Latin #11

In honor of the new year soon upon us, I present to you Latin Root #11.

Root: ANNU, ENNI

Meaning: year

Words:

1. Annals (n) (-al = relating to): events recorded by the year

In the annals of the history of most of the Carolina islands, there are tales, some more confirmed than others, of piracy that took place long, long ago on these shores. My boys have grown up with these stories, so it added an element of confusion when some of the stories of piracy around the world surfaced on the news the past few years.

“Mom, are pirates real?” they’d ask after catching wind of a news story, to which I’d respond in the affirmative, and then attempt to explain the details as best I could. This repeated conversation inevitably led to long, silent, wide-eyed stares at the ocean, where I can well envision the mental images swirling through their heads, ones of Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom in search of booty in front of our house.

2. Anniversary (n) (vers = turn): (a remembering of) the turning of a year

This one’s big, folks. We are fast approaching the one-year anniversary of Lego Ninjagos, where we, the Island Family, will be celebrating the brilliant marketing tactics wonderful introduction of a new theme in the Lego family. Good thing, because by Christmas of 2010, we were all deeply lamenting the fact that the boys were running out of Lego Star Wars products to buy.

3. Perennial (adj) (per- = through): present through the years

I recently made a list of all the perennial facets of my life. The list is lengthy, but the highlights include:

* My adoration of all things meant for human consumption that contain chocolate, aged cheeses, and beverages made from grapes with strong tannins

* Three small people that provide a daily serving of belly laughs

* The wonderful and ever loquacious LCB

The lowlights include:

* A distinct deficit of skills in areas like athletics, cooking, and technology

* Fine, unmanageable hair

* A proclivity for laughing at highly inappropriate times

Oh, and everybody hum the background music to NBC’s The More You Know series for a minute.

Are you humming yet?

Okay, what’s the difference between biannual and biennial? Bi- means two in both words, but biannual generally refers to something occurring twice a year, and biennial refers to something occurring every two years. This is an important distinction to understand when agreeing to things like payment plans, visitation rights, employee benefit packages inclusive of vacation time, and the like.

The more you know, everyone.

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