5

Judging by the derivative chain lecture appears to be the root itself (comp. lecture, lectur-er, lecture-ship, un-lectur-ed etc.). But I'm not sure if it can be divided by analogy with failure (to fail), creature (to create), departure (to depart) etc. The question is whether "lecture" functions as a monomorphemic or bimorphemic word in Modern English.

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

I think one can safely deem "lecture" as monomorphemic, as its etymology, by Etymonline.com, shows:

late 14c., "action of reading, that which is read," from M.L. lectura "a reading, lecture,"

As you can see, it comes from the Latin word lectura, which means that "lecture" is itself the root word, as its Latin root isn't something like lec or tur. This can be compared to other monomorphemic words, such as "wait" as well as "man"

Improve this answer
1
  • 3
    Of course in Latin it is not monomorphemic, but that is irrelevant.
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Aug 19, 2011 at 14:23

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .