Greek word etymology thread

[Kyriakos]

No, theme (thema) is another word alltogether. Comes from tithemai, which means "to be set". Not sure if the byzantine meaning of thema was entirely the same as the contemporary greek one, but it sort of makes sense to suggest that the administrative regions were called that as things which were set, ie stable

 

[aelf]

Some more spicy words:

Demon and Cacodemon. Demon is the greek term Daimon (Δαίμω&#957. Originally it didnt have a negative connotation, something which appears to have happened with the rise of christianity. Caco is the greek word for Evil. Thus a Cacodemon is an evil demon

Cacodemon?

 

[classical_hero]

Time for some words made by non-greeks

Telephone. Comes from Tele (Remember Telemach?) which means "from afar" and Phone, which means voice. So it is a voice from afar, quite poetic

So a telescope basically means to look afar?

 

[Kyriakos]

Yes, my dictionary notes that it was a word made in France. From tele and Scopo, which is not existant on its own in contemporary greek, but exists for example in the rather archaic term episkopo (episcope, a term of the church, is from that as well) which means to observe keenly.

So Telescope (Telescopio in greek) is a device which can enable you to look something which is very far away

 

[Kyriakos]

Time for some more animals

Rhinocerus. The word is not ancient (although we all know that 300 prooves the ancient Spartans fought rhinoceroi ). Comes from Rin (nose) and Keras (horn). So it means nose-horned.

Octopus. Comes from Octo (th egreek word for the number eight) and pous, which means leg. So it means eight-legged.

 

[Kyriakos]

And some machines

Automaton. Comes from auto (means "it") and maio (to will). Thus it is an object that has a will of its own. Automaton, as i had mentioned in an old thread, was the word used for 'robot', until the latter replaced it. Talos, the mechanic giant guardian of Crete was an Automaton

Mecha. Mecha comes from Mechane, which is the greek word for "machine". Apo Mechanes Theos= Deus Ex Machina The root is Mechos, which means "medium", and is to be taken as a means to enlarge human applied force.

 

[classical_hero]

Pornography.

 

[Kyriakos]

Pornography.

The word didnt exist in ancient Greece, as far as i can deduce from my dictionary. Other than that it comes from Porne (this is one word for "whore", but the more ancient one is "Hetera" ) and Grapho, which means "to write". So it is writing about whores/whoring..

edit: Hetera has the same root as Alexander the great's Heteroi. Both mean companion/companions, "hetera" being the feminine form of the word. The root Heteros also has another meaning, which is "other; different" and it is that second meaning which exists in the term heterosexual (obviously the word "sex" is not greek, eros being the one used for that)

 

[kulade]

Kyriakos, a semi-topical question: how much of classical, koine, or Byzantine Greek is intelligible to the modern speaker of Greek? I am familiar with many of the many grammatical differences, but could a modern speaker understand or at least surmise the meaning of a passage written more than two-thousand years ago?

 

[Kyriakos]

Kyriakos, a semi-topical question: how much of classical, koine, or Byzantine Greek is intelligible to the modern speaker of Greek? I am familiar with many of the many grammatical differences, but could a modern speaker understand or at least surmise the meaning of a passage written more than two-thousand years ago?

Hi Kulade

It really depends on the text. For example even a kid from school can read the original New Testament, which was written in the simplest form of ancient greek so that people could read it easily.

Then for other things, personally i can try to guess the meaning of sentences, since parts of them i know, other parts seem familiar, and then finally there are parts which are entirely alien, be it a differenc ein grammar or terms which do not exist in contemporary greek. But i always check the original text as well as the one in contemporary greek, to see how much i got right

As for Byzantine, it is pretty much the same. The grammar seems identical, at least to a non-glossologist (linguist), but some words are strange. Also sometimes the word is identical to a modern one, but it means something different...

edit: it would seem that some later ancient greek texts are the easiest for a modern greek speaker. OF the period of the spread of Rome that is

 

[classical_hero]

The word didnt exist in ancient Greece, as far as i can deduce from my dictionary. Other than that it comes from Porne (this is one word for "whore", but the more ancient one is "Hetera" ) and Grapho, which means "to write". So it is writing about whores/whoring..

edit: Hetera has the same root as Alexander the great's Heteroi. Both mean companion/companions, "hetera" being the feminine form of the word. The root Heteros also has another meaning, which is "other; different" and it is that second meaning which exists in the term heterosexual (obviously the word "sex" is not greek, eros being the one used for that)

I would have thought that Pornography would have come from the word porneia or pornos. ON the topic of eros, that would be where we get our word erotic from?

 

[Kyriakos]

Yes

Well "pornos" is just the masculine form of "porne". "Porneia" is the act. My dictionary mentions "porne" specifically in the etymology of pornography, which is why i chose that version of the term.

Anything ending in -ic (greek -ikos, ike, ikon) means "rellevant to".

 

[Kyriakos]

Time for some religious words

Angel. Comes from Aggelos, which means "bringer of news".

Evangelist. Comes from Eu (means "positive", "good") and Aggelos, thus it means bringer of good news. The Evangelion (gospel) is literary the good news christ/the apostles had to bring.

Agape. This is the common, ancient and contemporary greek word for "love". I have heard an etymology for it, according to which it comes from the verb Ago (to move) and Pan (everything). So Agape is the force that moves everything

Patriarch. Comes from Patria (genus, race), and Arche, which means either "first, foremost" or "power". Here the word means probably "the first and foremost" (of a people).

 

[Neonanocyborgasm]

Angel. Comes from Aggelos, which means "bringer of news".

You remind me of the father character from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" who would say "Tell me any word, and I'll tell you how it came from Greek." He'd even find a Greek etymology for the Japanese word "kimono."

In this case, although I'm rather an amateur when it comes to Classical Greek, even I can say that you are overreaching. "αγγελος" simply means "messenger", and is from the verb "αγγελω" which is "announce". You are also mispronouncing it. I don't know the orthography for Modern Greek, but in Classical, whenever gamma preceded another palatal (γ, κ, &#967, it was pronounce like a softened nu. So it would be pronounced like "añgelos". So sphinx would be spelled "σφιγξ" because xei was a double consonant of kappa-sigma, and so the rule would apply there.

 

[Kyriakos]

Thank you for likening me to a stereotype

Oh, you are an american

 

[Takhisis]

And in so doing, you follow another stereotype yourself, Mr. Copperson.

 

[Kyriakos]

And in so doing, you follow another stereotype yourself, Mr. Copperson.

"Duh", that was the joke, mr Anderson.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Agape. This is the common, ancient and contemporary greek word for "love". I have heard an etymology for it, according to which it comes from the verb Ago (to move) and Pan (everything). So Agape is the force that moves everything

aaahh. i always thought agape means buggery, being greek and stuff.

 

[Takhisis]

strangely enough, the word 'ágape' in Spanish is some sort of meal/banquet.

 

[Perfection]

Draconian comes from the name from some Greek jerk