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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 Ancient Greek Theatre has many parts and each of them has their specific function within Greek Drama. I won't talk about all of them but , in the centre was Θυμέλη (thimeli), the altar of Dionysus since theatre was part of the festivals celebrating him. Πάροδοι (parodae), on the sides the entrances and exits. Σκηνή (scene) the Stage at the forefront and raised. Προσκήνιο (proscenium) ,the painted pillars in front of the stage that formed the set  and behind it, was the big open space where the chorus would sing and dance. That part was named after the Greek word for 'dance' όρχηση (orchisi). As theatre progressed, the space was used by the Romans for the area of officials and later the French, would use it for the place where the musicians stood and accompanied a play. And that's how it became synonymous to any large group of musicians. ΟΡΧΗΣΤΡΑ/ORCHESTRA

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(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 every language, I suspect, there are words that have lost their original meaning because they've become closely associated with or solely used for, one purpose. Today's word is a very good example! Κατά (kata) is a preposition and among other things, it means 'according to'. Ηχος (echos) means 'Sound'. The combined word means 'according to what you hear' and it was used for any kind of verbal teaching or information spread by word of mouth. It arrived in English early in the 15th century through ecclesiastical Latin. ΚΑΤΗΧΗΣΗ/CATECHISM

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(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! 

There are some words whose history of meaning surprises me because it's not based on reason or practicality but, sentiment. Συν (syn) means 'with', Βάλλειν (vallin) is the ancient greek infinitive for 'throw'. The combined word arrived in English in the 15th century and meant the result of two individual things thrown together so they can form a whole. That match, was a sign for their owners to recognise eachother without speaking. A secret acknowledgment. The completed piece was called a ΣΥΜΒΟΛΟ/SYMBOL

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(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! 

I love it when I get the chance to prove how tricky Greek language can be. Only because it's a challenge to describe. 
At then end of last month I talked about the same infinitive φαίνειν (phenin) meaning 'to show', to create the word 'Phantom'. Here, it's being used again, but after the preposition Εν (en) which becomes 'em' when combined and it means 'within' , 'from the inside' So, making something visible from the inside. Projecting. In rhetoric 'applying significance', in writing 'underlining'. The word started as a guide on how to do that with your voice, the force and stress applied to the utterance of a word or phrase. In England it arrived at the end of the 16th century from Latin. ΕΜΦΑΣΗ/EMPHASIS

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(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 origins of all three meanings of this word, can be found in Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. But an Ancient Greek comedy character called Είρων (Eron/Iron) who would pretend to not understand what was happening, only to expose the boastful, started appearing more and more until his name was given to his actions. In literature those actions are divided in, Verbal: where you pretend you don't understand what's been said to you, and mock it.  Dramatic: where everyone understands what's happening to you, but you. And, Situational: where you strive for one thing but get quite the opposite result. ΕΙΡΩΝΙΑ/IRONY

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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! 

Δια (dia) means 'between', 'across' and it's also the name of the mathematical symbol for division. One of the meanings of the word Λόγος (logos) is, 'speech'. When a new form of speech is created within a language because of a region, a social group or a cultural one then, that form of speech is called a ΔΙΑΛΕΚΤΟΣ/DIALECT

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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! 

We're doing all things language this November!
Φέρω (fero) is an ancient Greek verb meaning 'to carry', 'to bring'. Μετά (meta) is both a preposition and an adjective, meaning 'after', 'forward'. The combined word means a 'transition'. It's a figure of speech that explains one thing by using another. To carry a meaning over is a ΜΕΤΑΦΟΡΑ/METAPHOR

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(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! 

Happy Halloween everyone! 
This word has an interesting history and several origin theories. The Ancient Greek word Τύμβος (Timvos) , meant either the grave, the small hip of soil on top of a grave or the smoke coming up after the burning of the dead, You can also find the root in Armenian, Sanskrit and Old Welsh. But when the word came to Latin, it got shortened, kept the basic function and left the theories to the linguists and historians. ΤΥΜΒΟΣ/TOMB

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(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! 

Approaching Halloween so, let the spooky words in! 
Φαίνειν is an ancient Greek infinitive and it means 'to appear/ to make something visible'. The thing that is been made visible is a Φάντασμα  and it used to mean 'an illusion' before it meant 'an apparition'. The root of this word can be found in old Armenian, old Irish and of course Sanskrit but the Greek one is the one that came through. Latin 'Fantasma', French 'Fantome' and eventually the English in the 1300's. ΦΑΝΤΑΣΜΑ/PHANTOM

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(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! 

There are some Greek words that the original meaning has been almost lost except for the occasional one that is used for this one specific thing and of course, it's only in Greek. So, υπό is  a preposition meaning 'under' . Θέση means 'position'. The combined word originally meant 'placing something under' but in philosophy and , later, science, the word came to mean 'supposition' . Since that wider use in the 1600's, the world only knows that one meaning (for our Greek listeners υποθήκη is the one that's kept the original meaning).  ΥΠΟΘΕΣΗ/HYPOTHESIS

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