Classic Myths to Read Aloud by William F. Russell

Author:William F. Russell [Russell, William F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-77443-9
Publisher: Crown
Published: 2010-10-27T00:00:00+00:00

A Few Words More

In order to prove that he had killed the terrible Medusa, Perseus was required to bring back the head of the monster, for that was its most vital part. The Latin word for “head” was caput, and it is from this source that we have gotten our word capital, both the city that is the “head” of a country or state and the large letter that stands at the “head” of a word. When we speak of per capita income, we mean individual earnings, for we are counting “by heads.” With one stroke of Mercury’s magic sword, Perseus decapitated (the Latin prefix de-meant “away from”) the hideous monster. The term “capital punishment,” in fact, was created in the fifteenth century to be a more delicate way of describing a beheading, for that was the common method of execution at the time.

While we’re on the subject of cutting things, you might think about the many words we use today that are based on the Latin word caedo, which meant “to cut” and which has come down to us in the form eis. For example, an incision is a “cut into” something, which we might do with the teeth we call incisors; we “cut very close” if we are being precise; we “cut off” further debate when we make a decision, and we do it in a decisive manner. By knowing the meaning of this root, you can now see why it is necessary to include the letter c when you spell the word scissors.

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