Your Greek Word On A Sunday

(Intro & Piano music) I'm quite tempted to go into politics with this word and yes, this might be the time but it's not the place for it so, Αν (an) as a first component in a word, is a prefix and it means 'without'. One of the meanings of the word Αρχή (Arhe)is 'authority', 'a ruling body' . A society without a leading authority is in a state of ΑΝΑΡΧΙΑ/ANARCHY

(Intro & piano music) Welcome to the last episode of the season! I have a little gruesome myth for you today, so we can leave all the ugliness behind and step into the summer care free. Thant's what Greek myths do, no? He was one of the first humans, son of Zeus, King of Sipylus and of mythical wealth. He is also the one that kickstarted the rage and murder-curse that runs through the mythical families we see in Greek Dramas; by committing Hubris. Doubting that the Olympian gods knew everything , he decided to test them by killing his son, cooking him in stew and serving him up to the gods for dinner. They all, immediately, realised what they were eating of course, apart from Demeter who, absent minded from deep grief for her lost daughter Persephone, took a bite from the child's shoulder. Anyway, the gods brought the child back to life, replaced his shoulder with an ivory one moulded by Hephaestus himself, Zeus cursed all the King's descendants and of course, killed him by lightning. But that punishment wasn't enough. When the King got to Hades, he was placed standing on a river, surrounded by trees bearing fruit. Whenever he got hungry and reached up the branches would go just out of reach; and whenever he got thirsty and bent down to drink the water would vanish under his feet. His name became a verb for a form of psychological torture and the word came to England in the end of the 16th century from France. ΤΑΝΤΑΛΟΣ/TANTALISING.

(intro & piano music) Here are two words that started as part of one practice. A practice that was considered by philosophers, Kings and scientists a very serious one. Serious enough to be included in the 7 Liberal Arts. Do look that one up, it's very interesting. Αστήρ(Astir), Αστρο(Astro),Αστέρι (Asteri), means 'Star'. -Ology as a second component in a word, indicates the extensive and in depth knowledge of the first. For that to be achieved one needs to study. Νόμος (Nomos) in Greek means 'Law' but also, 'arrangement', 'order'; studying the arrangement of the stars and their relation to natural phenomena was the base for any Αστρολόγο (astrologo) worth their salt. Until the 17th century of course, the age of Enlightenment, where the stars would influence nature but not fate. And that was when one word went one way and the other diametrically across. In the 20th century , predictions based on the stars' alignment made their regular appearance in the papers while major discoveries in the previous century had helped scientists establish a deeper understanding of our universe. ΑΣΤΡΟΛΟΓΙΑ & ΑΣΤΡΟΝΟΜΙΑ /ASTROLOGY & ASTRONOMY

(intro & piano music) Since we seem to be having a mini summer here in the UK, I couldn't but do this word today. Καύμα (kavma) in both ancient and modern Greek means 'Heat'. There's a particular time of the day during a Greek summer where the sun burns very hot and the waters are still. That's around 3pm, what Greeks call 'midday', not because of the actual time but of the position of the sun being directly above you. The same goes for Italy of course and the Latin word for it is 'Calere' . In modern Italian 'Calma', in old French 'Calme' where the word, and the spelling of it, jumped to England around the 14th century. The application of the word to a psychological state, came about two centuries later. ΚΑΥΜΑ/CALM

(intro & piano music) Μονός (monos) means 'single', 'sole'. Πωλείν (polin) is an infinitive and it means 'to sell', 'to trade'. Someone having the sole trade of goods is having the ΜΟΝΟΠΩΛΕΙΟ/MONOPOLY

(intro & Piano music) Απο is a preposition and it means 'from' or 'as'. Θεός (Theos)means 'god' The combined infinitive that arrived in England , intact, during the 1600 from Latin. is αποθεούν (apotheoun) and it means to make someone god-like, to worship them like a god, to deify. ΑΠΟΘΕΩΣΗ/APOTHEOSIS

(Intro & piano music) Τρία (Tria) in Greek means 'Three'. Λόγος(Logos) means speech, rational thinking and...story. In ancient Greece, during theatre competitions, the playwrights could present a comedy. a tragedy, a satyrical drama or a tragedy split in three parts (there's is actually a number of combinations they could present from all the above but that's for another episode). The only complete three-part tragedy saved to this day is The Oresteia and I highly recommend you read it or watch it at some point. Now, those Tragedies were called a ΤΡΙΛΟΓΙΑ/TRILOGY

Υπό means 'under'. Θέση originally meant 'placement', 'position' . It still does but 'seat' is an equally used meaning. Anyway, today we'll focus on the meaning 'position', either literally or metaphorically. The combined word means the 'foundation', the basis of something and it arrived in English around the 1500 but got this particular meaning a century later. In the arts of rhetoric and debate, it's the basis of an argument. An ΥΠΟΘΕΣΗ/HYPOTHESIS.

(Intro & Piano music) What do you think when you hear the phrase 'Greek Summer'? The three S' right? Sea, Sun and Sunsets! Well..if you grow up in Greece, the minute the temperature rises above 25 you know you have to take cover when the sun is down. Κώνωψ (konops) in Ancient Greek and κουνούπι (kounoupe) in modern, means 'mosquito'. The Ancient Greeks (and the Egyptians) had devised a bed that could protect you from the nasty biters. They'd hang a cloth from the ceiling to cover the entire bed and sleep inside, protected. Conopeum in Latin, Canopeum in medieval Latin , Conope in old French, and Canapy in Middle English. Κωνωπείον/Canopy.

(Intro & Piano music) There are mentions in Ancient Greek texts of a plant's root used to ease Asthma and inflammation. It grows in Northern Greece(among other places in the world) and there's even a village named after it. Γλυκό means 'sweet', ρίζα means 'root'. The word travelled to Italy and then France-where the spelling used in America comes from. In fact, both spelling were used until the 1700 where the British spelling took over for a couple of centuries before it got separated for good; there's also a pronunciation inconsistency, the word doesn't end with 'sh' but still, that's how we pronounce it and that's because, in Cooper's Grammatica Linguae Agglicanae that was published in 1685 it was written that way. This word has a fascinating pronunciation history in the States and I highly recommend reading all about it. ΓΛΥΚΟΡΙΖΑ/LIQUORICE

(Intro & piano music) There is an ancient Greek epic poem called Theogony composed by Hesiodus in 7th century BC, about how the gods came to be. After his invocation to the muses, which was common practice in the epic poetry of the time, the poet writes: In the beginning there was only Χάος but then Γαία came into being with her broad chest, the ever firm foundation of all; and Τάρταρος, dim in the underground depths; and Ερως, loveliest of all the immortals who makes their bodies (as well as human bodies) go limp, mastering their minds and subduing their wills. This is just the beginning of course, the poem is written in 1022 hexameter verses. It was first translated in English in 1914 by Hugh G. Evelyn-White and it was plainly translated so everyone could read it. Γαία (Gaia) is the Earth, Ερως (Eros) is Love, Τάρταρος (Tartaros) is the centre, the core of the Earth and the ever expanding void that engulfs everything and nothing is the beginning of all ΧΑΟΣ/CHAOS

(intro & piano music) I've decided to keep this episode very short, in line with what the word means. Συν means 'with' and is also the word for mathematical sign of plus(+). Οψις or Οψη (opsis) means 'view'. The combined word means, seeing the sum, the summary of something. A ΣΥΝΟΨΗ/SYNOPSIS

(Intro & Piano music) This word followed the route most Greek words took to come here. Greek-Latin-Old French-Middle English-Modern English. It arrived around the 14th century and it hasn't changed meaning. Αλλος (Allos) means 'other', 'another', Αγορα (agora) was the place in Ancient Greece where you'd go to shop, socialise and listen to philosophers talk. Nowadays it just means 'Market' but the verb 'Αγορευω' (agorevo)meaning 'I speak in public', is still used like that. The combination of the two gives us the noun Αλληγορία (alligoria). It's when, primarily in literature, you talk of one thing but have secret or hidden meanings in your story. Αλληγορία/Allegory.

(Intro & piano music) Δείκνυμι (diknimi) is an ancient Greek verb and it means 'I show', 'I present'. Para is a preposition meaning 'beside'. The act of putting two or more things side by side to compare them or to make a point is called παραδειγματισμός (paradigmatismos) The noun came to England through France in the late 16th century and stayed intact. Παράδειγμα/ Paradigm

(Intro & piano music) I've decided to give myself a little cheerful research for a change and tell you a myth. These magnificent creatures were believed to be two things: the link between the human and the divine and initially, humans! There are many myths to support both beliefs so, here's my favourite one. When Dionysus was returning from the island of Naxos, he was captured by pirates and was about to be sold as a slave in the markets of the East. As soon as the god realised that, he turned the oars into snakes, spread vines on the mast, overflowed the hold with wine and a deafening music played. A music that came out of nowhere and drove the pirates mad, especially when they saw their captain morph into a lion and chase them off ship. Dionysus saved only the ones that repented by turning them into those beautiful creatures and in return they would carry him from down below to up above, every year. They were described by Aristotle in 350BC as 'mammals who have an organised society'. The word came to the English from the French and their name means 'Womb'. ΔΕΛΦΙΝΙΑ/DOLPHINS.

(intro & piano music) Ancient Greece has seen a fair amount of different types of ruling, from Kings to Democracy and it's been a bumpy ride. Άρχειν (archin) is an ancient Greek infinitive and it means 'to rule'. It has lasted a very long time due to its use as a second component of combined words. One of the political systems or structures rather, that still, unofficially, exists in society, is the ruling of a few socially prominent men -who happen to be rich as well. Aristotle was the first to coin the term and link it to wealth. Ολίγοι (oligi) in Ancient Greek and Λίγοι (ligi) in modern, means 'the few' and combined with the infinitive means, 'the ruling of the few'. In England the word came from France in the 15th century and sadly it's a word that we hear often today. Ολιγαρχία/Oligarchy

(Intro & Piano musi) In my search for information on this word in English, I was told by the internet, multiple times, that this is a very rare word. I say we bring it back. It's a word that has two meanings and while Greeks use the one, the English use the other. I do find this fascinating because there's no apparent reason why either language kept their version. The English one is based on how Plato -who also coined the term-used it and it arrived in England in the 17th century, via France. Φίλος (philos) means 'friend', Δόξα (doxa) means both 'opinion' and 'glory'. In Greek, the combined word means a friend of glory, an ambitious person. In English, it's someone who loves their own opinions, a dogmatic person a Φιλόδοξος/Philodox.

(intro & music) Δεσπόζω is an ancient Greek Verb, The adjective is Δεσποτικός and the noun Δεσπότης, meaning the absolute ruler of the land. The word didn't always have negative connotations , it was used for powerful people like the Pharaohs or the Emperors in the Byzantium and after 1453 when the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople, it became a rank in the orthodox priesthood as well. The word came to English in the 16th century through France and the current use didn't start until two centuries later. Meaning a single, cruel, ruler. Δεσποτικός/Despotic

(intro & piano music) Κατά (kata) is a preposition and, among other things, it means 'down'. Στροφή (strofi) means 'turn'. The combined word originally meant 'a turn for the worse' but it arrived in England through Latin literature in the 1500 where it was used to describe the ending of a dramatic work or the event that lead to it. In modern Greek it means 'Destruction' or, the same as in English, 'Disaster'. Καταστροφή/Catastrophe

(Intro &piano music) An Ελεγεία in ancient Greece was a religious poem made from two different verses. An hexameter and a pentameter. The poems escaped religion and started getting thematically wider but they all had one thing in common. Lament. Like the one used on the tombstone of the fallen 300 Spartans. 'Ω ξειν' αγγέλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις οτι τήδε κοίμεθα τοις κοίνων ρήμασι πειθόμενοι' -Oh stranger passing by, tell the Spartans that we're buried here, obeying their orders. In England, the poetry along with the style arrived from the French 'elegie' in the 16th century and stayed. Ελεγεία/Elegy

(intro & piano music) Music is primarily comprised of three parts, Αρμονία/Harmony, Ρυθμό/Rhythm and Μελωδία. That last one is a combined word from μέλος(melos) meaning 'part' and ωδή (ode) meaning 'song'. The level of complexity of a Μελωδία is what makes a song of clear and balanced form. In Latin it meant 'a balanced song', in French just 'song' and in English it has come to mean a 'tune'. Μελωδία/Melody

(intro & piano music) Ρις (Rhis) in ancient Greek (and as a medical term, in modern Greek too) menas 'nose'. Κέρας (Keras) means 'horn' . Since in Greek 'I' is pronounced as 'E' and the Greek alphabet doesn't have the letter 'C' at all, the Latin version of the combined word, has a different spelling. And that's how it arrived in England. In both languages however, a large animal with a horn above their nose is a Ρινόκερος/Rhinoceros

(Intro & piano music) Ανά (ana) in Greek, is both a preposition and a prefix depending on its use and one of its meanings is 'again'-'going over something'. Λύω (Lyo) is a verb and it means to dissolve, to loosen. So, when you loosen something or go over it again and again-both literally and metaphorically- you are doing an, ανάλυση/analysis.

(Intro & Piano music) Μυώ (meo) is an ancient Greek verb and it means I initiate someone into a religion, I induct. The ceremony for that induction is called a μυστήριον (mystirion). The biggest religious festival in ancient Greece was the Ελευσίνια μυστήρια (elefsinia mystiria) to celebrate and worship the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone. The festival would last nine days and people from all over Greece would travel to Athens to watch. Not all days were accessible to the public. Some would be and music, dance, food, theatre and re-enactments of Demeter's search for her daughter would take place. But the secret days were the ones where initiations happened. To this day, we know very little about what took place during days three and six and that's because revealing even the tiniest of detail, was punishable by death. The general idea was that the high priests would accept the new members by passing on the secret to the afterlife. The priests were called μύστες (mystes), the initiation μυστήριο (mystirio) and since secret and unknown things happened even after Christianity took over, and the festival ceased to exist, the word kept a meaning that engulfed all the festival was. In old French Mystere, in Latin Mysterium and in modern Greek the word for secret, Μυστικό/Mystic.

Before we start today, i'd like to reassure you that, there's nothing wrong with your podcast platform or this podcast. Human error however, made the episode supposed to be released last week, released much earlier. You can still listen to the word DECADE on the same Sunday Acme was released. That means the 26th of December 2021 came out with a double episode. Ok, on with today's word (intro & piano music) Συριγξ(Syrix) in Ancient Greek was the name of an Arcadian Nymph. When the god Pan was young, he fell in love with her and chased her to the shores of the river Λάδων (Ladon). She clearly wasn't interested because she hid among the canes by the shore. Pan never found her but he made his musical instrument, known as pan-pipe from those canes and named it,in Greek, after her. Later on, anything with the shape of a hollow cylinder would be named after her. From long tunnels to injection instruments, her name would reach medieval Latin as Syrinx , before landing in England. Συριγξ/Syringe

SYMPOSIUM/ΣΥΜΠΟΣΙΟ (intro with piano music) Happy New Year everyone! Today, we're going to talk about parties.The preposition 'συν' means with/together. Πόση means 'drink'. In ancient Greece a Συμπόσιο was a social gathering for men where they would, drink wine, recite poetry, converse and listen to musicians. Fun fact, they would dilute the wine with water as this was considered the civilized way of drinking it. And they would even appoint one person to set the ratio of water to wine at the beginning. That was the party after the dinner. Συμπόσιο/Symposium

DECADE/ΔΕΚΑΣ (Intro with piano music) Δέκα (Deka) in both ancient and modern Greek means, ten (so does Dasa in Sanskrit by the way). Δεκάς (dekas) means a group of ten ot ten parts of something, In Latin is Decadem and in English from the middle of the 15th century, it came to mean, ten years. Δεκάς/Decade

ACME/ΑΚΜΗ (Intro with piano music) With the winter solstice right behind us, New Year's eve coming up and this being the last episode of the year, I couldn't think of a better word. Ακμή in Greek means the highest point of something, both literally and metaphorically. And surprisingly, until the Middle Ages in England, it was written...in Greek! Ακμή/Acme

CAROLS/ΧΟΡΟΣ (Intro with piano music) Χορός (choros) in both modern and ancient Greek, means Dance. Αυλός (aulus) means pan-pipe or flute. In Ancient Greece there was a festival in honour of Dionysus, in that festival Theatre was born but also, a long tradition of religious dances to the sound of a flute. That tradition reached the Middle Ages where song and dance accompanied religious plays. That section was named choraula. In England and during the Protestant reformation in the 16th century, religious songs were translated from Latin so everyone could sing along. Those songs were names after the French and shortened version of choraula, Carole. Χορός/Carols.

SYMPTOM/ΣΥΜΠΤΩΜΑ Συν (syn) is a preposition and it means 'with' . Πίπτω (Pipto)is an ancient Greek verb ,still in use today, and one of its meanings is 'I occur'. The combined infinitive is Συμπίπτειν (sympiptin)and it means that something occurs at the same time as something else or as a result of something else. The noun is Συμπτωμα and it first appears in Middle English as 'synthoma' , to be replaced later by the French Symptome. Σύμπτωμα/Symptom.

MATHEMATICS/ΜΑΘΗΜΑΤΙΚΑ Μανθάνω (Manthano) in ancient Greek and Μαθαίνω (Matheno) in modern, means 'I learn'. Τέχνη (techne) means 'art' but also 'craft'. Around 600BC a man called Θαλής (Thales)of Miletus decided to put all his efforts in order to prove that not all phenomena are caused by the Gods but that all things are filled with Gods. That was the first step to deductive reasoning. His life, work and legacy are too big to fit in this episode so, do have a read about him if you find the time. Aristotle called him The Father Of Science, as he started measuring heights, distances, explaining earthquakes instead of fearing the God behind them, and asking all the right questions like, 'what is the nature of an object for it to behave that way?'. Gods started being more of a philosophical matter and science took centre stage. Learning was associated with science and excelling in it was considered a serious craft. Θαλής went on to put all sciences under one. In Latin, the study of science was called Ars Mathematica and today we just call it Μαθηματικά/Mathematics

HYPER/ΥΠΕΡ Words transitioning from the Greek Alphabet to the Latin one, usually get a do-over in both spelling and pronunciation. Thankfully in most of them, you can still detect similarities in the spelling. Today's word is one of them. Υπερ started as an adverb in Ancient Greek. It meant 'beyond' or 'over'. In modern Greek it is a preposition (or a prefix) and it means 'over the top'. So when combined with a word it magnifies it. In many ways it has the same use the word 'over' has. There is an added use in English too. Since 1946 it's been used as an adjective. But only in English. Υπερ/Hyper.

PANIC/ΠΑΝΙΚΟΣ Greek Myths are so complex and -more often than not- linked to each other that it's very difficult to focus on one story. Today's myth is one of those and I deliberately leave out a few of the names and details of this story but I promise to make separate episodes for those. Hermes and one of the mountain Nymphs had a son. A son with the body of a man, horns in his head and goat legs for feet. His mother got so frightened seeing the newborn that she abandoned him. Hermes picked him up and took him to Mount Olympus. He grew up to be the Greek god of lust, fun and general mischief. A devoted follower of Dionysus and Apollo's musical rival. Legend has it that one day, he was chasing a nymph in the woods but she managed to get away by asking the river Λάδων to save her and the river transformed her into a cane. The boy cried but he heard his voice going through the canes and make sound. He gathered a few canes, put them together and blew. Music! From that day on, he would keep all herds calm by playing music, he would be the protector of farmers but when he got mischievous , he'd jump-scare everyone and everything with weird sounds that would spread through the forests. the boy's name was Παν(Pan), his musical instrument we know as a pan-pipe and that unexpected terror animals and people would feel from time to time, was named Πανικός/Panic

DRACONIAN/ΔΡΑΚΟΝΤΙΑ

ECOLOGY/ΟΙΚΟΛΟΓΙΑ

SARCOPHAGUS/ΣΑΡΚΟΦΑΓΟΣ

PERIPATETIC/ΠΕΡΙΠΑΤΟΣ

LETHARGY/ΛΗΘΑΡΓΟΣ

ANECDOTE/ΑΝΕΚΔΟΤΟ

TRIUMPH/ΘΡΙΑΜΒΟΣ

POLYGLOT/ΠΟΛΥΓΛΩΣΣΟΣ

PATRIARCHY/ΠΑΤΡΙΑΡΧΙΑ

PARALLEL/ΠΑΡΑΛΛΗΛΟ

MONASTERY/ΜΟΝΑΣΤΗΡΙΟΝ

PROGRAMME/ΠΡΟΓΡΑΜΜΑ

HARMONY/ΑΡΜΟΝΙΑ

HELICOPTER/ΕΛΙΚΟΠΤΕΡΟ

HYDRATE/ΥΔΩΡ

BUCOLIC/ΒΟΥΚΟΛΙΚΟ

APOTHECARY/ΑΠΟΘΗΚΑΡΙΟΣ

GENERATION/ΓΕΝΝΕΑ