Your Greek Word On A Sunday

Cumin

Hello Dunedin (ντανίντν) in New Zealand! Welcome to the family! A city with great architecture and history but most importantly, rent prices so affordable that artists can thrive there! From what I’m reading it’s an artistically vibrant city, Galleries, live music and theatre ! Oh I’m certainly visiting. Thank you for listening Dunedin.If you like what you hear in this podcast you can subscribe, download 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!The oldest verified writing we have of this plant is in ancient Mycenaean. However, those syllables together can be found in other languages too and it’s led linguists to believe that the original name is Sumerian. Ancient Greeks used this herb as a staple. You had your salt, your pepper and this on the table and of course they used it medicinally. Digestive and respiratory problems as well as bleeding were some of the problems that plant helped with. Cultivated originally in Iran but the name in English came from the Roman version of the Greek word. The Romans also brought it in the UK. In America it arrived from the Spanish and the Portuguese and in Morocco you can still find it on the table next to salt and pepper . ΚΥΜΙΝΟ/CUMINInstagram @yourgreeksunday ,Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.socialemail yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

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Thyme

2w ago00:01:59Tap to summarize

Welcoming Payakumbuh in Indonesia today! The city with a long tradition of a secret negotiation for livestock trades. The Marosok Tradition: Buyers and sellers hide their hands under a cloth and communicate the price by touching. It’s a whole different language of touching and tapping and squeezing different parts of the hand and it means something different depending on which is used . Isn’t that fascinating? Thank you for listening Payakumbuh! If you like what you hear in this podcast you can subscribe, download 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!Ancient Greek incense as part of sacrificial ceremonies for the gods was comprised of several herbs. The most prominent was one that got its name from the fumes it was creating when burning . Now, that’s one version, the other is that it got its name because of its resilience; and the Ancient Greeks lit it in temples to inspire courage. In medicine, its oil was used as an antibiotic and in gastronomy as an Ancient Greek wine infuser or an ancient Roman cheese herb. Speaking of the Romans, they were the first to bring it to the UK and it became incredibly popular so much so that many knights would get it as farewell present before battle and people would put it under their pillows to ward off nightmares. From the Ancient Greek verb Θύω (Theo) meaning ‘creating smoke’ and Latin ‘Thymum’ this herb can be found everywhere in Greece and it’s delicious! ΘΥΜΑΡΙ/THYMEInstagram @yourgreeksunday ,Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.socialemail yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

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Coriander

3w ago00:02:34Tap to summarize

Happy July everyone, welcoming Houston in Texas this week. The city that was built on a scam. Oh yes, in the 19th century the Allen brothers bought very cheap land in Houston because it was, literally, a swamp. They started a campaign describing Houston as a Mediterranean paradise. Hills and breeze and a port that ships can travel to and fro. You have to remember, it was a different time so, people bought into it and then, moved into a reality that had nothing to do with what was advertised to them. When they tried to leave, the Allens bribed officials and made Houston the capital of Texas and promised progress and infrastructure. Nothing happened of course until the oil boom and then, the brothers had to wait for over two years to see their scam pay off. There’s much more to this story so, go ahead and have a read when you can. It’s fascinating. Thank you for listening Houston! If you like what you hear in this podcast you can subscribe, download 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!July is the last month for this season and I have another series of linked words for you. Greece has been the connection between the east and the west since its birth. From big ideas and language to... spices! And this month I will focus on those . A beautiful plant that has divided taste buds for eons because of its strong flavour and smell. Native to southern Europe, North Africa and northwest Asia, its Greek name comes from the word Κοριός (korios) meaning ‘bedbug’ because the unripe seeds smell like crushed bedbugs. The word passed to Latin and French, as usual, but in the UK was brought by the Romans and used ever since, with a slight pause during the influx of other spices during the renaissance. From ancient times it’s been used as a digestive herb but also a perfume and an offering to the gods . From Ancient Mycenaean Korijadana to Ancient Greek Κορίανδρον (koriandron) to Latin Coriandrum and a mixed pronunciation of both the seeds and the leaves in modern Greek ΚΟΛΙΑΝΔΡΟ/CORIANDERInstagram @yourgreeksunday ,Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.socialemail yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

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Oedipus

4w ago00:03:04Tap to summarize

Welcoming Devon in the UK today and particularly, Exeter. The town who’s underground passageways that used to bring fresh water into It, are still open to the public to visit through guided tours. If you’re not afraid of underground tight spaces that is. Thank you for listening Exeter! If you like what you hear in this podcast you can subscribe, download 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!Οίδημα (oedima) in Ancient Greek meant ‘swelling’ and πούς (pous) meant 'foot'. The spelling changed when moved to Latin and the Greek diphthong o+i turned into o+e but enough with grammar, let’s get to the fun part the myth which I absolutely recommend you read in full when you get a chance. In Greek mythology, when the king of Thebes Λάιος (Lios) got the prophesy that his firstborn will be the one that kills him, decided to pierce the baby’s feet and tight them together before handing him to a servant to abandon the infant on a mountain . A Shepard found the baby and took it home as he and his wife were childless and saw that as a blessing. They named him after his ailment, his swollen ankles, and when he grew up the young man wanted to find out his origins. He was told by an oracle that he’s bound to kill his father so, he left his home ,thinking that will keep his father safe. In his travels, he encountered a man that wouldn’t let him through a tight passage. They fought and the young man killed him. Continuing his journey, he reached Thebes but its gates were guarded by the Sphinx. A monster with a female head and a lion’s body that would devour anyone who didn’t solve its riddle: which creature has one voice but has four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon and three at night? The young man answered ‘a Man’ . A man crawls in the beginning of his life, stands in the middle of it and in the end uses a cane, so three legs. The Sphinx, defeated, threw herself from a cliff and the city of Thebes was liberated from the monster. The young man was crowned King of Thebes- since the king was missing- and married It’s Queen. The tragedy of his story became not one but two famous plays. The man who killed his father in a tight passage and married his mother is a terrible story of how fate plays an integral part in Ancient Greek storytelling. The young man’s name was ΟΙΔΗΠΟΔΑΣ/OEDIPUSInstagram @yourgreeksunday ,Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.socialemail yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

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Pilot

Jun 2100:01:35Tap to summarize

Welcoming Minneapolis this week, the third largest theatre city in the US after New York and Chicago! So make sure you catch a show if you visit! Thank you for listening Minneapolis !If you like what you hear in this podcast you can subscribe, download 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!When Greek words moved to Latin some underwent changes and some didn’t. One very common change was for the letter Δέλτα (Thelta) to turn into an L and today’s word is a very good example of that. Ancient Greek ships didn’t have a central helm but rather two πήδα (pida) and in singular πηδόν (pidon). From the word πούς (pous) meaning 'foot'. Two oars at the very front of the ship and the person steering a ship, the one guiding it , the one changing its 'footing’ was called πηδότης (pedotis). The word moved to Latin in the Middle Ages and from there, to French and English always meaning 'a helmsman'. In 1858 it expanded to ‘the one who controls a hot air balloon’ and in 1907 'the one who flies a plane'. ΠΗΔΟΤΗΣ/PILOTInstagram @yourgreeksunday ,Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.socialemail yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

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Podium

Jun 1400:01:54Tap to summarize

Welcoming Las Palmas of the Canary islands today! I have a fact that you wouldn’t expect from a holiday destination but I’m an actor so, of course, I found a theatre one. One of the most beautiful theatres in Las Palmas, Teatro Perez Galdós, is said to be haunted by the writer that gave it its name, Benito Perez Galdós. Although, considering how he fought against fanatical religious beliefs all his life and being a realist writer becoming a ghost seems unlikely, he is known to be a trickster ghost more than a scary one and pulls all kinds of pranks to actors and crew members. So, if you watch a show there, see if you can spot an actor who’s a little bit too on alert! Also, look up Galdós when you get a minute. He was a very important writer! Thank you for listening Las Palmas! If you like what you hear in this podcast you can subscribe, download 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 GoWe continue this month with words from the same root. Πούς (pous) in Ancient Greek and πόδι (podi) in modern means ‘foot’. The base of a column or a vase in Ancient Greek was ποδίον (podion) ‘little foot’ . The word moved to Latin and the Romans were using it for the raised platform in Arenas where the VIPs would sit and David Humphries , the American diplomat , translator, and poet brought it into English in the 1700s. The word stayed linked to architecture until 1932 when a three-step platform became mandatory at the summer Olympics in Los Angeles and the word gained its wider meaning. ΠΟΔΙΟΝ/PODIUM!Instagram @yourgreeksunday ,Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.socialemail yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

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Pedal

Jun 700:01:11Tap to summarize

Happy June everyone! If you like what you hear in this podcast, you can subscribe, download 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!This month, I’ll be telling you about words that come from the same root. Some are more straight forward than others and today, I’ll start with the most obvious one. Although it had a bit of a journey. Πούς (pous) in Ancient Greek meant 'foot' and when it moved to Latin became ‘pes’. A thing 'of the foot’ was ‘pedalis’ and in French ‘Pédale’. In 1610 it came to English to describe a pipe organ’s lever and in the 1800s a piano’s one. In the late 1800s the first bicycles were introduced to Greece and with them that exact word, now a loan, to describe a ΠΕΤΑΛΙ/PEDALInstagram @yourgreeksunday ,Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.socialemail yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

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Terpsichore

May 3100:01:23Tap to summarize

Welcoming Casablanca today! An ancient city that was established by Berbers in the 7th century BC and was later a pirates' port. Thank you for listening Casablanca!If you like what you hear in this podcast, you can subscribe, download 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!Daughters of Zeus and the Titan Mnemosyne who gave birth to all nine of them, the Muses lived between mount Olympus and the earth. They were assigned an art form (or more) each, to inspire humans and the seventh of them, was in charge of dance and choral song. She’s usually depicted dancing and holding a lyre. Her name entered the English language in the early 1700s, as a noun, in the writings of politician, philosopher and writer Anthony Ashley-Cooper. Τέρψη (terpsi) means ‘delight’ and χορός (choros) means ‘dance’. ΤΕΡΨΙΧΟΡΗ/TERPSICHORE Instagram @yourgreeksunday ,Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.socialemail yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

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Turn

May 2400:01:49Tap to summarize

I am welcoming Denver in Colorado this week! Oh my, this city has too many facts to choose from but there’s one that won my heart! And although it was a marketing ploy to make people move west in the late 1800s and it doesn’t have ‘300 days of sunshine’ it still has 245. That’s all you need to know, people! 245 days of sunshine. Thank you for listening Denver! 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, craftsmen and artists who wanted to make something, they would use an early design of a lathe. A machine like a big clasp with a bow attached at the end. The clasp would keep the object steady and by moving the bow with one hand to rotate it, they could smooth out or carve on it with the other. although most times it was a two person job. I’ll upload a photo on Instagram and Facebook for you to see it. The word came to English before the 1300s as a verb not a noun although nowadays is used as both. A wider use of the verb started a century later. The Ancient Greek lathe’s name was based on its rotating motion and in English it arrived from the Latin ‘tornare’ and the French ‘tornier’ and in Middle English it was ‘turnen’. A lathe in both ancient and modern Greek is called a Τόρνος (tornos) and the verb is ΤΟΡΝΕΥΩ/TURNInstagram @yourgreeksunday ,Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.socialemail yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

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Triceps

May 1700:02:20Tap to summarize

TricepsLet’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/TRICEPInstagram @yourgreeksunday ,Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.socialemail yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

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All episodes

Cumin

Thyme

Coriander

Oedipus

Pilot

Podium

Pedal

Terpsichore

Turn

Triceps