Question Regarding Spelling Bee's.....?

Question

Why do some contestents in a spelling bee ask for the work origin ( latin etc )? If they don't know how to spell the work in the first place, how does knowing the origin help?

Thanks !

Answer 1

Think of it this way (oversimplified a bit). English borrows words from many languages, often with the spelling of the original language, or a particular standard way (or ways) we have adopted for words borrowed from or through that language. There are sounds that are typically represented by one letter or letter-combo in one language and by a different letter or combo in another language.

For example -- the hard c/k sound is represented by "k" in words of Germanic origin, by "c" in words borrowed from Latin (directly or via French).

Related to this, you might know, for example, that certain letters or letter combos are NEVER used in German, so if you discover the word you are asked is borrowed from German, that will likely rule out those letters/combos.

Even if you do not know the actual WORD, knowing which LANGUAGE it comes from, may tell you the "spelling system" to use, or at least limit the choices.


That's the main value in asking for the word origin. But there are other ways the info may help:

a) You might not know the word you are given to spell, but you MAY know a related word from the same root. Knowing that it is RELATED to some word you DO know (and presumably know how to spell!) will take you a long way.

b) Perhaps the form you are given has "silent letters", but the ROOT form does not. Knowing/hearing the sound in the root form may clue you in to include it in the word you are spelling.

Simple example -- "autumn" has a silent "n" at the end, because it has dropped all endings, but you can hear the /n/ in the original Latin word "autumnus"


One final reason -- this is one of the questions you are ALLOWED to ask, and every question you ask can extend you time and opportunity to think your answer through.

Answer 2

By asking for the word origin in a spelling bee, that smart little kid is really asking for the root word (whether Latin or not) to help him/her spell the word by hearing the sound of the root word.

Latin is especially helpful because a person usually pronounces just about every letter in Latin.

Answer 3

well here's an example, a bit of an obvious one but it makes the point. If you were asked to spell FIANCEE, from the sound of the word you might think it was spelled FEEANCAY. But once you know it's a French word, if you have a basic knowledge of French spelling, you would be able to take an educated guess that the word ended in an E or EE (with the accent, which I can't do on here), and that the FEE sound was actually spelled FI.

Answer 4

the way languages spell things has a big giveaway sometimes. as an example, say the word is FUEGO. if you knew the word was spanish, you wouldnt think of it as a funny dish in china and spell it FOO EGG OH.

Answer 5

if you are a contestant in a spelling be contest now give the best of you if you are thinking how did some of the contestants win i just owe you to read the DICTIONARY if you are jealous


welcome