Glossary-3

1.      Humor 

(a) The quality of being amusing or comical;

(b) The ability to perceive, enjoy, or express what is comical or funny;

(c) In medieval physiology, one of the four fluids of the body, blood, phlegm, choler, and black bile, the dominance of which was thought to determine a person’s character and general health.

   The word ‘humor’ was derived from Latin word and Latin word ‘humor’ was derived from Old French, ‘umor’, which was derived from Middle English, ‘fluid’.

   Humorous（adj.）－→ [humor] ＋ [ous]

   [ous] is a suffix which used to form an adjective.  Suffix [ous] means ‘having, being or pertaining to’.

2.      Evaluate

(a)    To ascertain or fix the value or worth of something;

(b)   To examine and judge carefully;

(c)    To calculate or set down the numerical value.

The word ‘evaluate’ was a back-formation, which was derived from French, and the French was derived from Old French ‘evaluer’. 

‘evaluate’ －→’e’ + ‘value’ + ‘ate’

    Prefix ’e’ is an allomorph of ‘ex’, meaning ‘out’.

    Suffix ‘ate’ used to form a verb.

Before ‘value’ is attached by ‘ate’, there is an E-DELETION rule applied.  As a result, ‘value’ becomes ‘valu’ and the final form becomes:

’e’ + ‘valu’ + ‘ate’ －→ evaluate

3.      Contest

(a)    A struggle for superiority or victory between rivals;

(b)   A competition, esp. one in which entrants perform separately and are rated by judges.

The word ‘contest’ was derived Old French, ‘conteste’, meaning ‘to call to witness’ and the Old French was derived from Latin, ‘contestari’: com- (intensive) + testis, meaning ‘witness’.