This crossword puzzle requires
NO KNOWLEDGE OF LATIN.
Vocabulary NotesANTE: The Latin root
ante means "before" or "in front" (not to be confused with the Greek prefix
anti- meaning "opposite" or "against"). The Latin adjective
anticus means "front" and the adjective
antiquus means "ancient" (coming before us in time). For words that entered the English language via French, the
ant- is altered to
anc- (as in the English word "ancient").
POST: The Latin root
post means "behind" or "after" (not to be confused with the perfect passive stem of the verb
pono, meaning "put," as in the English words "position," "post," etc.).
Instructions: Below you will see a list of clues. The answers are English words built from the Latin roots. Sometimes you will need to supply the whole word, and sometimes part of the word is supplied for you. For example, if the clue is "before the war: ante___" the answer is "antebellum," but you will only write "bellum" in the puzzle, since the "ante" part of the word is already supplied for you in the clue. At the very bottom, there is a complete list of the words used in the puzzle, arranged in alphabetical order, with notes about the words with interesting or unusual etymologies.
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Here are the clues:
ACROSS 1. playful trick or joke
2. after birth: post___
6. obsolete: anti___
7. future generations
9. advanced studies: post___
12. to place the initial bet
13. after noon (abbreviation)
14. past generations, line of descent
16. added to the end of a letter
18. to precede in time: ante___
19. belonging to previous generations
20. concluding piece of music: post___
21. small room leading into a larger room
DOWN1. near the front, coming before
2. absurd
3. autopsy: post___
4. collector of old books: anti___
5. ancient time, distant past
7. behind, near the back
8. prior to the Flood: ante___
10. before noon (abbreviation)
11. happening after death: post___
12. forebear, progenitor
13. after a meal: post___
14. extremely old, ancient
15. word referred to by pronoun: ante___
16. to put off to a future time: post___
17. before the war: ante___
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Word List: am, ancestor, ancestral, ancestry, ante, antebellum, antecedent, antedate, antediluvian, anterior, anteroom, antic, antiquarian, antiquated, antique, antiquity, pm, posterior, posterity, postgraduate, posthumous, postlude, postmortem, postpartum, postpone, postprandial, preposterous, ps
antic: This word entered the English language via Italian, from the Renaissance word
antico, "ancient," referring to the strange and weird images that were found in the ancient murals that were being excavated and studied at the time. The word then became extended to refer to weird and funny things in a broader sense.
posthumous: This word represents a typical mix-up in the later use of the word. Originally, the word was "postumus," meaning "last," and in particular "last-born," as in the case of a child born after the father's death. Through this association with death, the word became confused with the Latin word
humare, "to bury in the ground" (hence the English word "exhume," when a body is retrieved from burial). This confusion with
humare caused an alteration in the spelling of the word, resulting in our English word "posthumous."
preposterous: Something that is preposterous has its behind, "post," going in front, "pre." In other words: upside-down, topsy-turvey, ass-backwards, etc.
