On Words as Processed Meats

Getting ready for work this morning and thinking about work things, I planned to explain to one of my programmers that something was extraneous. Recalling that he is from India, I wondered if he would know this word or be able to infer the meaning. That is when it occurred to me that extraneous is all prefix and suffix with no root to connect them. Upon arrival in the office I confirmed on Encyclopedia.com: Dictionary of Etymology: "extraneous XVII. f. L. extrāneus; see EXTRA-, -EOUS." How strange--an entire word made up of the trimmings of other words. The verbal equivalent of sausage.