Words such as “fantasy”, "ego”, aetiology”, “philosophy”, “based”, “theoretical”, “hypotheses”, “megavitamin” have entered the English glossary, when Latin was still the ordinary vehicle of literature, science and philosophy and when new technical terms of Greek etymology were generally used in modern Latin before they found their way into the vernacular tongue.
It therefore became a general European convention that when a new word was adopted from Greek into English, it should be treated as if it had passed through a Latin channel.
More specifically, the Greek suffix “-ia” (fantasia, aetiologia, philosophia) was transliterated by the Latin suffix “-y” (phantasy, aetiology, philosophy). Greek adjectives were usually anglicized by the addition of the suffix “-ous”, “-an”, or “-al”.
Thus, the suffix “-ikos”: theoritikos, pathologikos, psychotikos and the suffix “-os”: “atypos” are represented by the English “pathological”, “physical”, “clinical” etc.
Moreover, the Greek “-k-, -ai-, -ei-, -oi-, -ou-, u-, were transliterated by the Latin “-c-, -ae-, -i-, -oe-, -u-, -y-, respectively.
Such clarifications can be useful for any understanding of an etymological analysis, since they reveal the various modifications that a word has undergone, after it was adopted by the English language.
It therefore became a general European convention that when a new word was adopted from Greek into English, it should be treated as if it had passed through a Latin channel.
More specifically, the Greek suffix “-ia” (fantasia, aetiologia, philosophia) was transliterated by the Latin suffix “-y” (phantasy, aetiology, philosophy). Greek adjectives were usually anglicized by the addition of the suffix “-ous”, “-an”, or “-al”.
Thus, the suffix “-ikos”: theoritikos, pathologikos, psychotikos and the suffix “-os”: “atypos” are represented by the English “pathological”, “physical”, “clinical” etc.
Moreover, the Greek “-k-, -ai-, -ei-, -oi-, -ou-, u-, were transliterated by the Latin “-c-, -ae-, -i-, -oe-, -u-, -y-, respectively.
Such clarifications can be useful for any understanding of an etymological analysis, since they reveal the various modifications that a word has undergone, after it was adopted by the English language.
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