Developing Strong Vocabulary
This list contains 1,471 Latin words which occurred twenty times or more in the literature examined In this study and at least ten times in the classical Latin alone. They included 83.6 per cent of the words in the three anthologies, and 84.4 per cent of the words in ten short passages from representative classical authors (which had not been included in the anthologies) were found to occur in this list. We therefore predict that this basic vocabulary will enable the reader to recognize directly about 85 per cent (in round numbers) of all the words he will ever read In Latin literature and to deduce the meaning of about 10 per cent more as derivatives or compounds of known words, or as obvious roots of known English derivatives.
From a dissertation by Paul Diederich, 1939, University of Chicago. For the full text go here.
Below, you will find the 1471 words that Diederich recommends divided by his catagories into Quia.com flash card drills. If you practice with three sets of flash cards each day (two one day) you will work through all of them each week.
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| Nouns and Related Words: Gods, Time, Sky, Fire |
Nouns and Related Words: Water, Earth and Plants |
Nouns and Related Words: Food |
Nouns and Related Words: Mind, Feelings, Talk, Writing, Work, Play, City and Buildings |
Nouns and Related Words: Military, Government, Social Approval |
Nouns and Related Words: Evil, Death, Abstractions and Unclassified Words |
Pronouns |
| Verbs and Related Words Which Affect the Location of the Subject |
Verbs and Related Words Which Affect the Location of the Object, part 1 |
Verbs and Related Words Which Affect the Location of the Object, Part 2 |
Verbs and Related Words Which Express or Affect the State of the Subject |
Verbs and Related Words Which Affect the State of the Object, and Constructive Activities |
Verbs and Related Words: Destructive Activities, Verbs Affecting other Verbs, Vocal Activities |
Verbs and Related Words: Mental and Sensory Operations |
| Verbs and Related Words: Favor and Disfavor |
Adjectives and Related Words: Size, Number, Texture-Density |
Adjectives and Related Words: Appearance, Position, Time, Favorable |
Adjectives--Unfavorable, Unclassified; Adverbs and Related Words |
Adverbs, Interjections and Conjunctions |
Prepositions and Prefixes |
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