CLAS 2038OL - Latin and Greek for Scientists

Ever wanted to dig a little deeper into the background of scientific terminology? Perhaps wondered where the word 'oxygen' came from? This course aims to familiarise students with the ancient Greek and Latin origin of scientific words and phrases. No prior knowledge of either language is required, since we will start with acquiring basic vocabulary relevant for the purpose of decoding scientific terminology. Prerequisites are an open mind and a curiosity about the history of words. The focus is on how English scientific terms derive from classical languages. During the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century, the English vocabulary doubled in size due to the rediscovery of the classical past and to new scientific discoveries. A grasp of the original meaning of words contributes to a better understanding of the history of science and so of our modern world. This course, therefore, offers an insight into the cultural and intellectual background of scientific terminology. Students will engage with a range of topics which have been selected to maximise learning about the mechanisms and processes in word formation: parsing words, clustering terms, word formation, malformations and linguistic implications of the Scientific Revolution, the mechanisms of word formation and their impact. After taking this course, students will be able to recognise the parts and origin of the most common scientific terms, understand the mechanisms by which words may rise and fall, and have a broad understanding of the important relationship between words and their use in various intellectual and social contexts.