Ch 12 · Lesson 5Latin · Chapter 12 · Lesson 5 · Common mistake
False friends: does it mean what it looks like?
Some Latin words mean exactly what their English descendants mean. Others have drifted, and a reader who trusts the look gets the sentence wrong.
The rule
English borrowed many Latin words centuries after Rome, often in a narrower or shifted sense. is a duty, eagerness, care or worry, wretched, delay, and weather as often as storm. Others (, , ) came across intact. When an English look-alike makes the sentence odd, check the dictionary.
Pick the right one
0/10Pick the right one: means or does not mean.
Miles officium suum fecit: here officium 'office'.
Puer magno studio legit: here studio 'study'.
Pax in urbe erat: here pax 'peace'.
Cura patris magna erat: here cura 'cure'.
Homo miser erat: here miser 'a miser'.
Magna erat victoria: here victoria 'victory'.
Sine mora venit: here mora 'morals'.
Tempestas bona erat: here tempestas 'storm'.
Memoria patris semper manet: here memoria 'memory'.
Animal in silva erat: here animal 'animal'.
The full lesson on this sits in the same chapter.
Read the full lessonLesson 5 of 17 in this chapter