Learn some Homeric Greek through modern English derivatives and Latin cognates
Learn some Homeric Greek through modern English derivatives and Latin cognates!
As you study the Greek words below (and their English derivatives in brackets) consider the areas of human experience and culture these words are drawn from, e.g., science, politics, law, poetry? What are some synonyms for these English words and where do they come from? Why do you suppose we choose a word of Greek or Latin origin as opposed to one from another language, especially when English offers us alternatives?Iliad 1, lines 8-21
τίς τ' ἄρ σφωε θεῶν [theology, theodicy, atheist] ἔριδι [eristic] ξυνέηκε μάχεσθαι [Gigantomachy]
What god was it then set them together in bitter collision?
Λητοῦς [Leto] καὶ Διὸς [Zeus, Dioscouri] υἱός: ὃ γὰρ βασιλῆϊ [basilica, basil] χολωθεὶς [melancholy]
Zeus' son and Leto's, Apollo, who in anger at the king drove
νοῦσον [anosognosia] ἀνὰ στρατὸν [strategy] ὦρσε κακήν [cacophony], ὀλέκοντο δὲ λαοί [liturgy],
the foul pestilence along the host, and the people perished,
οὕνεκα τὸν Χρύσην [Chryses] ἠτίμασεν [timocracy] ἀρητῆρα
since Atreus' son had dishonoured Chryses, priest of Apollo,
Ἀτρεΐδης [Atreides=son of Atreus]: ὃ γὰρ ἦλθε θοὰς ἐπὶ νῆας [cf. Latin 'astronaut'] Ἀχαιῶν
when he came beside the fast ships of the Achaians to ransom
λυσόμενός [analysis] τε θύγατρα [Indo-European cognate with the English 'daughter'] φέρων [pheromone] τ' ἀπερείσι' ἄποινα,
back his daughter, carrying gifts beyond count and holding
στέμματ' ἔχων ἐν χερσὶν [surgeon] ἑκηβόλου [hyperbole] Ἀπόλλωνος [Apollo]
in his hands wound on a staff of gold the ribbons of Apollo
χρυσέῳ [chryselephantine] ἀνὰ σκήπτρῳ [scepter], καὶ ἐλίσσετο [] πάντας Ἀχαιούς,
who strikes from afar, and supplicated all the Achaians,
Ἀτρεΐδα δὲ μάλιστα δύω [Deuteronomy], κοσμήτορε [cosmos] λαῶν:
but above all Atreus' two sons, the marshals of the people:
Ἀτρεΐδαι τε καὶ ἄλλοι [allegory] ἐϋκνήμιδες Ἀχαιοί,
'Sons of Atreus and you other strong-greaved Achaians,
ὑμῖν μὲν θεοὶ δοῖεν Ὀλύμπια [Olympus] δώματ' [cf. Latin 'domicile'] ἔχοντες
to you may the gods grant who have their homes on Olympos
ἐκπέρσαι Πριάμοιο [Priam] πόλιν [politics], εὖ δ' οἴκαδ' [ecology, economics] ἱκέσθαι:
Priam's city to be plundered and a fair homecoming thereafter,
παῖδα [pedagogy] δ' ἐμοὶ [Indo-European cognate with English 'me'] λύσαιτε φίλην [philanthropy], τὰ δ' ἄποινα δέχεσθαι,
but may you give me back my own daughter and take the ransom,
ἁζόμενοι Διὸς υἱὸν ἑκηβόλον Ἀπόλλωνα.
giving honour to Zeus' son who strikes from afar, Apollo.'
(Translation by Richmond Lattimore.)