Here's an idea for an activity. An activity that takes a word in a local language and shows its etymological map as the word travels across cultures, perhaps with an overlay of the world map. For example, the word "Sugar" (no pun intended) has an interesting etymological evolution. From Wikipedia:
"In the case of sugar, the etymology <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology> reflects the spread of the commodity. The English <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language> word "sugar" originates from the Arabic <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language> and Persian <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_language> word /shakar/,^[4] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar#cite_note-3> itself derived from Sanskrit <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit> /Sharkara/.^[5] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar#cite_note-Hassan-4> It came to English by way of French <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language>, Spanish <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language> and/or Italian <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_language>, which derived their word for sugar from the Arabic and Persian /shakar/ (whence the Portuguese <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_language> word /açúcar/, the Spanish word /azúcar/, the Italian word /zucchero/, the Old French word /zuchre/ and the contemporary French word /sucre/). (Compare the OED <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary>.) The Greek <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language> word for "sugar", /zahari/, means "pebble". " So, sharkara (sanskrit)-> shakar (arabic)-> sucre (French) and so on. On my recent trip to Italy, I saw something that provoked an "Aha!" moment. I was in my hotel room, and the information posted on the door had the word "Room" "Chamber" and "Camera". I quickly realized why a photo-taking device was called "Camera" (a small dark chamber), but a few seconds later I realized that in Hindi, a room is called "Kamaraa". Its a word I've used all my life, without realizing where it came from. I am still not sure if the etymology is connected. but "kamaraa" is likely of Urdu/Persian/Arabic origin, and hence it must have traveled across cultures from Europe to India. More at http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=camera Of course, there are more popular ones such as shampoo (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=shampoo), juggernaut (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=juggernaut), etc. but the kamaraa<->camera link for me was very exciting. I think many children will find such discoveries exciting too! Sameer -- Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Information Systems San Francisco State University San Francisco CA 94132 USA http://verma.sfsu.edu/ http://opensource.sfsu.edu/ _______________________________________________ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar