Etymology Word of the Week – As some of you know, in addition to working in the Admissions Office, I also teach Latin at Saint Ignatius and am something of a "word nerd." Thus, each week, I’ll sneak a vocabulary word (sometimes derived from Latin, sometimes not) into the e-blast. Here, then, is this week’s edition of the Etymology Word of the Week.
Patriot - “a person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country and its interests with devotion.” From the Latin noun patria meaning “fatherland, country, home,” which itself is from the Latin noun pater meaning “father, head of household, priest” (all information is from www.wikipedia.org, www.etymonline.com and/or www.dictionary.com).
RELATED WORDS/PHRASES – patriotic, patriotism, patriarch, compatriot, expatriate, repatriation
SAMPLE SENTENCE - “Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11, a date we now commemorate each year as Patriot Day.”
INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me - I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Emma Lazarus, American author, poet and activist; from her poem “The New Colossus,” which is inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty.