I wrote this after reading mashed radish, the etymology blog. I studied linguistics many years ago and am interested in etymology. While teaching English at a high school in Norfolk, one homework project I devised that really got Year 7 and 8 students going was the presentation of a word. They had to choose a word of more than two syllables and investigate, amongst other things, its word class, meaning, origins, number of syllables, synonyms and antonyms (where possible), and usage, and then present it to the rest of the class in an interesting way – I still have some of the fabulous PowerPoints they produced. Therefore, this week I have decided to write poems based on the general idea of etymology.
Etymology #1
A fascinating word
A Shakespearean word
Is multitudinous
An adjective
Meaning very numerous
A polysyllabic word
Its origins are Latin
Multus – meaning many
Multitude – a great many
Or crowd
Synonyms are abundant
Antonyms are few
A rhythmic word
A dramatic word
Nowadays
Practically unheard
A crucial word
In Macbeth’s
Multitudinous
Seas in incarnadine
Making the green one red
writing in north norfolk 