Friday, August 10, 2012

The Greek Language Deserves a Medal

(A version of this article appeared in the Aug 10, 2012  Globe & Mail)

Our big fat Olympic Greek vocabulary
by
Howard Richler

Some of you may remember a line in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding when the character Gus Portokalos boasts to someone Say any word, and I'll tell you how the root of that word is Greek.
This assertion is challenged and Gus is asked to explain the Greek provenance of the obviously Japanese word “kimono.” Gus ponders for a second and replies Kimono, kimono, kimono. Ah! Kimono is come from the Greek word kimona, which is mean winter. What do you wear in the winter? A robe! So, there you go!

Gus’s chauvinistic bombast aside, it is nonetheless true that in all European languages (and even some non-European based languages) the vast majority of everyday vocabulary includes words of Greek origin. The arts and sciences were born, developed and are still operating with a basically pure Greek vocabulary featuring such words as idea, philosophy, democracy, magic, biology and telephone. While the Guses of the world may have some convoluted theory as to how words connected to Olympic events such as judo, tae kwan do and softball are Greek-based, not surprisingly we do see many Olympic related words that descend from the Greek language. The Olympics themselves are named after Olympia, an ancient religious site scared to the god Zeus which is also the place in Greece where the first Olympic Games took place in 776 B.C. “Athlete” and “athletics” themselves descend from the Greek word athlētēs, a derivation of athlein “to contend for a prize.”

In addition, one has to return to ancient Greece to understand the provenance of some Olympic events. The Greeks have been defying great odds in order to prevail way before they won the Euro Cup 2004. In 490 B.C, the heavily outnumbered Athenians defeated the invading Persians on the plains of Marathon, approximately 25 miles from Athens. Legend has it that the runner Pheidippides was chosen to carry the glad tidings back to Athens. Upon reaching the walls of the Acropolis, Pheidippides cried out. “Rejoice, we conquer!” – and promptly dropped dead; ever since, marathoner runners have contemplated giving up the ghost over this arduous distance. When the modern Olympics was inaugurated in Greece in 1896, the distance of the marathon was set at 40,000 metres (24.85 miles) which was the distance between the Marathon Bridge and the Olympic stadium in Athens Since the 1908 Olympic Games in London, the marathon distance has been set at 26 miles, 385 yards. This is because 26 miles represented the distance between Windsor Castle to White City Stadium, and 385 yards was added on so the race could finish in front of King Edward VII's royal box.

In the unlikely event that you are asked to strip naked in a gym by a philologist – don't freak out. The word “gymnastics” descends from its Greek parent gumnazo which means “train naked” and comes from the word gumnós “naked.” In ancient Greece, exercises were often performed in the nude and at one point Olympic track meets were run in the buff because it was believed that the sun was soothing to the nerves of the back. While in practice sessions, the modern clad gymnast while in practice sessions, performs “calisthenics” vigorous exercises to improve muscle tone band fitness. This term blends the Greek stem kalli, “beauty” with the Greek word for strength, sthenos.

The Greek word for contest is athlon and this has bequeathed us four Olympic sports; the decathlon (ten events), the heptathlon (seven events), the triathlon (three events). The pentathlon in which contestants compete in shooting, fencing, swimming, riding and cross-country running has an interesting history. The choice of these sports was based on the legend of a warrior who, having to convey a message to the rear of the fighting forces, had to battle on horseback with his pistol and sword. However, because his horse was killed in the process, he had to swim and run to complete his mission.

Because so many languages borrowed from Greek, the Greek language doesn’t always receive the credit it deserves in etymological analysis. For example, “rhythmic gymnastics“ is actually doubly Greek in origin but for the etymology of “rhythm,” the OED mentions the Latin rhythmus and the French rhythme but neglects to mention that the word ultimately derives from the Greek rhytmós “recurring motion.” Similarly, while English acquired the word cycle from French which in turn changed the Latin word cyclus, this word in turn was an adaptation of the Greek kuklós, “circle.”



My next book From Happy to Homosexual and other mysterious semantic shifts will be published in 2013.

1 comment:

  1. Your article about Greece is really interesting. Thanks for sharing your idea with us. I have intensive knowledge about Greece language , culture and we are making a plan to teach Greece language for our students so that they will have sufficient knowledge and they can achieve fluency in native language.

    ReplyDelete