Language of Origin
"May I have the language of origin, please?" If you watched the spelling bee you may have noticed some spellers ask for the language of origin. The reason is that the language of origin gives clues about how to spell the word. Here are a few examples...
In words of Latin origin, the letter z is rarely seen. The letters k and w also do not exist unless it is passed through another language before coming into English. Latin words have no rh's, ch's, or ph's, unless it has passed through Greek origin as well.
In words of Greek origin, the sound of a short i is spelled with a y most of the time, such as in gymnasium, syzygy, dyslexic, and synonym. The f sound is often spelled ph as in alphabet, phonics and phobia.
Many words from French have silent consonants like faux, roux, ( silent x ), and champagne.( silent g ).
The letters ch and ll are considered single letters in Spanish. That's why these letter combinations pop up often in English words derived from Spanish.
English words of German origin use k's, ck's, and ch's. They don't have c's unless it has been passed down from another language that uses c's frequently.
The long a sound at the end of a word in Italian is often spelled with an e such as in vigilante, or macrame.
Words derived from Japanese almost never have double consonants. The only exceptions are:hokku, issei, momme, seppuku, teppanyaki,shikken and tenno.
