Introduction

Since this is the first post in this blog it only seems appropriate to do a quick look-up/study of the word “Introduction”.

We could just jump to shortening the word down to “introduce”, but why not go the long way for this first word. (It should get us started off on the right foot of doing things correctly, instead of easily.)

Beginning with “Introduction”

Introduction (ĭn’trə-dŭk’shən)
n.

1. The act or process of introducing or the state of being introduced.
2. A means, such as a personal letter, of presenting one person to another.
3. Something recently introduced; an innovation: “He loathed a fork; it is a modern introduction which has still scarcely reached common people” (D.H. Lawrence).
4. Something spoken, written, or otherwise presented in beginning or introducing something, especially:
1. A preface, as to a book.
2. Music A short preliminary passage in a larger movement or work.
3. A basic introductory text or course of study.

[Middle English introduccioun, from Old French introduction, from Latin intrōductiō, intrōductiōn-, from intrōductus, past participle of intrōdūcere, to bring in; see introduce.]

This is cited from the American Heritage Dictionary

 

This source, which is my personal favorite of the dictionaries, tells us to view the word introduce. You can click the link to view the whole definition. For the sake of blog length, I’m going to assume you already know what “introduce” means (*crosses-fingers*), and so I will just post the etymology listed for the word.

The Basic Etymology

Introduce

Middle English introducen, to bring into, from Latin intrōdūcere : intrō-, within; see en in Appendix I + dūcere, to lead; see deuk- in Appendix I.

From this etymology I am going to split off into two parts. First, I will trace the word “en”, and then I will come back and follow the root “deuk-”

Tracing the Roots

en

If you click the link to see “en” you will notice it doesn’t really give any information about the root word, only a simple definition. You could call this a dead end and leave it to go onto the next step in the study -“deuk-”, or you could try to find another possible source for the root. I say we try again.

In the etymology the next derivative up from “en” is “intro-”. I am just going to take a wild guess and say that we will be able to find “intro” in the dictionary.

Okay, I tried again, and it led to the same place. One more time I’m going to try again, and this time I will go with the word “within” since this was the definition of the root “en” as given in the etymology above. (Though oddly enough “within” wasn’t mention in the definition of “en”, once you clicked to view it.)

This is where I start second guessing whether or not I’m doing this correctly. That’s right, I’m passionate about this, but that doesn’t mean I’ve quite figured out the methods of research. (Hint:If someone wants to help clue me in I would greatly appreciate it.)

Anyway, this is what I found. If you look up “within” you will see that it leads to in1 which once again leads to the definition of “en”. This isn’t exactly what I was hoping to find. (Don’t ask me what I was hoping to find because I’m not sure…remember, I’m sort of new too.) Either way, I did find the definition to in interesting, and longer than expected.

So, after going in circles just to arrive at the same place, I’m not sure what other options we have in further pursuing this word. (Louder Hint: If you know please share the “candy-making” secrets.) Therefore, I don’t see any other choice than continuing on with the second root within our word, deuk-.

Finally, by following the link we get to the “Indo-European Roots Index” which happens to be my absolute favorite source. Usually, when I do a “word-search” I try to get it back to the Indo-European root, however, as demonstrated with the root “en”, that isn’t always possible.

The reason I love the “Indo-European Roots Index” so much is because the way it list the derivatives, which leads to creating word relationships. (I will blog later showing what I refer to as a “word relationship”. There may be a technical term for it that I am unaware of, or perhaps there isn’t a better word for the process and I’m crazy for making them.) Anyway, getting back to the subject at hand.

“deuk-” is defined as meaning “to lead”, which we already knew from reading the etymology. So what was the point in looking it up? Well… to see if there is anything interesting related too it of course!

This blog is growing way to long, so I am going to cut if off here. The next blog I do will be a second part to this post. In the second part I will show what I found interesting with the roots and probably end up giving an example of a “word relationship”.

I’m sorry if it seems rather sudden to stop here, I just ask that you bare with me as I get this blog up and running. I’ve spent about 2 1/2 hours on this post alone, and about another 2 hours trying to get the other pages of this blog worked out. (I’m sort of new to HTML. To those who read my “bio”, yes I know its ironic that I’m just learning the coding.)

As I practice writing this information out I will develop better ways of condensing it and organizing it methodically, not to mention quicker at doing it. (Seriously, its time for me to stretch for a while.) In the meantime, any suggestions, comments, help, etc. are welcome. I’m really hoping to get this blog off on the right foot.

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