It can be incredibly helpful to understand the root of words and where they came from to help you learn a language. If you understand why a word is spelled the way it is, it is often easier to remember. This helped me a lot when I was learning Spanish, because there are many cognates, so the Spanish word looks very similar to the English word.
This principle does not always apply in ASL, though. ASL speakers use English words, so you still imagine the English word in your head as you are moving your hands to show the sign. It can be helpful, however, to think of why the people who originally created ASL decided to use a certain sign for a certain word. ASL is constantly being updated, so maybe the way a word was signed in the past is no longer applicable to the present day. In this instance, it can be helpful to know the history of the word and why it needed to be changed.
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