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What do these words have in common?: "captain," "capital," "capitulate" and "precipice." If you know they're all derived from the Latin word for the head -- "caput" -- go the head of the class.

"Captain" and "capital" denote the head person or the chief thing. The use of "capital" to refer to accumulated money or goods arose because these are principal resources that produce secondary wealth or income.

"Capitulate," meaning "to surrender," originally meant "to go over the chief points of a thing." This process of reviewing key items was often used to negotiate military surrenders, thus "capitulate" came to mean "to concede, give up."

"Precipice," a steep cliff that plunges "head"long to its base, derives from the Latin prefix "prae" (before, in front of) and the Latin root "caput." An archaic meaning of "headlong" is "steep," and this concept of an abrupt plunge is preserved in "headlong plunge."

Speaking of the head, the Latin verb for think -- "putate" -- also shows up in a wide variety of English verbs, including "putative" (commonly thought or assumed), "compute" (to reckon, calculate) and "impute" (to think something about someone, to ascribe or attribute).

Less obviously, it's the brains behind "reputation" (what others think of us), "dispute" (to express thoughts contrary to those of others) and "putrefy" (to make people think you smell).

OK, so I'm kidding about "putrefy." In fact, the roots of "putrefy" are the Latin verb "putrere" (to rot) and "facere" (to make, do). So "putrefy" means "to make rotten."

"Facere," by the way, does some heavy lifting in English. It's easily recognizable in "factory" (where things are made), "manufacturing" (made by hand), "facile" (doing something easily), "factor" (a component that does something), "fact" (a thing done) and "faculty" (an ability to do something).

Two variant forms of "facare" -- "fic" and "fect" -- appear in "fiction" (something made up), "efficient" (done with little wasted effort), "beneficent" (doing something good), "perfect" (made with no flaws), "confection" (something made or prepared), and "effective" (doing something).

Another Latin verb that brings home the bacon in English is "ferre" (to carry, transport). Not only does its "fer" appear in "transfer," "confer" and "infer," but its past participle form, "latus," gives us "translate" (to bring from one language to another) and "collate" (to bring together).

And that's the "latus" news from the world of Latin.

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Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Connecticut, invites your language sightings. His book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to WordGuy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254. COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS.COM

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