1. Some time last year, I was watching a movie (I don't remember the name but I do remember when I watched it because my memory is weird), and one of the characters said, "ergo". Being familiar with the popular Latin phrase "Cogito, ergo sum.", I recognized "ergo" as the Latin word for "therefore".
2. While looking at the periodic table in my bedroom (yes, I have a periodic table poster hanging over my bed), I noticed that the atomic symbol for gold was "Au". The word "gold" had neither of these letters in it, but I remembered the Latin word for gold, "aurum" I then concluded that the atomic symbol for gold was derived from its Latin word.
3. Just earlier today, I was again perusing my periodic table when I looked at scandium, and realized that it looked similar to "Scandia", the Roman name for Scandinavia (which is a key part of my world domination plot).
4. Earlier this month, I was reading through the second book in the Fablehaven series when I came across the word "cogitator". Again recalling the aforementioned phrase "Cogito, ergo sum.", I guessed that "cogitator" meant "thinker", and according to the dictionary, I was correct.
5. Last year, we were reading "The Odyssey" in English class. This epic is almost entirely based upon Greek mythology, and I recognized many of the key events due to prior knowledge of Roman mythology (more specifically, I recognized the names of gods like Zeus and matched their names to those of their Roman counterparts (Jupiter in this case)).
One of the reasons that Latin is so impactful is that it has derivatives in so many languages. These languages were, and are, spoken by the powerful countries that helped shape the modern world. Because of this, Latin has served as the foundation for much of the civilization we have today.
-Connor Ramsey
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