TOXI comes from the Greek and Latin words for "poison," something the Greeks and Romans knew a good deal about. Socrates died by taking a solution of poison hemlock, a flowering plant much like wild carrot that now also grows in the U.S. Rome's enemy Mithridates, king of Pontus, was obsessed with poisons, experimented with them on prisoners, and tried to make himself immune to them by eating tiny amounts of them daily. Nero's mother Agrippina poisoned several of her son's rivals to power--and probably did the same to her own husband, the emperor Claudius.

TEN/TENU comes from the Latin tenuis, meaning "thin." So to extend something is to stretch it, and lots of things get thin when they're stretched. The ten- root is even seen in pretend, which once meant to stretch something out above or in front; that something came to be a claim that you were something that you actually weren't.

TECHNI/TECHNO comes from the Greek techne, meaning "art, craft, skill," and shows up in dozens of English words. Some, such as technical, technology, and technique, have long been familiar. Others, such as techno-thriller, were only conined in the current computer age, which has also seen the new cut-down terms techno (for techno-pop, the electronic dance music) and tech (for technician or technology).

LONG comes from Latin longus, which, as you might guess, means "long." The English word long shows up in many compound terms such as long-suffering ("patiently enduring lasting offense or hardship") and long-winded ("boringly long in speaking or writing"), but the long- root also sometimes shows up less obviously. To prolong something is to lengthen it, for example, and a chaise longue (not lounge!) is "a long reclining chair."

IDIO comes from the Greek idios, meaning "one's own" or "private." In Latin this root led to the word idiota, meaning "ignorant person"--that is, a person who doesn't take in knowledge from outside himself. And that led to a familiar English word that gets used too often, usually to descirble people who aren't ignorant at all.

AER/AERO comes from the Greek word for "air." The aerospace industry manufactures vehicles that travel through the atmosphere and beyond into space. Aerodynamic designs move through the air with maximum speed. And aerophobia is the technical name for what we usually just call fear of flying.

CAD comes from the Latin verb cadere, "to fall." Thus, a cascade is usually a waterfall, but sometimes a flood of something else that seems to pour on top of you: a cascade of new problems, a cascade of honors, and so on.

TRIB comes from the Latin tribuere, meaning "to give" or "to pay." So a group that distributes food passes it out to those in need, and when you contribute to the group you give your money or energy to it.

Words from Mythology and History