Appendices
Appendix B. Solutions
Before you read a solution, try the exercise. If you already tried and got it wrong, even better: a mistake followed by its correction is one of the best ways to learn.
The etymologies in these solutions were checked against the research corpus of the program, which brings together etymological dictionaries and expert databases.
Chapter 2
Exercise 2.1.
| word | skeleton | comment |
|---|---|---|
| knight | n · t | the k and the gh are silent |
| phone | f · n | ph sounds f; the final e is silent |
| laugh | l · f | here gh sounds f |
| write | r · t | the w is silent |
| lamb | l · m | the b is silent |
| box | b · k · s | the x sounds ks |
| cherry | ch · r | ch is one sound; rr counts once |
| thumb | th · m | th is one sound; the b is silent |
Chapter 3
Exercise 3.1.
| word | skeleton | code |
|---|---|---|
| mother | m · th · r (US) / m · th (UK) | Ϻ · Θ · Λ / Ϻ · Θ |
| table | t · b · l | Θ · Φ · Λ |
| stone | s · t · n | Σ · Θ · Ξ |
| lamp | l · m · p | Λ · Ϻ · Φ |
| king | k · ng | Χ · Ξ |
| fish | f · sh | Φ · Σ |
Exercise 3.2.
| word | how it sounds | skeleton | classes |
|---|---|---|---|
| jirafa | hee-RAH-fah, with a strong h | j · r · f | Χ · Λ · Φ |
| queso | KEH-so | k · s | Χ · Σ |
| cena | SEH-nah (Latin America) / THEH-nah (Spain) | s · n / th · n | Σ · Ξ / Θ · Ξ |
| guerra | GEH-rrah; the u is silent | g · r | Χ · Λ |
| llave | YAH-veh | (y) · b | borderline + Φ |
| hielo | YEH-lo; the h is silent | (y) · l | borderline + Λ |
Chapter 4
Exercise 4.1. The pairs with the same nucleus in reverse order are:
| one | the other | codes |
|---|---|---|
| pat | tap | Φ · Θ and Θ · Φ |
| net | ten | Ξ · Θ and Θ · Ξ |
| pan | nap | Φ · Ξ and Ξ · Φ |
| mug | gum | Ϻ · Χ and Χ · Ϻ |
None of these pairs is related. They are word-game inversions, good for training the eye.
Chapter 5
Exercise 5.1.
| pair | group | why |
|---|---|---|
| three / tres | (a) co-derivatives with the same meaning | both come from the same Proto-Indo-European word |
| exit / éxito | (b) co-derivatives that changed meaning | both come from Latin exitus, "a going out"; in Spanish it means "success" |
| tomato / tomate | (c) loan | Spanish took it from Nahuatl tomatl, and English took it from Spanish |
| night / noche | (a) co-derivatives with the same meaning | both come from the same Proto-Indo-European word |
| goose / ganso | (c) loan | Spanish borrowed it from Gothic; deep down it is a relative of goose, but it didn't arrive by inheritance |
| actual / actual | (b) co-derivatives that changed meaning | both come from Latin; in Spanish it means "current" |
Chapter 6
Exercise 6.1. The Portuguese for Spanish hijo (son) is filho. The Italian for Spanish humo (smoke) is fumo. In both, the Latin f that Spanish lost is still there.
Exercise 6.2. By Grimm's law: foot → pie, tooth → diente, horn → cuerno. The learned English co-derivative of foot is pedestrian, from Latin pedester, which comes from pes, "foot." If you look for other words with ped- (like pedal), you may find more cousins of foot, but check each one.
Chapter 8
Exercise 8.1. For Spanish pie: pedestrian. For Spanish cabello (hair): capillary, from Latin capillaris, "of the hair," from capillus, "hair" — the same Latin word that became cabello. Capillaries are the body's blood vessels as thin as a hair.
Chapter 9
Exercise 9.1. All three came from Nahuatl, through Spanish:
| English | Spanish | Nahuatl |
|---|---|---|
| chocolate | chocolate | chocolātl |
| coyote | coyote | koyoo-tl (reconstructed Nahuan form) |
| avocado | avocado, earlier aguacate | āhuacatl |
Look at the endings. The Nahuatl noun ending -tl became -te in Spanish (chocolātl → chocolate, āhuacatl → aguacate), and English kept the Spanish shape, or reshaped it again (tomatl → tomate → tomato). A borrowing rule, just like the correspondences of chapter 6, only between languages that are not relatives.