Greek word etymology thread

[Kyriakos]

Not sure if there is much need for it, but lately i noticed that people seem to be quite unaware of the meaning of greek words which exist in english. So this is a thread where you can ask about the definition, and the parts the term breaks up to (if is more than one).

Some examples from the latest threads i saw problems with greek words in:

exo-gaia. This term was (possibly?) coined by me, but it is made up of two perfectly respectable and existant in english greek terms, exo (outside) and gaia (earth). So exo-gaia would mean outside of the earth, extraterrestrial.

paranoid. Comes from para (next to) and noo (to think). It means, in psychiatry, to missunderstand drammatically something, so that you end up with a false reaction to it, often clinically problematic.

Anyway, you can post whatever words you want to, provided that:

a) They are greek, at least in part.

b) They exist in english.

Oh, and better avoid curse words, although i guess onlya tiny fraction of them exists in english as greek words. An example is "idiot", which is a corruption of the greek "idiotes" that originally meant "self-employed"; "caring for one's self interest". The political climate in ancient Greece shunned this kind of attitude, hence the negative connotation of the term, which took a different meaning in english

 

[Frank Drebin]

wondering, as i had never heard of it before, i looked up "exo-gaia" in the online oxford dictionary but couldtn find it?

 

[Kyriakos]

Yes, it is probably coined by me. But like i said you can find both exo (for example in "exosomatic") and gaia

 

[Bill3000]

"exo-gaia" wouldn't work because gaia is a noun, not an adjective; it would probably be better to call it "exogaian"...

 

[Frank Drebin]

ehm, so you made up an english word consisting of two greek words because you wanted to explain to us its greek etymology?

 

[Kyriakos]

Yes, it wouldnt work as an adjective. The adjective in greek is Exogeinos. But it could work as a noun "in the Exo-Gaia" ie in space

ehm, so you made up an english word consisting of two greek words because you wanted to explain to us its greek etymology?

No, what happened was that i used that term, and then went on to explain what it was made of ( i used it in the Aliens thread). But it served as a standing point so as to examine how familiar people here are with the greek rootsof variosu english words

 

[Bill3000]

Yes, it wouldnt work as an adjective. The adjective in greek is Exogeinos. But it could work as a noun "in the Exo-Gaia" ie in space

...Try "cosmos"?

 

[Kyriakos]

...Try "cosmos"?

Not the same, since the Cosmos includes the earth

 

[Kyriakos]

Btw one of my favourite words, which to my knowledge hasnt made it to english (yet) is the greek term for the universe.

While Cosmos means a lot of things, from "people" to "the world" to "the universe", the greek term that means solely The universe is "Sympan" (Σύμπα&#957

It is a word made up from Syn (plus) and Pan (Everything), so Sympan means "Along with Everything". And i find it extraordinary that an ancient culture has a term for the universe that not only means Everything, but something outside of it as well!

 

[Frank Drebin]

i dont think too many greek words will make it into english anytime soon.
spanish on the other hand...

 

[Babbler]

FUN FACT: A google search for "exo-gaia" comes up with 225 000 hits, the first of which is this very thread.

 

[Zelig]

While Cosmos means a lot of things, from "people" to "the world" to "the universe", the greek term that means solely The universe is "Sympan" (Σύμπα&#957

What? "The Universe" refers to everything, basically.

 

[Kyriakos]

What? "The Universe" refers to everything, basically.

In english. In greek "cosmos" has all these meanings, including "the universe". Whereas another word solely means the universe in greek, and that is Sympan

 

[Kyriakos]

Perhaps it would be usefull to provide some examples from very famous and common in english greek words:

Democracy. Most people probably know it comes from Demos (the people) and Kratos (power). Hence it means "power of the people".

Episteme (as in Epistemic, not so common a word, but known to people who are more educated i think). Comes from Epi (above of) and Istamai (to observe). So it means observing from above, and it is just that, since a scientist observes something clearly, as if he is standing above it

 

[aelf]

How many words are there in Greek for "ripping off"? Because the Greeks seem to love doing that very much.

 

[Kyriakos]

How many words are there in Greek for "ripping off"? Because the Greeks seem to love doing that very much.

A bad stereotype Infact, if i may coin a word, it is rather a hygrotype (liquid+type, whereas sterotype comes from stereo (solid) and type ) since i have not heard it before.

There are two words for that, that i know of. Gderno and Gdyno. One means "to skin" and one means "to take one's clothes off"

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Does "Greek" and "etymology" have Greek etymologies?

 

[Kyriakos]

Does "Greek" and "etymology" have Greek etymologies?

Etymology comes from Etymos (it means "true") and lego (from logos, the verb form, to reason/meaning as a noun). So it means true meaning.

"Greek" is a latin word iirc. I have heard once that it comes from the greek colony in Magna Grecia called "Graia". Perhaps the italian natives called all greeks by that name, due to the colony's name.
The greek word for "greek" is Hellenas. And Hellenas was the son of Deukalion, both are figures in the mythical line from which the heros of greek mythology are descended.
I am not sure what Hellenas means though, if it has a special meaning. The vast majority of greek words do have an easy to spot meaning, if you know the language

 

[Ekolite]

A bad stereotype Infact, if i may coin a word, it is rather a hygrotype (liquid+type, whereas sterotype comes from stereo (solid) and type ) since i have not heard it before.

There are two words for that, that i know of. Gderno and Gdyno. One means "to skin" and one means "to take one's clothes off"

You can't just make new words in english out of greek. That's really not how it works. We've adopted the use of a few of the choiciest words, not the whole language! If you said something was a so called hygrotype instead of a stereotype, all you'd get would be weird looks from people.

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

Reminds me of this movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259446/

If you've seen it, you'd understand.