Triceps

Let’s hear it for Birmingham joining our audience this week!  The  second biggest city in England, nicknamed ‘the city of a thousand trades’ because during the Industrial revolution it was the fuel of the country, from jewellery to heavy machinery. And today, there’s a show with that name by the Birmingham Royal Ballet paying homage to the city.  Welcome Birmingham! Thank you for listening. 

If you like what you hear in this podcast you can subscribe, follow and review it wherever you listen. A click and a few nice words go a long way! On with our episode! 

(Piano music) Hello, and welcome to Your Greek Word On A Sunday, a weekly, bite-size podcast for anyone curious on language, etymology and connections. I am your host, Emmanuela Lia and wherever you are in the world, if you want to entertain your brain for a few minutes, this is the podcast for you. Let's Go!

In ancient Greece among the classes of mythical creatures were, the monsters! Today I’ll tell you about Cerberus, the guardian of the underworld. A monster that claims as many forms as every writer who decided to describe it. They all agree it was a dog that made sure nobody gets in and out of Hades without permission but whether it had 50, 100 or just 3 heads , a dragon tail, a mix of dog and snake heads with poison, three backs or three bodies, depends on who you read. The description that survived was the three headed one and it matched the description of all his monster siblings that were multi headed.  He became very famous when Hercules managed to subdue him. There’s an adjective that was attached to Cerberus and sometimes you only had to say that to imply him. Τρια (tria) in both ancient and modern Greek means ‘three’ and κεφαλή (kefali) means ‘head’. The masculine combined word came to English in 1577 in John Grange’s fiction novel ‘The Golden Aphrodite’. In Latin the word used in anatomy to describe the upper muscle of your arm that looks as if it has three tops, three heads, is a direct transfer from Greek, minus the alphabet adjustment. And since the beginning of the 20th century we use the shortened and singular version ΤΡΙΚΕΦΑΛΟΣ/TRICEP

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Welcome Cordoba! I’m so glad you joined our audience. This is the city where Christopher Columbus first met with Queen Isabella and secured a stipend to continue his studies and prepare for his expedition . One of the Queen’s demands was that he wouldn’t go to any other monarchs for funding. And the rest is history.  Thank you for listening Cordoba!

(Piano music) Hello, and welcome to Your Greek Word On A Sunday, a weekly, bite-size podcast for anyone curious on language, etymology and connections. I am your host, Emmanuela Lia and wherever you are in the world, if you want to entertain your brain for a few minutes, this is the podcast for you. Let's Go!

Τρέπειν (trepin) is an Ancient Greek infinitive meaning ‘to turn’ in modern Greek the noun is τροπή (tropi). Around 490BC a practice started appearing in Ancient Greece that would become a custom and travel all the way to today albeit a little modified. After every battle they’d win , ancient Greeks would find the exact spot where they believed the enemy started turning away and they would either place a stick with an enemy armour on it (like a scarecrow) or they would build a small monument as a reminder of their victory and a threat so the enemy won’t attempt to come back. The custom was adopted by the Romans but it started disappearing around 600BC. The word came to English through Latin and French in the 1500s and shortly after started it’s figurative shift. By the revival on the Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 the word was well established as a reward for the winner of a sport. ΤΡΟΠΑΙΟ/TROPHY

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Happy May everyone! Give a big welcome to Mexico City! The birthplace of colour television. Oh yes! In the 1940s, 23 year old Guillermo Gonzales Camarena invented the 'chromoscopic adaptor for television equipment'. The base for what would become colour television 10 years later. Thank you for listening Mexico City! 

(Piano music) Hello, and welcome to Your Greek Word On A Sunday, a weekly, bite-size podcast for anyone curious on language, etymology and connections. I am your host, Emmanuela Lia and wherever you are in the world, if you want to entertain your brain for a few minutes, this is the podcast for you. Let's Go!

This month it’ll be talking about words that sound like they come from the same root but actually don’t. In the mid 19th century the young french aerialist and acrobat Jules Leotard was practicing over his father’s pool using his modified equipment . A rod held horizontally by two ropes on either side. That was something he saw used closer to the ground but never so high and never in full swing! He first performed on it in 1859 at the Cirque Napoleon in Paris and brought his act to London in 1861 flying above audiences eating their dinner. The shape the equipment forms with the ceiling, is an Ancient Greek geometric shape that is named after the very much still in use Greek word for ‘table’ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΙ/TRAPEZE 

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Hello everyone! If you like this podcast why not spread the word? Leave us a review or a comment on the platform of your choice, it helps other people find us by nudging the algorithm to suggest us and , it puts a smile on my face reading what you have to say. You can also email me at [email protected] with any questions or comments about what you hear in this podcast and if you don’t want to do any of that, thank you for listening, that’s more than enough! On with our episode!

(Piano music) Hello, and welcome to Your Greek Word On A Sunday, a weekly, bite-size podcast for anyone curious on language, etymology and connections. I am your host, Emmanuela Lia and wherever you are in the world, if you want to entertain your brain for a few minutes, this is the podcast for you. Let's Go!

Γαία (Gaia) in ancient Greek and Γη (ge) in modern means ‘earth’ and έργο (ergo) means 'work'. Ancient Greeks apart from the Goddess Demeter, connected Zeus with the fertility of the land so, sometimes they’d call upon that capacity of his with the name 'Zeus the γεωργός (georgos)'. Later on, that would become a name in itself Γεώργιος (Georgios) officially and Γιώργος (Giorgos) in everyday language. When Christianity gained popularity, a Roman soldier with that name would become a saint and crusaders between the 11th and the 13th centuries  would bring his worship to England. A century later, he would become the patron saint of the island but his name wouldn’t be popular enough to name your children after until 1714 when the House of Hannover took on the British throne. ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΣ/GEORGE

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Hello everyone! Give a warm welcome to Kansas city in Kansas for joining us! And I made a point mentioning it’s in Kansas because there are two Kansas cities . Oh yes, one in Kansas and one in Missouri and they’re divided by a single road. There’s a lot of history as to why and how that happened but both cities are named after the river that runs through them and that river is named after the Native American tribe Kanza that used to be there. Thanks for listening Kansas . Now cross the road and tell your neighbours to join us! 

(Piano music) Hello, and welcome to Your Greek Word On A Sunday, a weekly, bite-size podcast for anyone curious on language, etymology and connections. I am your host, Emmanuela Lia and wherever you are in the world, if you want to entertain your brain for a few minutes, this is the podcast for you. Let's Go!

Ιστημι (istimi) is the Ancient Greek verb for ‘I stand’, in modern Greek is στέκομαι (stekome). The word moved to Latin quite intact (minus the Latin spelling of course) and in 1570 , mathematician, occultist and, astronomer of the court of Elisabeth the 1st , John Dee translated the word in a preface he wrote for a  translation of Euclid’s elements by Henry Billingsley. He used the word to describe weight and equilibrium and the word remained in that use for many years until 1839 when it was first applied to frictional electricity. ΣΤΑΤΙΚΟΣ/STATIC

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Hello everyone, excuse my voice today but I do have a cold. Greetings to the beautiful city of Cork in the Republic of Ireland. Welcome to our audience ! Did you know that Cork has a butter museum? Of course it does! It was after all, the butter capital of the western world; and by that I mean its largest supplier in the 18th century. Thank you for listening Cork! 

(Piano music) Hello, and welcome to Your Greek Word On A Sunday, a weekly, bite-size podcast for anyone curious on language, etymology and connections. I am your host, Emmanuela Lia and wherever you are in the world, if you want to entertain your brain for a few minutes, this is the podcast for you. Let's Go!

This is another one of those words that suffered very little in their journey. A word that described part of a flower as ‘flat leaf’ in Ancient Greek and doubled as ‘thin metal plate’ remained the same in modern Greek but nowadays doubles as ‘horseshoe’. Latinised it became an official Roman word between the 3rd and 6th century and passed into English intact In the 1700s  but keeping only the first meaning . ΠΕΤΑΛΟ/PETAL

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Hello Pittsburgh! Welcome to the family and thank you for creating the very first emergency medical services in America!  Freedom House Ambulance Service was created in 1967 and was staffed entirely by trained black men and women. Listener, go look at its history and see what these amazing people achieved back then! Thank you for listening Pittsburgh! 

(Piano music) Hello, and welcome to Your Greek Word On A Sunday, a weekly, bite-size podcast for anyone curious on language, etymology and connections. I am your host, Emmanuela Lia and wherever you are in the world, if you want to entertain your brain for a few minutes, this is the podcast for you. Let's Go!

Hubris in Ancient Greece seemed to be a very common reason for the gods to punish humans. And it was almost always a clear case of one . Son of a Satyr and a Nymph, Ορχις (orchis) was a young man who during the Dionysian festival attempted to sexually assault a priestess. The gods were furious with Dionysus applying his most brutal punishment . Orhis was not only torn apart by wild animals but was transformed to a very fragile flower. The boy’s name was given to the flower but also to male genitalia since it’s roots look like them. In English it had a few names until 1845, botanist John Lindley brought it over- from Latin- in his book ‘School Botany’   ΟΡΧΙΔΕΑ/ORCHID 

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And we’re back to greeting our new audiences this time from Pristina in Kosovo! Did you know that 50% of the population of Kosovo's Capital is under 30? Sounds like a vibrant city to me! Thank you for listening Pristina! 

(Piano music) Hello, and welcome to Your Greek Word On A Sunday, a weekly, bite-size podcast for anyone curious on language, etymology and connections. I am your host, Emmanuela Lia and wherever you are in the world, if you want to entertain your brain for a few minutes, this is the podcast for you. Let's Go!

In 1930 in Birmingham, Oscar Deutsch, a young businessman opened the first venue in England that would multiply and entertain the nation for decades to come. His wife, Lilly Deutsch designed the interior, in an art deco style and, they borrowed the name from similar and very popular French venues. A name that in Ancient Greece meant, a building available for music performances, poetry recitals and rehearsals of plays for the big festivals in the open theatres. Ωδή (ode) in Ancient Greek meant song and that very special venue that gave its name to… cinemas all over the country was called ΩΔΕΙΟΝ/ODEON

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Taking a break from welcoming cities today because I’d like to remind you to leave us a review on the platform of your choice. It means a lot more than you think, it helps other people find us. If you also like to email me with comments or questions about anything you’ve heard in this podcast feel free to do so at [email protected] On with our episode! 

(Piano music) Hello, and welcome to Your Greek Word On A Sunday, a weekly, bite-size podcast for anyone curious on language, etymology and connections. I am your host, Emmanuela Lia and wherever you are in the world, if you want to entertain your brain for a few minutes, this is the podcast for you. Let's Go!

The Phoenician word for 'hand' (wrist to fingers) was ‘yodh’ and they wrote it by drawing a small vertical  line . Ancient Greeks took that and incorporated it in the Alphabet as the 9th and smallest letter called Ιωτα (yiota) and pronounced like the I in ‘fit’. When the bible came round, the phrase ‘not one iota’ and similarly the word 'Jot' to describe an extremely small amount of something, became very popular . The phrase ‘jotting down‘ to indicate you take quick notes or sketching came much later in the 1700s in a dictionary written by Scottish Philologist John Jamieson, and for quite some time, the phrase was linked exclusive to Scottish writers. It’s worth mentioning that neither phrase is used in modern Greek; but the letter is . ΙΩΤΑ/IOTA

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I’m very happy to welcome Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria in our audience ! With a name that means ‘Wisdom’ in Greek and being one of its closest neighbours it’s inexcusable that I’m yet to visit! One thing I’ll be looking for when I do, is the bells monument; Built in the ‘80s as a global children’s monument with the idea to include a bell dedicated to every country in the world and to have children ring these as a gesture of peace. Something we’re in desperate need of. Thank you for listening Sofia! Or Σοφία (Sofía) in Greek.

(Piano music) Hello, and welcome to Your Greek Word On A Sunday, a weekly, bite-size podcast for anyone curious on language, etymology and connections. I am your host, Emmanuela Lia and wherever you are in the world, if you want to entertain your brain for a few minutes, this is the podcast for you. Let's Go!

International women’s day was last week and Mother’s Day is today in the UK. So, I’m here to celebrate both  with a word that is a symbol of the circle of life, the power of nature and feminine power. A symbol that has been found in all ancient cultures sometimes in pottery, sometimes in statues and even on graves. But most importantly it’s a pattern we find in nature. It’s simple and endless . It starts on a fixed point and keeps winding outwards . The word travelled from Greek to Latin and French and arrived in English, almost intact, in 1550 by welsh physician and mathematician Robert Recorde. ΣΠΕΙΡΑ-SPIRAL

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