MELANCHOLY – ΜΕΛΑΓΧΟΛΙΑ

Dearest friends,

Today we are going to analyse a word that is very widely used these days, the word MELANCHOLY.
The word was borrowed by the Greek ΜΕΛΑΓΧΟΛΙΑ and is used in many languages, ie melancolie, Melancholie, etc.

Well, the word has an interesting background. It comes from MELAS(=black) and CHOLI(= bile) and it refers to someone deep in black bile, therefore glum, sad. The idea that the human feelings are related to a good balance of body fluids was very widespread in the antiquity.

Hippocrates taught that these fluids are: blood, bile, black bile and phlegm. Consequently, if the black bile prevails, you get the feeling of discontent, sorrow, ….something like the way we are feeling now!

BUT…….., to make you feel better, look at a photo of autumn leaves and flowers I picked last weekend in Evia!
You know, MY CHORIO(=my village)

Warm greetings to all of you.

*As always, info from G. Babiniotis’:  “Etymology Dictionary of Modern Greek”

WHEN YOU ARE THIRSTY WHAT DO YOU DRINK???

You will all say WATER-NERO in Greek. But did you know that NERO-ΝΕΡΟ in Greek has changed?
 
The word for “water’ was “υδωρ”- hydor- (think of ‘hydraulic”) and our ancestors used to say
 
ΝΗΡΟΝ ΥΔΩΡ-NIRON HYDOR, which meant’fresh water”.
 NIRON, by the way, was the root of NEARON, and obviously, NEW.
Gradually, the word HYDOR was redundant and the adjective NIRON became the noun NERO-ΝΕΡΟ.
 
So, dearest friends, next time you have a drink of water, know that words were not always the same over the years!
 
(source: Etymology dictionary by G.Babiniotis)

Pandora’s Box

Dearest friends and colleagues,

Let us tell you a myth from the Greek Mythology and let you make your analogies:

When Pandora opened her box, a box that Zeus had given her with the advice not to open it because that would lead to trouble for all the people, we know what happened: misfortune, pain, misery, trouble, tears, all streamed out of the box and went to live with the people.
Zeus had taken his revenge from humans, since they had discovered the fire and had managed to become as strong as he was.

*

However, Zeus had  included something positive in the box:

HOPE !

That’s why people, no matter how tough the times are, always keep their hopes for better days and that gives them courage to overcome the difficulties

 

CORNUCOPIA

To your surprise, today we are going to talk to you about a word in English that comes from Latin that comes from Greek!!!

The word is CORNUCOPIA, which in English means “HORN OF PLENTY». The roots of the word are CORNU (horn) and COPIA (plenty), but the amusing part is the myth behind it!

Well, dear friends, you may know Zeus, who was God of all Gods. When Zeus was born, his mother Rea hid him in a cave in Crete (Ideon Andron, you can visit it today) to save him from his father Kronus , who had the habit of eating his children as soon as they were born in order to protect his throne (hmmmm!). His mother had enough already, so she hid little Zeus there, asked a goat, Amalthea, to feed him with her milk and appointed a group of warriors, the Kourites, to bang their spears on their shields every time little Zeus cried, so that Kronus wouldn’t hear. Surrounded by all that crowd little Zeus grew and grew, until one day, while playing with Amalthea, he broke one of her horns – you get really strong if you drink goat’s milk, you know! Poor Amalthea was very distressed, so Zeus promised her that the broken horn would always be full of all the goods she desired.

Later on, in Roman mythology, the horn became the symbol of goddess Copia, the personification of plenty and nowadays it is used to refer to an abundance of something!

The moral (-s) of this story are: drink goat’s milk, it’s good for you.

Don’t eat your children; it’s bad for you and nature.

HYGEIA (ΥΓΕΙΑ)

DID YOU KNOW…

where the greeting “ghia sou” comes from? Well, it comes from the name of the Greek goddess HYGEIA {ΥΓΕΙΑ}, which means “health”. Hygeia was the daughter and attendant of the medicine-god ASKLEPIOS. She had two sisters, Panakeia (all-cure) and Iaso (remedy). Her opposites were the Nosoi (Diseases). In classical sculpture she was represented holding a large serpent in her arms.

Now you see what we really mean when we say ‘ghia sou” and “ghia mas”and “me ghia” when someone is wearing something new? We are wishing “good health”