Exercise: All Things Great and Small
What adjectives does your target language use to talk about size?
In Latin we have:
breuis (short, small; in height, distance, or time) root of “brief”
humilis (low, lowly, small) _ – root of “humility”
paruus (small, cheap, unimportant)
paruulus (small, young, insufficient) – this is actually a diminutive of the regular paruus
paulus / polus (small, a small quantity of, a little bit of)
quantulus (how small or trifling)
pusillus (tiny, petty, insignificant)
magnus (large, great, important) – root of “magnificent”
amplus (large, roomy, abundant) – root of “ample”
capáx (wide, large, spacious) – root of “capacious”
grandis (full-grown, large, powerful) – root of “grand”
(This also goes to show an interesting fact about English – lower-class speakers would likely almost never use any of these Latin-derived words, preferring Anglo-Saxon alternatives: thus quick for brief, roomy for capacious etc. If you’re from the English working-class and I’m wrong, feel free to correct me…)