| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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Appendix I
Indo-European Roots |
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| ENTRY: | ser-2 |
| DEFINITION: | To line up. 1. series, sertularian; assert, desert3, dissertate, exert, exsert, insert, from Latin serere, to arrange, attach, join (in speech), discuss. 2. Suffixed form *ser-mon-. sermon, from Latin serm (stem sermn-), speech, discourse. 3. Perhaps suffixed form *ser- -. sear2, serried, from Latin sera, a lock, bolt, bar (? < “that which aligns”). 4. Suffixed zero-grade form *s -ti-. sorcerer, sort; assort, consort, ensorcel, sortilege, from Latin sors (stem sort-), lot, fortune (perhaps from the lining up of lots before drawing). (Pokorny 4. ser- 911.) |
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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