Nowadays, few people learn Greek. I learned the language from the age of 9 till 13, and I hated every minute of it. So thank goodness nobody suffers that kind of thing nowadays.
However, knowledge of the Greek origin of some words can be fascinating and also helpful in remembering those words.
For example, dipterocarp, the dominant tree in many of the forests of Brunei, comes from the Greek di ('two') + ptero ('wing') + carp ('fruit'). So it is a tree with fruit that has two wings. It seems to me that this kind of knowledge would help people to remember the word.
Another word using ptero is pterodactyl, which is from the Greek ptero ('wing') + dactyl ('finger'). So it is a creature with winged fingers.
And then we can consider just the dactyl part. In poetry, a dactyl is a rhythmic beat consisting of a strong beat followed by two weak beats. And the origin is this: each of our fingers has three parts, a long part (closest to the palm) and two shorter parts. So a dactyl beat is just like the structure of the finger.
Finally, we might consider another rhythmic beat, the anapest, which comes from the Greek ana ('reversed') + pest ('beat'); and the anapest is the dactyl reversed, with two short beats followed by a longer one.
I've always found it hard to remember the different kinds of beat (dactyl, anapest, iamb, trochee); but I think I will now be able to remember dactyl and anapest with no problem.
While it is splendid that nobody has to suffer four years of learning Greek like I did, maybe knowledge of the origins of a few words of English that come from Greek roots would be interesting and helpful.
