Whenever you sit back and relax in your home, you're exemplifying the origins of the word "residence." That's because "residence" literally means "to sit back." It derives from the Latin "resideo," a combination of "re-" (back) and "sedeo" (sit).

And whenever you stay at home, you're demonstrating the origin of "manor" and "mansion." Both words derive from the Latin "manere" (to stay, remain), because a manor or mansion or even a McMansion is a place where people like to stay, especially if it has a pool.

As long as we're staying home, let's do a room-by-room search for word origins. We'll start in the ...

—attic — Attica, the ancient Greek state that included Athens, was well-known for a conspicuous feature of its large buildings: a top story, adorned with columns, built between the cornice and roof.

During the 1700s, London architects began replicating this "Attic style," including its distinctive top story. Within a few decades, "attic" had become a general term for the space immediately below the roof of any building.

—kitchen — Like "attic," the name for this room derives from an ancient language. The Latin word for "to cook" was "coquere," a root that gives us our words "cook," "cuisine" and "kitchen," which evolved from "coquere" into the Old English "cycene" into the Middle English "kitchene."

—cellar — The English word "cellar," derived from the Latin "cella" (a small room), originally referred to a collection of cells or compartments used for storage, whether they were above or below ground. (This "storage" meaning still survives in "cellarette," a case or sideboard for holding bottles of wine or liquor.)

But because people stored things most often in below-ground rooms, "cellar" came to mean "basement."

—foyer — This word for a small hall or entryway didn't appear in English until the early 1800s. Because such rooms often had small fireplaces, "foyer" is derived from the vulgar Latin "focarium" (a hearth room), which itself comes from the Latin "focus" (hearth).

—parlor — The French word "parler" meant "to speak," so English speakers called the room where people hold polite conversations the "parlor."

Other English words derived from the French "parler" include "parley" (confer), "parliament" (a place for political discussion), "parlance" (a manner or mode of speech) and "Parkay" (the brand of margarine that talks). Just kidding.

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.