Etymology of Words - Visual Word Display

Etymology: The Study of Words - Due Date: 4/16

Do you ever wonder where words come from? Do you ever listen to a person speaking English and feel that they are using a completely different language? Because of the continuous changes in our society, the English language is constantly changing. Think of the word Google. This word was not part of our vocabulary before the year 2000. Here’s another word, sick. Usually this word means that a person does not feel well. Although this still applies, this word has also adopted other meanings. As society continues to change, our dictionary will continue to grow and words will continue to adopt new meanings. For this assignment, you will choose one word from the list provided in class and create a visual representation of the word.

Guidelines:
• Create a visual that artistically and creatively displays the following components:
o Part of speech (is the word a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb?)
o Your definition of the word (what do you think this word means?)
o Current dictionary definition of the word
o Origin of the word (Where did the word originate?)
o The History of the word (How has the word changed throughout time?)
o Different definitions of the word; for example, pickle is something that we eat and it is also a play in baseball.
o Predictions for the future (How do you think changes in society will affect this word?)
o A creative sentence using the word.
• Your visual need to include a picture for each category. This can be something that you decide to draw, a photo from a magazine, or a visual from another source.
• Must be a minimum of 8 ½ x 11.
• Works cited.
• All written work on the poster must be in your own words, or you will not get credit for the assignment.
• Pencil drawings are not allowed.


Resources:

• The Oxford English Dictionary (library)
• Online Etymology Dictionary: http://www.etymonline.com
• The Word Detective: http://www.word-detective.com/
• The American Heritage Dictionary: http://www.bartleby.com/61/
• Your brain