The Greek & Latin Roots of English (46 page)

Apple of Discord
. Eris, the goddess of Strife, angered at not being invited to the wedding of the mortal Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis, threw a golden apple inscribed with the words, “to the fairest,” among the divine guests. Athene, Hera, and Aphrodite all laid claim and appealed to Zeus to choose among them.

The Judgment of Paris
. Zeus, wisely deciding not to get involved, chose Paris, a young Trojan prince, to judge the beauty contest among the goddesses. Each offered him a bribe, but Paris selected Aphrodite because she promised him Helen.

Helen
. Helen may have been Paris's prize, but unfortunately, she was married to Menelaus, a Greek king. It was the kidnapping of Helen, who had a face “that launched a thousand ships,” that led to the outbreak of the war.

Achilles
. The son of Peleus and Thetis, Achilles was the greatest of the Greek heroes to fight at Troy. According to one tradition, his mother dipped him in the river Styx in order to make his body invulnerable. Unfortunately, she was holding him by his heel, which was then unprotected against a fatal wound. The term
Achilles heel
is used to describe a point of emotional or physical vulnerability.

Myrmidons
. The Myrmidons were the loyal group of Achilles's followers who accompanied him to Troy. The name is now applied to anyone who blindly follows the commands of his leader.

Hector
. In the
Iliad
, Hector is the gallant leader of the Trojan forces; but later traditions depicted him as a domineering bully. Thus, we have the verb
hector
, which means to act or speak in an overbearing way.

Cassandra
. The daughter of the king of Troy, Cassandra had been given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, who had hoped to win her love. When she spurned him, the god caused her not to be believed. She foresaw the destruction of the city, but her warnings were ignored. Her name is now applied to anyone who predicts gloom and disaster.

Trojan Horse
. After ten years of fighting, the Greeks still had not taken Troy, for the city had strong and well-defended walls. It was only through the trick of the wooden horse that the Greeks were able to gain entry into the city and then destroy it. Although the Trojan seer Laocoon had warned them with the words, “Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, even those bearing gifts,” the Trojans dragged the huge horse, which the Greeks had built with the help of Athene, inside the city gates, unaware that it was filled with Greek soldiers. While the Trojans slept, the Greeks climbed out and overwhelmed the city. The phrase
Trojan Horse
is now applied to anyone or anything that seeks to destroy from within.

Stentor
. Stentor was the herald of the Greek army and had a voice as loud as those of fifty men. The adjective
stentorian
is now applied to a person having a loud and powerful voice.

Odysseus
. Odysseus was a brave and clever fighter at Troy, but his confrontation with danger really began on his journey back to his native Ithaca, a trip that took him nine years. Despite his extraordinary adventures, recorded in the
Odyssey
, all that Odysseus longed for was to return home.

Penelope
. While Odysseus wandered, Penelope, his faithful wife, kept off the advances of many suitors who wished not only to marry her, but also to gain Odysseus's kingdom. By a variety of clever stratagems, she fended them off until Odysseus's return.
Penelope
became the model of the faithful wife.

Mentor
. Mentor, a friend of Odysseus, gave helpful advice and counsel to Odysseus's son, Telemachus, while Odysseus was absent. His name now means a wise counselor or teacher.

The story of the Trojan War and the aftermath of its destruction were retold by the Roman poet Vergil in his epic, the
Aeneid
. The Romans traditionally claimed to be the descendants of those few brave Trojan warriors, led by the hero Aeneas, who made their way out of the burning city to find a new home in Italy. This work, modeled on both the
Iliad
and the
Odyssey
, contains many notable lines of Latin verse, among the most famous of which are:

Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentis

“Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, even those bearing gifts.”

Varium et mutabile semper femina.

“A woman is a fickle and changeable thing.”

ANCIENT PEOPLES AND PLACES

Personalities from Greek and Roman history, as well as real places in the ancient world, have also found their way into English vocabulary.

Arcadia
. Arcadia, a region in southwestern Greece, was viewed by ancient poets as a place of bucolic simplicity. Later writers continued to celebrate that tradition, and the adjective arcadian is now used to describe an idealized rural existence.

Rich as Croesus
. Croesus, a sixth-century BCE king of Lydia, was said to have been so rich that his name has come to mean a person of untold wealth.

Odysseus offering wine to the Cyclops Polyphemus (Vatican Museum)

Draconian
. Draco, a seventh-century BCE Athenian lawgiver, produced a legal code so harsh in its penalties that his laws were said to have been written in blood, not ink. Any unusually severe measure may be described as
draconian
.

Laconic
. The ancient city-state of Sparta was located in the region of Greece called Laconia. Since the Spartans were known for the brevity of their speech, the adjective
laconic
may be used to describe an individual who is concise in his remarks.

Mausoleum
. The widow of the fourth-century BCE King Mausolus built a tomb for her husband at Halicarnassus that was so spectacularly decorated with sculpture that it became synonymous with an elaborate monument to the dead.

Meander
. The Maeander River, in Asia Minor, was noted for its twisted and winding path into the Aegean Sea. The verb
meander
now describes action that is aimless or wandering.

Pyrrhic victory
. In the third century BCE, Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus, fought and won many battles against the Romans, but at such great cost that he is reported to have said, “One more victory like this and I am undone.” A pyrrhic victory, then, is one that is gained at too great a cost.

Solecism
. The inhabitants of ancient Soloi were so famous for their terrible Greek grammar that they gave their name to the incorrect usage of language or manners.

Solon
. Solon, an Athenian leader of the early sixth century BCE, was noted for his keen sense of justice. His social and political reforms laid the groundwork for the Athenian democracy, and his name now may be used to describe a wise statesman or lawmaker.

Spartan
. The inhabitants of Sparta prided themselves on their rigorous, disciplined, and simple way of life. To live in this way may be described as
spartan
.

Sybaritic
. The inhabitants of the ancient Greek city of Sybaris, on the other hand, were noted for their luxurious and excessive way of life. Although the city was destroyed in the sixth century BCE, it survives in the adjective
sybaritic
, which describes the enjoyment of sensuous and indulgent pleasures.

PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy is literally the “love of wisdom,” but for the Greeks philosophy had as its original impetus the search for the causes of things, both physical and ethical. The earliest Greek philosophers, who were called the physicists, investigated the nature and constituent parts of the physical cosmos, and the relationship between the world of nature and the world of human activity. The focus of later Greek and Roman philosophy, however, was the realm of human action, behavior, and spiritual goals: how are we to act best in this world? What is the best form of polity? Is it possible to achieve happiness? Is the human soul immortal? The various schools of ancient philosophy still find expression today, not only in the questions they raised and the ideals they pursued, but in their language and forms of argumentation as well.

Ancient Greek Schools of Philosophy

Platonism:
the doctrine of the fourth-century BCE Greek philosopher Plato and his successors. Because Plato taught the highest form of love was that of the soul for the Good, the term
platonic
is most often used now to refer to his elevation above all else of spiritual love untouched by physical desire.

Stoicism:
the doctrines of the school of philosophy founded by the fourth century BCE by Zeno; the word
stoic
is now used to refer to one of the central teachings of the school, that one should submit uncomplainingly to Fate and “go with the flow.” The adjective is derived from
stoa
(στοά), a detached portico in Athens where Zeno supposedly taught his followers.

Epicureanism:
the teachings of the fourth-century BCE Greek philosopher Epicurus, who preached that the highest good is pleasure, which his followers interpreted as freedom from pain or disturbance, but which his critics condemned as the pursuit of unbridled freedom and self-indulgence. The adjective is now used to refer to the enjoyment of sensual pleasures, especially in eating and drinking.

Hedonism:
the doctrine that teaches that pleasure or happiness is the highest good. The noun is derived from
hedone
(ἡδονή), and now connotes an excessive devotion to physical pleasure.

Cynicism:
the doctrine of a school of Greek philosophy that preached independence of action and complete freedom from social conventions. The etymology of the name is a matter of debate; the root of the word is
kyon, kynos
(κύων = dog), and it has been suggested that the name derived from the fact that the Cynics were noted for their rude behavior and took special pleasures in violating the rules of polite society. Perhaps the most famous of the Cynics was the fourth-century BCE Diogenes, who went about with a lantern saying that he was looking for an honest man. Today the word is used to describe someone who questions social values and distrusts human sincerity and moral purpose.

Skepticism:
The skeptic philosophers taught that since sense perceptions were deceptive, there was no possibility of absolute knowledge about anything, and therefore one was to withhold judgment about everything. Pyrrhon, the fourth-century BCE founder of the school, taught that nobody has yet found the truth, so why distress ourselves? Be genuinely indifferent to all that happens, for appearances are enough to live by.

Forms of Philosophical and Logical Argumentation

THE LANGUAGE OF CHRISTIANITY

Because Greek was the primary language of many of the earliest Christian writers, much of the sacred language of Christianity is Greek in origin.