Justin Johansson wrote: > I don't give an iota about iota. In my dictionary retro is a > Latin prefix. However in post-classical Latin it is not uncommon > to come across words that have a Greek origin. Me thinks we are > both right on this occasion; retro is a Latin prefix; it's in a > Latin dictionary and its etymology appears to have a Greek connection. > > retro- pref. repr. L. retrō- adv. (‘behind’) used in combination as in > retrospicere (cf. RETROSPECT), retrogradus (see next), f. RE- + compar. > suffix as in intrō- INTRO-; in anat. and path. denoting ‘situated > behind’ the part of the body indicated by the second el., as > retro-ocular, -uterine. > > T. F. HOAD. "retro-." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English > Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 20, 2010). > http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-retro.html > Well my source for "retro" was this (in French): http://www.le-dictionnaire.com/definition.php?mot=retro which definitely states it has a Greek origin. However, you are right that Latin did borrow a lot of Greek words so it could have come to us through Latin.
For "iota" my source was the 1980 edition of the "petit Larousse en
couleurs" dictionary. I don't think that one went through Latin
though...
Jerome
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