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GREEK FOR ENGLISH STUDIES

EXAM CONTENTS

Vocabulary & Idioms

Lesson 3: Greece and the literary legacy. Greek etymologies in the

English language.

! Muse, Muses. From Μοῦσα (sing.), Μοῦσαι (pl.). The nine Muses, daughters
of Zeus and Mnemosyne (the goddess of Memory), were: Calliope (epic poetry),
Clio (history), Erato (love poetry, lyric art), Euterpe (music, especially flute),
Melpomene (tragedy), Polymnia (hymns), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy),
Urania (astronomy). A ‘muse’ is an imaginary being, person, or force that gives
someone ideas and helps them to write, paint, or make music, etc.
! Music: from Μουσική “(art) of the Muses, pertaining to the Muses.”
! Museum: from Latin museum, “library, study,” from Greek μουσεῖον “place of
study, library or museum, school of art or poetry,” originally “a seat or shrine of
the Muses.”
! Ode: from ᾠδή, “song, a poem intended to be sung,” a lyric poem in rhymed
stanzas, generally in the form of an address and exalted in feeling and
expression. Famous examples include Keat's odes “To a Nightingale” and “On a
Grecian Urn.” The Pindaric ode takes its name from the Greek poet (522-442
BC) whose work, designed to honour victors in the Greek games, used an
elaborate stanzaic pattern of strophe, antistrophe and epode. Abraham Cowley
introduced the form into English; he and successors like Dryden and Pope
loosen the stanzaic pattern but keep the poem's public function. Tennyson's
“Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington” is a fine late example of the
Pindaric ode.
! Paean: “a song of thanksgiving or praise; a song, film, or piece of writing that
praises someone or something very enthusiastically,” from Παιάν, a name of the
god Apollo, one of whose attributes was the power of healing. Many hymns of
thanksgiving for recovery from illness and for averting evil were addressed to
him under this title, and eventually paean was used to designate any hymn of
thanksgiving or praise.
! Poet: from ποιητής, “maker, author, poet, composer,” from ποιέω-ῶ (verb), “to
make, create, compose.”
! Lyre: from λύρα. A string instrument of the harp kind, used by the Greeks for
accompanying song and recitation. Fig. chiefly as the symbol of lyric poetry.
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! Lyric: from λύρα. Of or pertaining to the lyre; adapted to the lyre, meant to be
sung; pertaining to or characteristic of song. Now used as the name for short
poems (whether or not intended to be sung), usually divided into stanzas or
strophes, and directly expressing the poet’s own thoughts and sentiments.
Hence applied to the poet who composes such poems.
! Lyrics = the words of a song. From λύρα.
! Hymn: from ὕμνος “festive song or ode in praise of gods or heroes (also
sometimes of mournful songs)”, possibly a variant of ὑμέναιος, “wedding song”
(from Ὑμήν, the god of Marriage). Since it was used in used in Septuagint to
translate several Hebrew words meaning “song praising God”, nowadays it
means “religious song”, “a song of praise that Christians sing to God.”
! ΜΗΔΕΝ ΑΓΑΝ (μηδὲν ἄγαν): “nothing in excess.” A phrase said to have
been inscribed at the temple of Apollo at Delphi and a prominent example of the
Greek ideal of moderation.
! ΓΝΩΘΙ ΣΕΑΥΤΟΝ (γνῶθι σεαυτόν): “know yourself.” Also inscribed at
the temple of Apollo in Delphi, a suitable warning/challenge before the visitor
sallies forth into the inner sanctum and consults the oracle of the god.
Translated into Latin as temet nosce, it appears in the film The Matrix, written
above the door of the Oracle’s kitchen.