Jérôme M. Berger wrote:
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
Jerome, I think you are correct.
I o'ta know that. :-)
(I ought to know that.)
Cheers
Justin
