Whither Tango?

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

Justin Johansson wrote:
> 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
> 

retro and iota rock.

Andrei