WORD HOUND
by Jan Haber

Of Gods and Heroes

by Jan Haber

The gods and heroes of ancient Greece and Rome are alive and well, making frequent appearance in our everyday speech. The English language is full of references to them-perhaps more than many of us suspect. Here are a few.

Titanic, to mean colossal, was derived from the Titans, a race of giant gods who preceded the Olympians in ancient Greek religion.

Atlas was the Titan who, following a rebellion, was condemned by Zeus to carry the heavens on his shoulders. Atlas became the name used for maps of heaven and earth.

From Aphrodite, Greek Goddess of Love comes the word aphrodisiac, a love-potion.

From Eros, Aphrodite's son, comes the word erotic, relating to love. Eros was the boy archer, who tipped his arrows with a sweet poison that caused his victims to fall in love. The Romans called him Cupid, his mother, Venus.

Chronos was the god of time. Chronology is derived from his name, as is chronometer, a kind of clock and the word chronic to describe something that goes on for a long time.

Echo, the acoustic phenomenon, was named for Echo, the nymph, who was condemned by the goddess Hera to repeat the last utterance she heard and no more.

Psyche, Greek for soul, was a beautiful princess beloved of Eros. Freud used psyche to mean mind, giving rise to numerous words like psychology, psychiatry, psychotic, psychoanalysis.

Cereal is derived from the name Ceres, the goddess who presided over the harvest of grains.

Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, gave her name to the flower, the word iridescent, which means gleaming with all the colors of the rainbow and to the iris, the colored part of the eye.

Vulcan, the name of the Roman god of fire and forge, gives us volcano, volcanic, Vulcanize (heat-treated rubber) and related words.

Narcissistic means to be obsessed with one's own beauty. The youth, Narcissus, was so handsome that he fell in love with his own reflection in a stream. As he knelt admiring it, he became rooted to the ground and was changed into the flower of that name.

Tantalize is derived from Tantalus, whose pun- ishment was to be forever thirsty and hungry,

with food and drink always just out of reach.
The gods were mad at him because he tried to feed them human flesh.

In Dionysiac ritual, initiates who achieved god-possession, a state of esctatic union with the divine, were described as being entheos, filled with the god, giving rise to the verb enthousiazein-which comes to the English language as enthusiasm, meaning excited interest.

Clotho was one of the three Fates. With her spindle, she spun the thread of life. From her name we get the word cloth.

Ocean is derived from the name Oceanus, the father of the waters that flow over the Earth.

Hypnos, son of Nyx (Night) and brother of Thanatos (Death), was the god of sleep and father of Morpheus, god of dreams. He gives his name to hypnosis, the sleep-like state in which the person becomes susceptible to suggestion.

Panic, the state of fear and desire for flight was, to the Greeks, inspired by the god Pan.

Arachnids (spiders) are named for Arachne, a mortal girl whose great skill in weaving made Athena jealous. When Arachne hanged herself in fear of the goddess, a remorseful Athena changed her into a spider so she and her kind could go on weaving forever.

The Word Hound welcomes your questions and comments.

 

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