% of English words from Latin and Greek

[Eric Nielsen]

It seems to me that if we count all of the Latin and Greek derived words
used in the various sciences--including social sciences, the percentage of
Latin/Greek words in the total English vocabulary would be very high. There
are many words that hardly see the light of day outside of their respective
disciplines.

I'm looking at a Systematic Botany reference book this moment, and I quite
randomly find: *syngenesious*--with stamens united by their anthers. Words
like this-and there are many- would push the percentage numbers up for Latin
and Greek derived words.

If the percentage count is of commonly-used words in English, I trust the
number would much lower.

Eric

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org