608: -graphy Aug 7, 2016

Sometimes the suffixes and other elements that people learn can have a meaning that is generally true and is easy to understand, but is not always going to be appropriate. '-graphy' in most cases means or has the meaning of 'writing', even in the word 'pornography' which comes from the Greek 'pornographos' meaning ‘writing about prostitutes’, which comes from 'pornē' meaning ‘prostitute’. Likewise, the word 'topography' comes from late Middle English ultimately from the Greek 'topographia' the later form of 'topographein', which is a compound of 'topos' meaning ‘place’ and '-graphien'. Topography, is related to the word 'carve' which comes from Old English 'ceorfan', in that 'carve' is related to the Greek word 'graphein' which had often also denoted carving, as opposed to just writing.