Interesting Etymological Decompositions of English Words

AA - AJ §

• Abandon - (yielding) at will / discretion
• Abitur - to go away. to wish to leave (pertaining to an exam)
• Abject - to throw away (as in because of poor quality)
• Ablaut - (lit.) off-sound.
• Abolish - away from growth / nourishment (to retard)
• Acacia - thorny Egyptian tree.
• Acanthus - thorny flower
• Acrobat - one who tiptoes / climbs up high.
• Actuary - (lit) a doing, pertaining to public businesses
• Acuity - sharp like a needle
• Acumen - sharp like a needle
• Acute - sharp like a needle
• Adagio - At leisure.
• Adieu - “I commend you to God”
• Adjacence - to throw at (in order to lay close to something)
• Adjourn - to another day.
• Adultery - (lit) to alter / corrupt.
• Advent - Arrival (pertaining to the savior)
• Adventure - to come to or to reach
• Advice - “mi est visum” (in my view)
• Advise - “mi est visum” (in my view)
• Affable - (lit) who can be easily spoken to
• Affection - to make do, as in to act on.
• Agency - to incite to action , keep in movement
• Agenda - things to be done
• Aggravate - to weigh down or make heavy.
• Agony - a struggle for victory. In general, any struggle or trial
• Agree - to please (pleasing)
• Ahimsa - Without injury

AK - AO §

• Alias - in another way
• Alibi - somewhere else
• Allegory - another assembly (agora)
• Allele - another form
• Allergy - another activity, pertaining to the immune system being hypersensitive to normally harmless substance
• Alleviate - to lighten a burden
• Alma Mater - (lit) nourishing Mother
• Alone - All One; All by oneself
• Altercation - to dispute with the other (as in to speak alternately)
• Altruism - (lit) -ism of being of or for others
• Alumnus - (lit) foster son
• Ambassador- one who moves around (as in a diplomat)
• Ambience - to go around
• Ambition - a going around, especially to solicit votes (praise / flattery)
• Ambulance - (lit) moving hospital
• Amphictyonic - (lit) they that dwell round about.
• Amphiscians - (lit) throwing a shadow both ways (as in inhabitants of the Tropics where the shadow is sometimes to the North and sometimes South)
• Amphora - (lit) two handed bearer
• Amputate - to cut around (as in to prune)
• Anadiplosis - to be double backed on.
• Anagnorisis - To recognize again
• Anaphora - (lit) a carrying back. Pertaining to a reference
• Anathema - (lit) a thing set up to the gods.
• Ancillary -One who moves around (as in one who is subordinate or subservient)
• Andante - suggestive of walking (as in to go slow)
• Anecdote - to not give out / publish
• Answer - Swear Against (as in sworn statement rebutting a change)
• Antagonize - to struggle against.
• Anticipate - (lit) to take into possession beforehand.
• Antidote - given against (pertaining to a disease)
• Antiphon - the voice in return (pertaining to being responsive)
• Aorta - a strap to hang something (the heart) by.
• Apagoge - to drive / lead away
• Apanthropy - away from man

AP - AT §

• Apocalpyse - off cover (as in pertaining to uncover or reveal via a Revelation)
• Apology - speech away from me (as in pertaining to an account or story said in one’s defense)
• Apophasis - to speak away from (as in to deny)
• Apostle - (lit) a person set forth
• Apostrophe - (lit) to turn away from.
• Apothecary - (lit) a place where things are put away.
• Apotheosis - (lit) make into god
• Aquifer - (lit) one who carries water
• Arbalest - (lit) machine for throwing projectiles
• Arsenic - gold colored
• Artery - windpipe, pertaining to the observation of the ancients that they do not contain blood after death.
• Artifact - a thing made by skill
• Astrobleme - (lit) star wound.
• Atoll - interior
• Atone - To bring at one to reconcile, and thence to suffer the pains of whatever sacrifice is necessary to bring about a reconciliation
• Atrabilious - (lit) black bile, pertaining to melancholy. Can also be rooted in “blackened by fire”
• Atrocity - To see fire

AU - AZ §

• Aura - cool air in motion.
• Auriga - one who puts the reins of a horse in motion (a.k.a a charioteer)
• Auspex - (lit.) To observe birds (as in pertaining to forecasting omens)
• Auto da fe - act of faith
• Avant Garde - Advance Guard
• Avenue - to arrive
• Avert - to turn away from
• Award - to watch out
• Awkward - in a back-handed direction.
• Axiom - worthy / worth of like value.

BA - BE §

• Balance - of two pans (pertaining to a balancing scale)
• Baleen - from swollen penis (pertaining to how whales are phallic shaped).
• Ballista - to throw so as to be hit
• Ballot - (hist.) pertains to small balls used as counters in secret voting.
• Ball - (pertaining to a dance) (lit) to throw one’s body, jump around.
• Baluchitherium - (lit) wild beat
• Bandit - one who was proclaimed to be an outlaw
• Banish - to proclaim an outlaw
• Banlieue - area around a town wherein rules and proclamations were in force.
• Ban - to speak publicly (pertaining to a proclamation or eviction)
• Baritone - heavy tone
• Barouche - of two wheels
• Barrow - thing that carries
• Bawd - short for “procurer of prostitutes”
• Beacon - shining (signal)
• Bead - to request via prayer.
• Bear - (the animal) (lit) the brown animal.
• Beckon - to shine (as in to signal)
• Become - to obtain
• Behave - self restraint
• Behoof - that which binds. an obligation
• Beleaguer - to camp around (in order to blockade or besiege)
• Belemnite - dart-shaped object
• Beluga - (lit.) white whale.
• Beneficial - well doing, pertaining to a good deed
• Benign - (lit) well born
• Berserk - (lit) a warrior clothed in bearskin.
• Betray - to hand over.
• Betroth - “be true”. A thorough pledge
• Between - among two things
• Beware - to be on guard. to be aware
• Bezel - (perhaps lit) a stone of two angles

BF - BJ §

• Bid - to ask, request or command
• Bifarious - that which can be expressed in two ways.
• Birth - the process of bearing children
• Biscuit - (lit) bread that is twice baked.
• Bishop - (lit) one who watches over (in context pertains to the Church).
• Bivouac - (lit) night guard

BK - BO §

• Bladder - something inflated (i.e., a blister)
• Blame - to blaspheme but also to revile / reproach
• Blancmange - (lit) white eating (as in pertaining to a dish)
• Blase - (possibly) puffed up under the effects of drinking
• Blasphemy - hurtful utterance (alternatively stupid utterance)
• Blather - mutter, wag the tongue
• Bleed - swell / gush out.
• Bless- hallow with blood, mark with blood, pertaining to rituals and sacrifice
• Bodhisattva - (lit) one whose essence is perfect knowledge
• Bo tree - (lit) tree of wisdom or enlightenment
• Boulder - (possibly) roaring stone, pertaining to where they form. Alternatively, “swollen stone”.

BP - BZ §

• Breeches - fragment forked or split
• Bulwark - a construction of logs (lit. wood work).
• Buoy - to shine (as in to signal)
• Burden - that which is borne
• But - near without (as in pertaining to something outside or an exception)
• Cable - something that takes or seizes (as in rope).
• Cacciatore - (lit) hunter

CA - CE §

• Cache - (lit) to collect together
• Cacophony - evil sound
• Capable - holding enough.
• Capacity - ability to hold much
• Capiche - grasp ( as in: do you grasp / understand? )
• Caption - a catching or holding. historically pertains to documents involving seizure, and was placed at the beginning of a document.
• Captivate - something able to capture someone.
• Captive - someone held
• Carnival - (lit) raising flesh. Pertaining to merrymaking before Lent. Also pertains to a folk saying “Flesh, Farewell”
• Carol - (perhaps) a dance to the flute.
• Case - (as in a box) something for holding
• Castigate - (lit) to purify by driving away (evil)
• Cater - one who acquires provisions / food.
• Catheter - a tool to send down
• Cauliflower - (lit) cabbage flower
• Caviar - pertaining to eggs
• Cenobite - common life.

CF - CJ §

• Chafe - to make warm.
• Charisma - favor or divine gift. To be rejoiced at.
• Chase - to seize or attempt to take hold of.
• Chauffer - (lit) stroker. One who operates a steam engine by heating it up.
• Chlorine - pale green
• Cholera - gall or bile. (hist) was attributed to be the cause of melancholy via the Four Humors
• Cholesterol - still bile (hist) originally found in gall stones
• Chord - (structure in animals resembling a string) Gut-string.
• Chorus - a dance in a circle, or pertaining to an enclosed dancing floor, or pertaining to rejoicing.
• Chrestomathy - (lit) useful learning.
• Circadian - round about the day

CK - CZ §

• Clairvoyant - (lit.) clear seeing.
• Coalesce - (lit) grow together.
• Cockney - cock’s egg, derisively used for town dweller.
• Coelacanth - hollow spine.
• Cognate - born together
• Cohort - enclosed group.
• Coitus - to go together (sexually).
• Commence - (lit) a going in. To go into.
• Conceive - to take in and hold / to become pregnant
• Condiment - something put together with something else.
• Condone - to give as a gift.
• Confection - to make with (as in to prepare).
• Confer - to bear together (pertaining to deliberating or talking over)
• Confess - to admit together (aka to acknowledge)
• Conflate - to blow together (originally pertained to casting something into molten metal).
• Congenital - beget together
• Conifer - (lit) cone bearing
• Conjecture - to throw together (as in for an interpretation of something)
• Constable - (lit) count of the stable
• Contravene - to come against
• Controversy - to turn against
• Convent - assembly. place where people come together
• Cop - one who seizes.
• Cord - cat-gut. Intestine.
• Corporate - to make into a body (as in corporations). to make into a corpse (as in corporal punishment)
• Corps - body (as in a body of soldiers that are lead by a head)
• Corpulent - (lit) full body. Pertaining to a body that is fully of flesh or fat
• Corpuscle - small bodies
• Corset - something wrapped around a body
• Cosmogony - the birth of the universe
• Counterfeit - to make against (as in to imitate)
• Count - (nobility) - to go with (as in a companion to) a great person
• Courtesan - (lit) woman of the court.
• Court - those assembled in the yard together.
• Coven - gathering (of witches)
• Covert - (lit). covered / hidden
• Cumber - that which is carried together (as in a burden)
• Curtsy - courtesy

DA - DJ §

• Daisy - (lit.) sun’s eye
• Data - something given
• Deceive - to take in and ensnare
• Deed - that which is done
• Deem - to set (judgment)
• Defeat - to undo
• Defray- to spend out (due to costs caused by damages). Alternatively, a cost for peace.
• Degenerate - to be born off (as in to be inferior)
• Demagogue - leader of the common people.
• Deodand - (lit) a thing to be given to God
• Despicable- (one deserving) to be looked down upon
• Deva - (lit) a god. Shining one.
• Devil - to slander / attack. one thrown across.
• Dexterity - skillful with the (right) hand
• Diabetes - to pass through, pertaining to an excessive discharge of urine.
• Diagnosis - (lit) to know apart from another
• Dianthus - flower of Zeus
• Diary - a daily allowance, later meant just daily
• Dichotomy - (lit) a cutting in half.
• Die - (pertaining to dice) given (by Fate or by the act of playing).
• Diet - regimen for the day.
• Differ - to carry away from (as in to disagree)
• Dignify - to make worthy.
• Diploma - paper that is folded over twice.
• Discover - (lit). to undo a covering / expose
• Dismal - from Latin “dies mali” or “evil days”.
• Dismay -to divest of power or ability and hence to surprise

DK - DZ §

• Donation - something given
• Doom - to judge.
• Dose - (lit) a giving, pertaining to a portion prescribed
• Doubt - a sense of two minds, uncertain between two things
• Dour - firm and solid, pertaining to severity or boldness.
• Dowry - something that is given (for marriage)
• Dozen - two and ten
• Druid - They who know he Oak (in allusion to divination from mistletoe)
• Drupe - tree-ripened
• Dubious - moving two ways - undecided between two things
• Dura mater - from “dura mater cerebri” or “hard mother of the brain”
• During - a shortening of “enduring”
• Dysentery - bad bowels

EA - EJ §

• Eager - harsh / bitter / rough.
• Edge - corner / point. Also pertains to swords.
• Edifice - to make a temple or sanctuary.
• Edition - something given out
• Effect - to work out.
• Efferent - to bring out or carry forth
• Effleurage - to level out (lightly)
• Eglantine - rich in prickles / thorns.

EK - ET §

• Eldritch - (lit) beyond the realm
• Emancipate - to put out of paternal authority (in Roman law, this was applied to sons and wives.)
• Emancipate - to take away from one’s ownership or hand.
• Embargo - to bar in (as in to contain inside)
• Embarrass - (lit) to block
• Embassy- one who moves around (as in a diplomat)
• Emblem - (lit) to throw in, as in to inset or insert
• Embryo - (lit) that which grows
• Emphasis - to show from (as in to make visible)
• Empire - to order all inside. to command.
• Endure - to harden (the heart) against
• Enema - to throw in
• Engine - that which is inborn
• Enhance - (lit) to make high.
• Enthusiasm - to be inspired or possessed by a god
• Entice - to set on fire (as in to incite)
• Entrails - that which is within
• Envoy - one sent on his way.
• Envy - to look at and cast an evil eye upon (literally see upon)
• Ephor - oversee
• Epigone - born afterward.
• Epiphany - to manifest, display, show off, come to view suddenly
• Episode - an addition
• Epithet - to add on to something
• Esophagus - (lit) what carries and eats
• Esoteric - belonging to an inner circle
• Essay - to set out in motion

EU - EZ §

• Eugenics - to be well-born (as in of noble race)
• Euphemism - to speak with fair words
• Euphoria - (lit) bearing well
• Event - something coming out.
• Exact - (lit) to force out
• Exalt - (lit) to make high.
• Examine - (lit) to force out
• Except - to take out or to leave out.
• Exhort - to thoroughly urge
• Exit - (lit) to go out
• Expect - to thoroughly look at (with anticipation)
• Extrovert - to turn outside
• Fable - (lit) that which is told
• Face - a form imposed on something
• Facilitate - to render easy
• Facsimile - to make similar
• Fact - a thing done.
• Faction - a making or doing, pertaining to a group of people.
• Fae - pertaining to the Fates

FA - FJ §

• Fair - (as in a market fair), pertaining to a religious holiday.
• Fairy - land of fairies; enchantment, magic, witchcraft and sorcery. pertaining to fate
• Fame - pertaining to rumor.
• Fanatic - mad, enthusiastic, inspired by a god.
• Fantasy - picture to oneself (pertaining to imagination)
• Farm - Fixed or Constant (as in the sense of providing a fixed payment). Alternatively, possibly comes from “life”.
• Fate -(lit) that which is spoken or ordained by the gods.
• Feast - holy day
• Feature - a making or performing
• Fedora - (lit) of Fedor, pertaining to Princess Fedora Romanoff
• Feral - from Latin fera bestia — wild beast.
• Ferocity - wild looking.
• Ferret - (lit) (furry) thief.
• Festival - short for festival day, pertains to a day suitable for a feast.
• Festoon - (lit) a festive ornament
• Fetish - made by art but made so elegantly.
• Feuilleton - (lit) leaflet (pertaining to newspapers)
• Fierce - wild beast.-like
• Fist - five (in reference to the five digits)

FK - FZ §

• Flamingo - (lit) flame colored (as in because of its red feathers)
• Flatulent - a breaking wind, blow or puff.
• Flavor - that which blows, odor.
• Folk - pertaining to the people / multitude (from the word to fill)
• Follicle - inflated bag
• Fool - windbag / inflated (as in one’s head is full of air / nothing).
• Forbear - to bear up against.
• Forbid - (lit) to command against
• Forceps - thing for grasping warms things
• Forfeit - to do outside (as in outside the law)
• Fractal - interrupted, literally broken.
• Fumigation - (lit) to drive out smoke
• Furtive - to steal / stolen

GA - GJ §

• Garment - (lit) covering
• Garnish - (lit) covering
• Gendarme - (lit) men at arms
• Gender - kind
• General - pertaining to a whole kind.
• Generous - of noble birth
• Genital - pertaining to the organs of generation
• Genius - generative or inborn power.
• Genteel - high-born or noble.
• Gentle - of noble or good birth.
• Gentry - noble or of good family
• Germ - (pertaining to buds) - spring offshoot
• Gingerly - well-born / dainty
• Girdle - to gird (aka to enclose)

GJ - GZ §

• Glad - pertaining to smooth and bright. Pertaining to something shining
• Glance - to slip or make slippery
• Glare - to shine
• Glass - shining material. Also connotes materials that shine bright colors.
• Glee - shining. joyous and radiant.
• Glitch - to slip or to glide.
• Gonad - seed that which engenders birth
• Gonorrhea - flow of seed (hist. mucus discharge was mistaken for semen)
• Greedy - hungry. Eagerly. (German) A passion for having.
• Grief - weighty (as in pertaining to a feeling)
• Guru - someone venerable or worthy of honor

H §

• Hacienda - things to be done (pertaining to the plantations where things had to be done)
• Haft - thing that is seized or grasped.
• Hamadryad- nymph who dies together with the wood (pertaining to wood nymph fabled to die with her tree)
• Hamlet - dwelling
• Hammer - tool with a stone head
• Hangar - enclosure near a house.
• Hangar - home and yard. enclosure near a house
• Harpsichord - (lit) harp string
• Haruspex - that who beholds via entrails.
• Haught - (lit) high
• Haunt - to bring home
• Have - something grasped, and hence something you possess.
• Heave - to take hold of in order to lift.
• Hierophant - one who shows sacred things
• History - an account of inquiries, something witnessed by an expert
• Hobnob - To have or have not ; to take or not take ; To toast each other
• Hyperbaton - (lit) overstepping
• Hyperbola - (lit) a throwing beyond others
• Hyperbole - (lit) a throwing beyond
• Hypnagogic - (lit) driving towards sleep
• Hypnotic - to put to sleep
• Hypothesis - (lit) a placing under, pertaining to being placed under a main argument

I §

• Immolate - to sprinkle with sacrificial meal
• Immure - (lit) to shut up within the walls
• Impede - (lit) to shackle the feet
• Impend - hanging over.
• Important - to bring into.
• Impostor - to put upon (as in to disguise)
• Impromptu - (lit) in readiness
• Inception - to take in hand (as in to begin)
• Incumbent - to recline on (pertaining to applying oneself)
• Indeed - in reality
• Indigenous - to be born in a place
• Industry - (lit) to build within. Diligent
• Ineffable - cannot be uttered or spoken out
• Infamous - not celebrated. to be without reputation
• Infant - one who cannot speak
• Infantry - one who cannot speak (pertaining to foot soldiers or youth who were typically enlisted as infantry and who had low rank)
• Infect - to put in to.
• Infer - to draw in (as in to conclude)
• Influence - flowing out of (the source pertains to something ethereal or vaporous).
• Ingenious - that which is inborn.
• Ingenuous - born in a place. pertaining to a native
• Ingenuous - (lit) born in a place. Pertaining to nobility in particular
• Ingest - (lit) to carry into
• Initial - (lit) to go into, to begin
• Innate - (lit) to be born in (as in to exist in a state since birth)
• Innuendo - giving a nod to
• Inspect - to look into
• Insufflation - to blow from below
• Intercept - to take in between (as in to cut off)
• Intervene - to come in between
• Intrinsic - (lit) from within
• Introduce - (lit) to lead in
• Introspect - to look inward
• Introvert - to turn inside
• Invent - to come in, to acquire
• Isinglass - (lit) sturgeon’s bladder
• Issue - (lit) to go forth (as in to the public)
• Itinerary - a roadbook, a log of one’s journey.

J §

• Janitor - doorkeeper
• Jaundice - yellowness.
• Jaunty - genteel
• Journal - that which takes place daily.
• Journey - a day’s work or travel. Of one day.
• Juggernaut - (lit) Lord of the World. He goes. The moving; all that moves.

K §

• Kerchief - (lit) head covering.
• Kermes - worm
• Kill - to cause pain. to torture or torment
• Kindergarten - (lit) garden of children
• King - (possibly) leader of people; (possibly) noble birth

L §

• Legerdemain - light handed
• Leprechaun - a very small body. Alternatively pertaining to “little Lupercus” or little wolf.
• Levee - a rising (as of the sun).
• Levity - lightness. Light-mindedness and frivolity.
• Levy - act of raising (money)
• Litigate - (lit) to drive a suit
• Lonely - A lonely heart ; A lonely-hearted person.
• Lord - (lit) one who guards the loaves (pertaining to Yahweh)
• Lung - (lit) the light organ. Pertaining to how lungs float in cooking pots.

M §

• Machine - that which enables, and hence pertains to devices or tools.
• Magic - one of the learned. one who has power.
• Mahayana - (lit) great vehicle
• Maintain - hold in the hand
• Malaria - (lit) bad air
• Malign - badly born.
• Malversation - to turn wrongly (as in to behave ill).
• Manciple- a taking in hand
• Mandate - (lit) to give into one’s hand.
• Manifest- caught by hand.
• Manipulate- to fill one’s hand (i.e., skillfully handling something)
• Mannequin - little man
• Manufacture - to make by hand
• Manumission -(lit.) the freeing of the slave.
• Mauvais - (lit) one with a bad lot.
• May - “am able”
• Mediocre - (fig.) Halfway up a mountain, (lit.) Middle of the peak point.
• Melancholy - (lit) in excess of black bile
• Mellifluous - flowing with (or as if with) honey.
• Meridian - Middle Day (as in of midday or noon)
• Metaphor - (lit) a carrying over. a transfer of meaning from one word to a different word.
• Meteor - (lit) something high up.
• Midriff - middle of the body.
• Milieu - Middle place (as in the middle of the environment)
• Miscegenation - mixed race.
• Mitigate - (lit) to make soft, to drive out softly
• Municipal - to assume or take in a particular duty for the community.
• Mystagogue - leader of mystery

N §

• Nada - thing (just) born. pertaining to a small ,insignificant thing.
• Naive - not artificial; native; natural
• Nation - that which has been born
• Nature - birth (pertaining to the essence of life)
• Navigate - to lead / drive with a ship.
• Nefarious - Not Lawfully or Divinely spoken
• Neglect - Not Picked up or selected
• Nepenthe - No Pain or Grief.
• Nightingale - one that calls at night.
• Notify - to make known

O §

• Obituary - (lit) to go towards, pertaining to meeting the dead.
• Oboe - (lit) high pitched wood.
• Ocarina - goose like
• Offal - that which is not allowed to fall off the butcher’s block as being of little use. (literally means fall off)
• Offer - to bring to (a.k.a. to bring forward)
• Office - (lit) work doing. A place for doing work
• Ombudsman - man who is made aware of those in command.
• Orchard - (lit) vegetable garden
• Orifice - (lit) mouth making
• Ostracism - Originated from an Athenian practice where the citizens each indicated the name of the man they wished banished by scratching it on a potsherd or tile (which comes from the PIE word for bone).
• Oval - pertaining to an egg / egg-shape
• Ovary - egg
• Overt - (lit) off cover (lit. uncover)
• Oxygen - (lit) something that produces an acid.
• Oxymoron - (lit) pointedly foolish.
• Palm - a spread out hand.
• Pantheon - of or for all the gods
• Pant - (pertaining to quick breathing) - to be oppressed with a nightmare to the point of struggling to breathe — literally to have visions.

PA - PJ §

• Parable - (lit) a throwing beside of in order to compare. a juxtaposition
• Paragon - to sharpen on the side of a whetstone
• Parallax - to change the other.
• Parallel - beside on another
• Paramount - Per Ad Montem / to the hill (as in, through upward)
• Paraphernalia - beside the dowry (in Roman Law, pertains to a woman’s property besides her dowry)
• Pardon - to give wholeheartedly or remit
• Parenthesis - (lit) to put beside something
• Parliament - originally, a speaking / talk
• Parole - a comparison. a word of honor.
• Pedagogue - leader of the children (as in the schoolmastet)
• Perceive - to grasp in the mind.
• Perfect - completely done
• Periphery - (lit) a carrying around
• Perish - to go through (as in to be lost or destroyed)
• Perspective - to look through
• Phantasmagoria - crowd of phantoms.
• Phenomenon - that which appears or is seen.
• Phlegm - (lit) inflammation, flame, fire, heat
• Phoresy - being carried around
• Phosphorus - light bringing / torch-bearer (i.e., the morning star)

PK - PO §

• Plain - flat / smooth (as in pertaining to a dress, and later intonation and character).
• Planet - wandering stars.
• Plasma - to spread thin (in order to mold)
• Plebeian - to be a part of the multitude (as in the common class)
• Plutogogue - the leader of the wealth (one who justifies the interests of the wealthy)
• Pole - (as in a resident of Poland) field dwellers.
• Polyp - filled foot (i.e., pertaining to a cuttlefish.)
• Pontifex - (lit) bridge maker. Bridge making is historically regarded as sacred.
• Portfolio - (lit) leaf one carries (leaves pertain to documents)
• Praetor - (lit) one who goes before
• Precept - something taken beforehand, pertaining to maxims or advise
• Preface - something that is said beforehand (pertaining to the opening of Mass)
• Prefer - to put before or in front
• Pregnant - with child / (lit) before birth
• Prevent - to come before (in order to hinder).
• Primogenitor - first in order at time. First father
• Prince - that which takes first
• Problem - a thing that was put forward
• Prodigal - to drive away or waste
• Profane -to render unholy. to desecrate
• Profess - to declare openly, to speak forth
• Proficient - to make progress / be useful
• Profit - to make progress
• Proliferation - to have grown forth/ / the process of growing forth.
• Prolific - to have grown forth/ / the process of growing forth.
• Prophet - to speak before. Pertaining to someone who speaks before someone on behalf of a god.
• Prose - turned forward (as in pertaining to straightforward speech)
• Prospect - to look forward
• Prosthesis - to put something additional
• Protagonist - first actor
• Provenance - to come forth or arise.

PR - PT §

• Prudent - to look ahead (as in, someone who looks ahead or act deliberately with foresight)
• Punch - (the drink). Five in reference to the five supposed ingredients (citrus juice, water, spirits, sugar and spice)
• Puny - after this; hereafter (pertaining to being born after or younger)

PU - PZ §

• Purge - to drive to purity
• Pylorus - (lit) gate watcher / guardian
• Pyracanth - fiery thorny plant.
• Pyschedelic - something that makes the mind visible or clear.

Q §

• Qualify - to attribute a quality — to answer “of what sort?” something is
• Quell - to kill.
• Quick - lively, bright, sprightly, alive
• Quicksilver - (lit) living silver.

R §

• Receive - to take back
• Rectify - to make straight
• Redact - to force back to a certain state.
• Refectory - to refresh (via food)
• Refer - to carry back (as in to relate)
• Reject - to throw away (as in to refuse)
• Relevant - one that lightens (and hence helps)
• Relief - (lit) a raising, that which is lifted. Hence pertaining to assistance (as in raising the burden)
• Religion - To bind fast to an obligation (as in to God).
• Rely - (Archaic) To fasten or bind oneself to another thing. (Modern) Used as a notion of something to fall back on (as in to rally to)
• Render - to give back
• Rent - to give back (payment)
• Replenish - to fill repeatedly, thus to fill completely.
• Respect - to look back at (as in regard someone highly)
• Revenant - (lit) one who returns
• Revenue - (lit) to come back
• Revere - to stand in awe.
• Rhabdomancy - divination by means of a rod
• Rhapsody - (lit) stitched together songs.
• Sacrifice - to do sacred rites
• Samadhi - (lit) a putting or joining together
• Samizdat - (lit) self giving / self publishing
• Sassafras - (lit) rock breaking herb.

SA - ST §

• Satisfy - to make enough
• Saxifrage - (lit) rock breaking herb.
• Sedition - (lit) a going apart
• Selvage - self + edge.
• Semaphore - signal bearing
• Shelter - (possibly) roof or wall formed by interlocked shields
• Skeptic - one who looks back (as in someone reflective, and hence critical)
• Sojourn - to spend the day
• Soporific - pertaining to deep sleep.
• Souffle - to puff up from underneath.
• Souvenir - (lit) to come to mind
• Species - a sight or outward appearance (and hence a means to classify things based on physical appearance)
• Spice - a kind or sort of (applied in particular to medication or alchemy)
• Squat - to bring together (as in to crush or crouch by bending one’s legs together.)
• Stalwart - to stand excellently.
• Steward - (lit) guard of cattle / house
• Story - a short history
• Strategy - to lead a camping army / to lead that which is spread out
• Subvention - to come up to in order to support.
• Sudden - (lit) to go under stealthily
• Suffer - to carry up.
• Suffrage - shout under (i.e., in support of someone).
• Supply - to fill from below (as in to support)
• Surrender - to give back over (to give up)
• Susceptible - that which can be taken from under.

SU - SZ §

• Sycophant - one who shows the fig (in the insulting sense)
• Symbol - that which is thrown or cast together.
• Synallagmatic - (lit) together in thing taken in exchange (pertaining to a contract)
• Synopsis - to view together (as in to get a general view or outline)

T §

• Tar - the pitch of trees
• Tergiversate - (lit) to turn one’s back
• Theme - something set down (pertaining to a thesis).
• Theropoda - wild beast. beast of prey
• Thesis - a setting down, a placing, an arranging; position or situation
• Theurgy - (lit) the working of a god.
• Throne - the stable, firm seat occupied by a sovereign (or previously by God).
• Tradition - something that is given over (aka something passed down)
• Traitor - one who gives something over.
• Trance - to go across or beyond.
• Transfer - to carry across or beyond
• Transient - to go across or beyond
• Tray - wooden vessel
• Treacle - of a wild animal.
• Treason - act of giving over
• Trough - wooden vessel
• Truce - assurances of faith, covenants
• Truth - having or characterized by good faith
• Twig - a fork
• Twilight - “half light”.
• Twine - double thread
• Twin - two each
• Twist - originally to divide in two. Also potentially “combine two into one” and “rope made of two strands”

U §

• Ultimate - to be most beyond / farthest.
• Universe- All things, everybody, all people, the whole world; Turned into One
• Utopia - Nowhere, not on your life

V §

• Valkyrie - Chooser of the slain
• Venire - from venire facias (lit) that you cause to come.
• Verboten - forbidden
• Verify - to make true
• Versatile keep turning (pertaining to inconstancy, or in modern usage, being able to do / turn many things.)
• Verse - to turn (metaphorically of plowing or turning from one line to another)
• Vertebra - joint or articulation of the body (notion of spine as hinge of the body)
• Vertigo - turning (pertaining to spinning movement or dizziness)
• Viand - things for living, to be lived upon
• Vinegar - wine turned sharp / sour
• Vivid - alive. full of life.
• Vociferous - to carry with one’s voice (as in to shout or yell)

W §

• Wardrobe - (lit) guard of clothes / robes
• Warp - to turn or bend (pertaining to bending the arm to throw or bending fabric)
• Warrant - guarantee.
• Warren - land for protecting fowl / game
• Wehrmacht - (lit) defensive might.
• Weird - winding (pertaining to bending Fate).
• Welcome - one whose coming suits another’s will or wish (i.e., come well)
• Whiskey - (lit) water of life.
• Window - (lit) Wind’s eye / eye door
• Wise - seeing (as in someone who knows or is prudent)
• World - (lit) age of man. Other etymologies give “seed of man”, “abode”, “foundation” and “under the sun”.
• Worth - (lit) to turn into.
• Wreath - (lit) that which is wound around
• Wrist - the turning joint.
• Wunderkind - (lit) wonder-child
• Wyvern - snake / viper

X §

Y §

• Yellow - shining
• Yell - to resound; to sing.
• Yelp - to cry out in arrogance.
• Yeoman - young man / villager

Z §

• Zodiac - (lit) circle of little animals