transfer

Transfer is an excellent example of how a little knowledge of Latin can go a long way.Transfer entered English around 1350–40. It ultimately derives from the Latin verb trānsferre, which principally meant “to carry or bring across.” The verb is composed of two parts. The first part is trāns-, a prefix based on the adverb and preposition trāns, meaning “across, beyond, through.” The second part is ferre, a verb meaning “to bear, carry,” among many other senses. The English verb bear, as in “bearing a load,” is actually an etymological cousin to the Latin ferre.Trāns- and ferre appear in many other English words. Let’s start with ferre. Prefer comes from the Latin praeferre, “to bear or set before”. Refer comes from the Latin referre, “to bring back”. Infer comes from inferre, “to bring in”. This next origin may put a new spin on the word for you: suffer comes from sufferre, literally “to bear under,” with suf- a variant of sub- “under.” Defer and deference ultimately comes from—slight curveball here—differre, “to bear apart, carry away.” Differre is also the source of differ, different, and difference.Now for trāns-. Trāns– was incredibly productive in Latin. That means it was used to produce many new words, especially verbs that have made their way into English, including:transacttranscendtranscribetransfiguretransfixtransformtransfusetransmittranspireDoes knowing that trāns- means “across, beyond, through” shed any new light on what these words mean?Some other common words directly derived from Latin and featuring trāns- are transit, translucent, and transparent.Trāns-, naturalized as trans–, is also very productive in English. Some familiar examples include transconintental, trans-fat, and transgender.Dig deeper Translate is another word related to transfer—and not just because they both feature the trans- prefix.Now, English has irregular verbs: saw is the past tense of see, for instance, and bought is the past tense of buy. Latin had irregular verbs, too, as do many other languages. Without getting too technical, the verb ferre formed past tenses based on tulī, and formed part participles based on lātus. That means translate is derived from the past participle form of transfer: trānslātus, literally “carried across,” as in a text that has been copied over.Isn’t it wild how so many words are related? Yep, relate—along with relationship, relation, and many other words—comes from the past participle form of referre, which was relātus.