Learning some "Ine" words

A rather painless, and even fun, way to learn your Latin and Greek roots is to look at words under several categores of endings and then study the roots that give birth to the word. For example, you can have a lot of fun with words ending in "form," such as in this essay. One could focus on the ending "ology" and come up with hundreds of words that talk about the various disciplines. Then, we could focus on "mancy" as the suffix and look at tons of words. Today, however, I will focus on the little ending "ine," which means "like." I will begin with a list of some "easy" "ines" and then move to difficult ones.

In many instances the "ine" word is built off the Linnaean name of the plant/animal under consideration. For example, the mascot of Oregon State University is the beaver. The Latin word for beaver is "castor." Indeed, I didn't know until today that "castor oil," that oil that the Hardy Boys were forced to drink by their Aunt Gertrude, if memory serves me right, is derived from the beaver. The OED defines "castor" oil as:

"A reddish-brown unctuous substance, having a strong smell and nauseously bitter taste, obtained from two sacs in the inguinal region of the beaver.."

By the way, an unctuous person is smug or self-satisfied (the original word has to do with oil or some ointment spread on a person, sometimes leading to inspiration--the "unction of the Holy Spirit"). Thus an unctuous substance is oily or greasy. Back to beavers. The genus name of the beaver is Castor. One has the Castor fiber (European beaver) and Castor canadensis (American beaver). Something that is "beaver-like" is castorine. One could call a beaver-dam an example of castorine discipline.

Starting Easily

Here are some "ine" words that everyone should know: feline, canine, equine, bovine (ox-like), piscine, riverine (in this case it means dwelling on the banks of a river or riparian); porcine, serpentine and tigrine. Something vulpine is like a wolf; a vespine thing is "wasp-like" (though, it occurs to me, what is wasp-like that isn't itself a wasp?). Thus, you have your first 11 words (if you include castorine). Some terms in theology or religion are built in this way. You have the Sibylline books from antiquity; if something is backed by the authority of St. Peter, it is Petrine; a letter that is properly attributed to the Apostle Paul would be Pauline. Something that is lion-like is leonine; bear-like is ursine; bull-like is taurine.

More Difficult (And Fun) Ine-Words

Volucris, along with avis, is the Latin word for "bird." The word "avian" has entered into our vocaulary of Late to refer to a kind of influenza that is gripping the planet now, but there is no corresponding word "avine." But there is a word volucrine, which means "bird-like." "The volucrine clamor continued unabated, and when I came downstairs I was not surprised at the sight that awaited me. The passage was filled with bird-cages." The Volucres (from volare, to fly) are "the first tribe of the third order of Passeres (oh, yes, we have passerine, too, don't we?, to refer to something "sparrow-like") consisting of many birds difficult to classify precisely. Something vitrine is glassy or glass-like, though the word more commonly used to express the same idea is vitreous. A rare word, according to the OED is vituline, which means "of or belonging to a calf or calves." From James Russell Lowell in 1870 comes this memorable quotation: "If a double allowance of vituline brains deserves such honor, there are few commentators on Shakespeare that would have gone afoot."

The Hard Ones

Let's finish with about 15 more "ine" words. A very useful word is sphingine or "sphinx-like" or enigmatic, inscrutable. "When the Jehovah's Witness missionaries come to my front door, I put on my most sphingine smile and say that I am fully satisfied with my eternal prospects." Or, "One of the characteristics making for his effectiveness was an ability to convince everyone that he was on their side. His chief weapon in accomplishing this was a sphingine smile." Then, phocine relates to or is characteristic of a seal. The Linnaean name of the subfamily of which it is a part is Phocinae. The phocodont is an extinct whale with teeth resembling those of seals. Did you know that phocomelia (seal + limb) is a congenital malformation in which the long bones of one or more limbs are absent or rudimentary, resulting in the hand or foot being attached close to the trunk--like a seal? Well, that is the way it is...

The dozen or so I have left on my list consist of: (1) cervine--deer-like; (2) lacertine--lizard-like; (3) limacine--slug-like; (4) ranine--frog-like; (5) psittacine--parrot-like; (6) quercine--oak-like. You can stop here and imagine the way that some of these can be used in contexts far beyond simply describing an oak or a frog. "See the general, standing quercine in the battle." "The lacertine movements of the burglar as he slithered in through the window were a wonder to behold." One more. Something vespertine pertains to the evening. But vespertilian relates to bats, even though there is no word "vespertiline," at least in the OED.

Finishing up, then, we have (7) caprine-- goat-like; (8) hircine--also goat-like, but emphasizing the bad odor that comes from them or the lustfulness of goats or other creatures; (9) pavonine--peacock-like (e.g., "pavonine strutting"); (10) anserine--duck or goose-like; (11) rangerine or rangiferine-- reindeer-like; (12) sciurine--squirrel-like; (13) pisine--resembling a woodpecker; and (14) accipitrine--hawk or eagle-like. This also refers to something that is rapacious or keen-sighted. I suppose I found one more: (15) suilline--relating to hogs or swine. This word has also been written suine.

Some web sites give us much longer lists of "ine" words, but the thirty or so here ought to encourage you to go more deeply into the words and the phenomena behind words. Begin with things that are visible; then slowly build to abstraction. Use these words, however, and your appreciation of life (and ability to win spelling bees) will increase....

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