Three Abecedaria aims to equip readers to become logophiles, or lovers of words, by introducing them to the world of etymology. Reedy shares his own “logophilia” with readers as he leads them meandering through the world of words.

Most abecedaria are for small children—"A is for apple; B is for ball; C is for cat," etc. These abecedaria are for high school students, especially juniors and seniors, who may want to increase their vocabularies—"A is for Apocalypticism; B is for Benediction; C is for Cogito ergo sum," etc. The abecedaria are organized by language: Words Derived from Greek, Words Derived from Latin, and Words Derived from Latin Phrases.

Each abecedarium highlights English words derived from Latin or Greek, provides etymological explanations, and explores related English derivatives from the same roots.

This workbook is specifically constructed for students studying Latin. Veteran teacher Elizabeth Heimbach organizes English derivatives by topic—two chapters devoted to affixes, twelve chapters presenting special topics like mythology, and eleven chapters featuring grammar-related derivatives like prepositions and deponent verb derivatives. A student-friendly and engaging narrative presents derivatives and demonstrates the symbiotic relationship between Latin and English. The text provides students the skills and practice to apply word-building analysis to their study of both Latin vocabulary and English derivatives.

Master teacher Elizabeth Heimbach has developed an indispensable resource for the busy novice or veteran Latin teacher. She provides comprehensive answers to all the questions in the student workbook. Recognizing that practice is key to mastery, the Teacher’s Manual includes two quizzes for each chapter. To assist teachers who need to track student learning, three sets of diagnostic and post-study tests help document student progress.

Unlike most etymology textbooks, this one presents the words studied in the context of the ideas in which the words functioned. Instead of studying endless lists of word roots, suffixes, and prefixes in isolation, the words are enlivened by the social, literary, and cultural media in which they were used. Readers are introduced to a wide variety of topics from classical antiquity, entertained by clever cartoons, and are able to practice their word knowledge with exercises.

This Answer Key contains answers to all the Exercises, Word Study, and For Consideration questions in the popular etymology in context textbook, Words & Ideas.