English is a rich melting pot of words borrowed and adapted from languages across the globe. Many long, elegant, or even tongue-twisting English words have surprising backstories that trace back to ...

Like a wandering sailor, the Latin root “porto” has a girl in every . .. well, port. “Porto” means “carry,” and this roamin’ Roman root has sailed into scores of English words, serving us both the ...

Apples grow on trees, and the government prints money. And words — words come from, well, other words. For example, the Lilliputians of Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” lent their name to a ...

Ireland has given a lot to America, and this includes some contributions to the way in which we speak. While those people who aren’t massive fans of the Irish language will always complain that Irish ...

With students gone for the day, sixth grade teachers Joy Ford and Ryan Rusk sat in a classroom discussing the Latin root temp. After determining that “contemporary” and “temporary” share the root, ...