Modern | Middle (12th-15th Century) | Old (5th-12th Century) | |
Word | beseech (verb) | bisechen | besecan |
Pronunciation | bē-ˈsēch | bē-ˈsēchen (pron.: bee-see-chen) | bē-ˈsēkan (pron.: bee-see-kan) |
Origin: German (besuchen)
Webster’s Definition: 1: to beg urgently or anxiously
Explanation of Spelling and Pronunciation & Explanation for Students: The best way to explain the word “beseech” would be to break the word into its root parts. By explaining that the prefix, be-, often acts as an intensifier for the verb (as in be-moan, be-lie, and be-smirch). –seech would best be explained by seeking out students’ understanding of its root word, “seek.” By breaking it into smaller fragments, the spelling makes more sense to the students, and they can see the definition more clearly, to be- (urgently) + -seech (seek).
2. FATHER
Modern | Middle (12th-15th Century) | Old (5th-12th Century) | |
Word | father (noun) | fadir | faeder |
Pronunciation | fä-thər | fä-dēr (pron.: fa-deer) | fā-der (pron.: fay-der) |
Origin: Old High German fater father, Latin pater, Greek patēr; first known use before the 12th century
Webster’s Definition: 1 a : a man who has begotten a child; b: God, the first person of the Trinity; 2: forefather; 3: a : one related to another in a way suggesting that of father to child b : an old man —used as a respectful form of address; 4: one that originates or institutes <the father of modern science>; 5: a priest of the regular clergy, used especially as a title;
Explanation of Spelling and Pronunciation & Explanation for Students: Father should not be too difficult a word to pronounce or to spell, as most letters have a one-to-one letter-to-sound correspondence. The digraph, /th/, would be difficult for many early readers, especially since it appears in the middle of the word. A good way to build students up to the -/th/sound would be to introduce words that begin with /th/ (this, that, them, they, think, etc.) and then imbed the sound in the middle of words, such as “weather,” “tether,” and “feather.” Students could arrange letter tiles, magnets, or cards to practice the correct spelling of “father,” sounding out the letters as they go.
3. HEAVEN
Modern | Middle (12th-15th Century) | Old (5th-12th Century) | |
Word | heaven (noun) | heven | heofon |
Pronunciation | he-vən | he-vən | ē-ə-fon (pron.: yo-fon) |
Origin: Old High German himil (heaven); first known use before the 12th century
Webster’s Definition: 1: the expanse of space that seems to be over the earth like a dome; 2:a: (often capitalized) : the dwelling place of the Deity and the blessed dead b : a spiritual state of everlasting communion with God; 3: a place or condition of utmost happiness
Explanation of Spelling and Pronunciation & Explanation for Students: To help students with the spelling and pronunciation of “heaven,” it would be important to remind students of the different sounds produced in different open and closed vowel scenarios. For instance, slightly changing “heaven” into “heave,” students get an entirely new pronunciation but are using most of the same letters. Or, if they changed “heaven” into “heathen,” they have nearly the same spelling construct, and a closed-vowel word again here, but the first vowels are pronounced very differently. It would be very helpful to show the students the past spelling of “heaven” (especially in Middle English), so they could see its pronunciation has remained the same while its spelling has changed. By providing further examples, the teacher would show the students the very different sounds made with e-a letter combinations. They could classify various words to start to examine the differencts (heart, heave, leave, learn, please, etc.).
4. PLOW
Modern | Middle (12th-15th Century) | Old (5th-12th Century) | |
Word | plow (noun) | plowe | ploh |
Pronunciation | plau̇ | plōh (pron.: p-low) | plōh (pron.: p-low) |
Origin: German pfluog, first known use in the 12th century
Webster’s Definition: 1: an implement used to cut, lift, and turn over soil especially in preparing a seedbed; 2: any of various devices (as a snowplow) operating like a plow
Explanation of Spelling and Pronunciation & Explanation for Students: The o-w letter combination making the /au̇/ sound would be problematic for many students, especially considering that taking away the /p/ sound leaves the students with the word, “low,” which is pronounced very differently. Here, it would help to teach students rhyming words, like, “bow” (as in the physical motion), “cow,” “how.” “now,” “vow,” and “wow” to minimize their confusion with the pronunciation found in words like “low,” “mow,” “row,” and “tow.” As students became more comfortable, they could classify “–ow” sound cards for their different sounds.
5. KNIGHT
Modern | Middle (12th-15th Century) | Old (5th-12th Century) | |
Word | knight (noun) | knight | cniht |
Pronunciation | nīt | k- nīt (pron.: k-nite) | k- nīt (pron.: k-nite) |
Origin: Old High German knecht; first used before the 12th century
Webster’s Definition: a (1) : a mounted man-at-arms serving a feudal superior; especially : a man ceremonially inducted into special military rank usually after completing service as page and squire (2) : a man honored by a sovereign for merit and in Great Britain ranking below a baronet; a man devoted to the service of a lady as her attendant or champion c : a member of an order or society
Explanation of Spelling and Pronunciation & Explanation for Students: An important factor in teaching students to spell and pronounce words like “knight” or “knife,” is that many used to be pronounced with the hard /k/ sound. This way, students don’t think their language arbitrarily assigns letters to words—they will see some reasoning and history behind it. It might be a good idea to introduce kids to the idea of knights in the middle ages, and to have the kids use various /kn/ words in a poem or a story, including words like “knit,” "knack,” “knee,” “kneel,” “knife,” “knight,” “knob,” “knock,” “knot,” “know,” and “knuckle.”
References
Miriam webster’s online dictionary. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.miriamwebster.com.
Webster’s new world dictionary of the american language, second college edition. (1974). New York:
Collins Publishing.
Word origins. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.wordorigins.org.
No comments:
Post a Comment