What does saga mean?
Word: Saga
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Saga means a long story of many events, often following one family over many years.
Synonyms: epic
How do you spell saga?
Syllables: sa - ga
Tricky part: Both vowels are a single a. The ending sounds like uh, so some students add an h, and the long first a tempts others to double it.
Watch out for: sagah, saaga, sagga
Memory tip: A saga goes on and on, so the same a comes back twice: sa, then ga.
Saga in a sentence
Example 1: The saga of the missing house keys kept our family busy all morning.
Example 2: She is writing a saga about a family of tea planters in Assam.
Example 3: The cricket saga of the two rival schools began in 1950.
Fun Fact
Saga is related to the English word say: at first it simply meant something said, a story.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word saga as used in the sentence:
The film tells the saga of three generations of a fishing family in Kerala.
a) puzzle
b) chronicle
c) rumour
d) lecture
Show answer
b) chronicle. A chronicle tells events in the order they happened, much as a saga does.
Spell-o-Spell
Three of these words are spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of the one that is not.
1. saga 2. fable 3. legend 4. mithology
a) an old story that may or may not be true
b) a short story that teaches a lesson
c) the old stories of a people about gods and heroes
d) a long story of many events
Show answer
c) the old stories of a people about gods and heroes. Mythology starts with myth, so mithology is wrong; saga, legend and fable are right.
Mingle-Mangle
The sentence contains a jumbled word. Choose the word it hides:
Grandpa's gaas of how he came to the city by bullock cart lasted the whole evening.
a) sago
b) sage
c) saga
d) gala
Show answer
c) saga. The jumble has two a's and no o, e or l, so it can only be saga.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The saga of the Pandavas has been told by storytellers in every corner of India for centuries, and children still lisen to it with wonder.
a) saga
b) storytellers
c) lisen
d) centuries
Show answer
c) lisen. Listen has a silent t after the s.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Calling a long delay at the airport a saga suggests that it ____.
a) was over in a few minutes
b) happened only in a dream
c) went on and on with many twists
d) was a pleasant surprise
Show answer
c) went on and on with many twists
2. The original sagas were long prose stories written down in medieval ____.
a) Japan
b) Peru
c) Iceland
d) Egypt
Show answer
c) Iceland
