Commonly used greek words

Chrome: from the word “khrōma“ = “color”. Chrome is related to the chemical element chromium, which is also the name of a second google browser and was named like this because of the colourful compounds it makes.

Utopia: from “ou“ = “not” and “topos” = “place” which make it mean the “nowhere”. The word was coined by Thomas Moore due to him using it as a title of his book that discusses about an imaginary island of legal, social and political perfection.

Dinosaur: the “terrible lizard” from “deinos” = “terrible“ and “saura“ = “lizard“. When Sir Richard Owen named these newly discovered creatures he first imagined the feelings of the people confronted by them. (In reality people did not encounter dinosaurs but that wasn't known then)

Horizon: It comes from “horizon” = “limiting (circle)”, which comes form the verb “horizein” = “bound, limit, divide, separate”, which comes from “horos” = “mountain” (not to be confused with chorus since the h was added when the word latinized).

Chaos: from “khaos” = “abyss, that which gapes wide open, is vast and empty”. Mythologically it was the first created being from which came Gaia (Earth), Tartarus (Underworld), Erebus (Darkness), and Nyx (Night).

Android: from “andro-” = “man” + “-eides” = “form, shape”. Androdes meant “like a man, manly” compared also to “andrias” = “image of a man, statue”. It was popularized from 1950 by science fiction writers.

Technology: ”tekhne” = “art, skill, craft in work, method, system” + “logy” = “a speaking, discourse, treatise, doctrine, theory, science”, which comes from the verb “legein” = "to speak".  

Nostalgia: “algos” = ”pain, grief, distress” + “nostos” = “homecoming” which comes from “neomai” = "to reach some place, escape, return, get home". Where this word is stressed most in our schools is when we talk about Odysseus who spent 10 years fighting and another 10 trying to reach Penelope, Telemachus and his people as well as for the ones that become part of the diaspora.

Aeronautics: from “aer” = “air” + “nautikos” = “pertaining to sailing" which comes from “nautis” = “sailor”. This word would be used only for metaphors whilst now it has a literal use. On the same pattern is astronaut and aquanaut.

Strategy: from “strategia” = “generalship” which comes from “strategos” = “general, commander of an army” which comes from “stratos” = “multitude, army, expedition, encamped army” literally meaning “that which is spread out” + “agos” = “leader" which comes from “agein” = “to lead”.

Callisthenics: from “kálos” = “beautiful” + “sthénos” = “psychic strength”. Gymnastics played a basic role in the cultivation of the concept of “kalos kai agathos” of “gentlemanly personal conduct, especially in a military context”. There is also another saying “mind healthy, body healthy” which emphasizes body/mind balance as well. Note: Plato was a wrestler.

Magnet: from “magnes lithos” or the stone “magnes” or “lodestone”. It was mined in large amounts at a place called Magnesia of Ionia, hence the name.

Moron: from “mōrós” = “foolish,dull”. There is an unnecessary word used a lot in modern greek the “re”, especially when we talk to someone. A possible theory for this is that “moré”, moros in the vocative case, evolved into the easier said “re”. Philologists at school told us this as well.

Ocean: from “ōkeanós” = “ocean”. It was the name of the great river or sea surrounding the disk of the Earth, not the Mediterranean. It was personified as Oceanus the titan, son of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth).

Theory: from “theoria” = “contemplation, speculation, a looking at, viewing, a sight, show, spectacle, things looked at” which comes from the verb “theorein” = “to consider, speculate, look at” which comes from “thea” = “a view” + “horan”  = “to see”.

Catholic: from “katholikos” = “universal”,  from “kata” = “in respect of” + “holos” = “whole”. It was applied to the Church in Rome at 1554, after the Reformation began.

Porn: it is an abbreviation of ‘pornography’ which comes from prostitute or “pornē” = “bought, purchased”  + “graphein” = “write”. In the Roman times it was practiced with the grossest license but was tolerated to a considerable extent at all times. Parrhasius, Aristides, Pausanias, Nicophanes, Chaerephanes, Arellius were famous pornographoi.

Sources: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=

http://www.lexigram.gr/lex/arch/%E1%BD%84%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%82#Hist0

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/calisthenics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Greek_and_Latin_roots_in_English/A%E2%80%93G

https://www.wyzant.com/resources/lessons/english/etymology/words-mod-dinosaur-info

Human Language vs Animal Communication Systems

From what different experts or random people have meant, one can conclude more or less that language is the “emergence of thought in the natural world”. Through the complicated process of muscle activation and breath, sound is produced, the info of which we decode for the purpose of inserting the meaning into our minds. Animals, also living beings, have similarly developed communication systems so as to interact easier. The question is, on what do those two differ? They differ in three points.

The first one is called “Discrete Infinity”. Language as a tool has at its disposal a discrete number of fundamental units, the alphabet.  From these 26 little legos the human mind has offered outflows of tens of thousands of books, essays, dialogues, academic papers. This diversity of output, as time passes, goes to infinity. On the contrary, while animals do have basic mechanisms of communication, it is hard to say that they have the ability to express this great complexity.

The second difference lies on the thinking of time, space and the abstract. A human can speak about its baby age in the past and dream the love of its life in the future. On the other hand, an animal expresses itself at the moment. A human discusses on countries kilometers away, travels with a plan, and in general has sufficient clarity for many things that aren't at the exact place it is being/living. For the animals the dimension “space” is very restricted, they can only reach an understanding on what is “there”, “here”, “a little further”. Moreover, humans think abstractly, we talk about justice, write poems and compose music. Animals cannot comprehend that “sadness is getting more beautiful because we look like her” or “do a leap faster than decaying”.

The third one is on the purpose of communication. In the human/animal society every member has a role to play for a common purpose. That's why we have to transfer images from one to another, to get into the shoes of the other so that we function more efficiently as a whole. Two monkeys look at the same wig, may know that they see the same wig, but cannot interact in that complex way we humans do.

Source: The info was taken from a MOOC(online lesson) in coursera.org called Human Linguistics, the teacher was Dutch.

It seems that the root/basic difference that is preceding the differences above is the intelligence factor and it is explained by Michio Kaku why we were the species that got it at a blog link here: http://ideanautica.blogspot.gr/2017/02/michio-kaku-on-evolution-of-intelligence.html

Lingua franca vs english

I am currently living in a place where the only spoken form of communication is the english language. I have seen a lot of people trying to speak english in a way that is loosely defined “correct” back home but also here and i think speaking like that to be not only unnecessary but also very boring. And that because i think that international or i would better call it, for this term emphasizes on nations, universal english are far superior as to what they have to offer

First of all, the different accent just travels you to faraway places. The more bizarre the better. Do you have on mind a spaniard speaking like that or a ukrainian? Have you ever laughed your ass off with a french? It adds a particular musicality to the speech, another input into your sounds-gathering database. And the menu of sounds is plenty. In Greece we have differences every here and there, imagine all the world. You may have heard these different accents and tones of speech in movies or songs or documentaries and connect them with smells and shapes, spices, fairytales, poems, cultures, locations. It makes you also understand that other groups of people, may it be the geography, the cold, the historical interaction, have other muscles trained in their mouth and that very basic fact is realized whereas in our country we are drowned into populations that consider this as an absolutely granted thing. No! It's not and this may push you ask more questions of the same spirit

Second, people transfer their mother-tongues’ syntax into the english. Germans for example speak very logically in the form of subject-verb-object whereas a persian may use a mix in a more complex sentence but nevertheless still make sense and serve the ultimate purpose of language which is meaning transport. End-result? diversity!

Third, using english will absolutely be a challenge from time to time and sometimes you won't find the specific word you need to be expressed or express exactly what you wanted. But that isn't something to get frustrated about. You can activate your gestures, your “emotional” mind and go along just fine but also explore this world of silent communication.

Fourth, you learn the history of the words and appreciate culture. A lingua franca to function has to have a particular status. English has so much french, germanic, greek, latin, arabic and more in it that one can say it is a truly global language. So, by speaking it you can have a conversation that i saw so many times unfolding like “where does your name come from?” or “explain xenophobia?” and add this ubiquitous element of “hey i want to learn from you”

I remember an email from an Indian professor that contained only one sentence and despite that it was full of mistakes, though, everybody got what he meant. And he is a pretty big name in the Academia. So next time you think of communicating in english don't hesitate but put all of yourself into the words and see what comes out.