care to confirm or revise their initial hypothesis when examining the Online Etymology Dictionary, rather than approaching this resource with a mindless expectation that the answer will reveal itself in a neat morphological algorithm. This is as much of an assessment as any formal ‘test.’ Slowing down to consider and reconsider, to justify a hypothesis reveals understanding and misconceptions. However, before the immediate rush to resources, I ask students to hypothesize and justify their thinking. Behind both artifacts-woodcut and the word rhinoceros, there is a story. Sturdy, head down, nudging the confines of the frame, Albrecht Dürer’s 1515 Indian rhinoceros stands, armour plated and beady-eyed.
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