Whither Tango?

[Justin Johansson]

Jérôme M. Berger wrote:
> Justin Johansson wrote:
>> Yigal Chripun wrote:
>>> Hum, didn't you mean a link to a *Latin* dictionary? ;)
>> You are quite correct to pull me up on that one.  I guess to
>> be more specific I should have said a post-classical Latin
>> dictionary in which occurrence of said "retro" is more common.
>>
>> btw. (and you gotta blow your trumpet sometimes) I won
>> First Prize for Latin at secondary college :-)
>>
> 	Hum, except that both "retro" and "iota" are actually Greek, not
> Latin...
> 
> 		Jerome

I don't give an iota about iota.  In my dictionary retro is a
Latin prefix.  However in post-classical Latin it is not uncommon
to come across words that have a Greek origin.  Me thinks we are
both right on this occasion; retro is a Latin prefix; it's in a
Latin dictionary and its etymology appears to have a Greek connection.

retro- pref. repr. L. retrō- adv. (‘behind’) used in combination as in 
retrospicere (cf. RETROSPECT), retrogradus (see next), f. RE- + compar. 
suffix as in intrō- INTRO-; in anat. and path. denoting ‘situated 
behind’ the part of the body indicated by the second el., as 
retro-ocular, -uterine.

T. F. HOAD. "retro-." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English 
Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 20, 2010). 
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-retro.html


http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=retro-

http://ewonago.wordpress.com/what-is-the-relation-between-latin-and-greek/

http://ewonago.blogspot.com/2009/12/etymology-of-retro.html