confession: roots

Okay, I confess, I *really* don't understand roots.  I understand that
languages evolve from earlier languages, but my understanding of a root is
that it is not a useable word, just a sliver of meaning, and how the hell
did that ever evolve?  Or is a root just the earlier word stripped of its
grammar?

So, like, the roots for "philosopher" are philo- and soph-, but the words
they come from are "philia" and "sophia."

Another question: roots, I know, in Hebrew consist only of consonents,
usually three of them (hence, QTL contains ideas of killing, and depending
upon vowels and stuff it changes its meaning).  What about other roots,
though?  How do they derive words?  Is it always regular?  So the root
"cook" means preparing food, and if we put the suffix -er on it, it
indicates a person who makes food, but never a kind of duck.




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