Have you noticed how this year, the first word of every month has been a myth or myth related? Whether you have or not, thank you for listening and staying with me for another season. As this is the last episode before our summer break, I would be amiss not to mention amazing musician Laertes Malkotsis who composed our theme tune and Laurence Parsons who designed our logo. During the break, there might be a bolus episode or two so, keep your ears sharp and don't forget: you can find me on Instagram & Twitter @yourgreeksunday and you can email me with comments, questions or anything you like to discuss that you've heard on this podcast at yourgreeksunday@gmail.com
Here we go!

(Intro & piano music)

This word first appears in writing in Homer's Epic, The Iliad and it meant 'a saying' , 'an opinion', 'an utterance'. Shortly after, Hesiod came along and used the word to detail the origins of human kind, its gods and heroes. And finally, Aristotle applied it to the plot of theatre plays and storytelling. The word came to English via Latin and around the 1800s was linked to fables and stories with heroic acts and supernatural elements ΜΥΘΟΣ/MYTH

Twitter @yourgreeksunday ,
Instagram @yourgreeksunday ,
email yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

(Intro & piano music)

Sometimes, Greeks seem to have many words for the same thing but to their defence, they had many years of thinking, inventing and applying words to very specific things. So although we've already found the word for 'pebble' in a previous episode, today, we're using another one Κρόκη (Kroke); And combined with the word for 'Lizard' Δίλος (Delos) It gives us the word, the ancient Greeks used for the animal found in the river Nile. As language evolved, the spelling in modern Greek has changed and in English, it's directly from the Latin one ΚΡΟΚΟΔΕΙΛΟΣ/CROCODILE

Twitter @yourgreeksunday ,
Instagram @yourgreeksunday ,
email yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

(Intro & piano music)

Most English words have arrived here either via Latin or Germanic ones. And because it was easier geographically, the ones that originated in Greece are the Latin based ones. But there are some exceptions and today we have one of them. A small pebble in ancient Greece was called Κάλυξ (Calix) and in Latin it was called 'Calx' . However, the word did not go to the French and then English as usual but it rerouted to Germany where they used it for 'limestone'. So, when the word came here and was called 'caelc' in old English, it meant 'the soft, white limestone' found on the South of England and cut in small pieces it was used to mark debt or game scores. The modern spelling of the work is from the 14th century mimicking the Latin one. ΚΑΛΥΞ/CHALK

Twitter @yourgreeksunday ,
Instagram @yourgreeksunday ,
email yourgreeksunday@gmail.com