Many English words have their roots in Greek and Roman myth. Tantalize derives from the story of King Tantalus, condemned to stand forever in a pool that receded whenever he was thirsty, and beneath a bough of fruit that pulled away whenever he reached for it. Sisyphus was punished by having to push a heavy stone up a hill, only to see it break free and roll back down; from this myth we get the adjective Sisyphean. The handsome youth Narcissus was obsessed with his own reflection in a pond, which inspired both narcissist and the name of the flower narcissus, which blooms alongside bodies of water. Echo was the nymph who pined away for Narcissus until nothing was left of her but her voice. Iris, goddess of the rainbow, gave us both iridescent and the Spanish for “rainbow,” arco iris. In The Iliad, the Greek herald Stentor bellowed with a voice as mighty as that of 50 men. From his name we get the adjective stentorian, which describes someone with a powerful voice. Dale Corey Dibbley shares hundreds more examples in From Achilles Heel to Zeus’s Shield. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Words from Greek and Roman Myths”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Michael. I’m calling from Huntsville, Alabama.
Welcome to the show, Michael.
I had a question regarding Greek mythology. Is it okay if I give a little background?
Oh, heck yeah.
Sure, go for it. Martha’s salivating.
I’m salivating.
So my go-to story whenever I introduce people to what etymology is, is the story of Tantalus from Greek mythology.
And so Tantalus was one of the many sons of Zeus, and when he upset his father in one particular instance, he took it too far and was sentenced to a special prison where he was made to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree.
Whenever he would hunger and reach up for the fruit, the branches would rise, and whatever he would thirst and kneel to drink, the waters would recede.
This is where we get today’s word tantalizing, and that’s now the proverbial term for temptation without satisfaction.
So I’ve just always thought that this is one of the coolest stories, and it got me interested in etymology because it showed me that words could be more than just assembled parts and could have stories behind them.
Yes.
I would love to know what other words might have stories behind them from mythology, whether it’s Greek or not.
Oh, yeah. Michael, you’re a kindred spirit. Yeah. I love the story of Tantalus because it is one of those light bulb moments, right? When you realize the origin of this word and it’s this really vivid story.
Yeah, it’s exciting. Often you hear the story of Tantalus in conjunction with the story of Sisyphus. You remember him? Yeah, he pushed the rock up the hill, right? The boulder? Yeah.
Yeah, he was condemned to push a rock up a hill, and it would always go rolling back down at the end of his efforts, and he would have to do it all over again.
And that was yet another punishment from the gods.
And so, of course, we get the word Sisyphean from that, a Sisyphean task or something like that, where you’re just condemned to do it over and over again with a lot of effort.
But, yeah, gosh, there’s so many of these.
I mean, think of the word narcissist.
No, I didn’t know that was tied to Greek mythology.
Well, Narcissus was in love with his own image.
He was this beautiful, beautiful youth, and he was known for staring at his reflection in a pool.
And that’s actually why we get the name of the flower Narcissus, because it grows near bodies of water.
And we get the word narcissist from that and narcissism.
And, of course, connected to Narcissus is the story of Echo, who fell in love with this beautiful youth, but just pined away for him because he rejected her.
And she just pined away and pined away until there was nothing left but her voice.
Poor Echo.
Oh, wow.
How about that?
That’s really neat.
Yeah, yeah, there’s so many of these.
I’m thinking of the word iridescent, which comes from the Roman goddess Iris who runs upon the rainy wind.
She was the goddess of the rainbow.
And, of course, in Spanish we get arco iris from that, the word for rainbow.
So there are lots and lots and lots of these.
And you’ve talked about Stentorian on the show before as well.
Yeah, the man who had a voice of 50 men.
Yeah.
And she can go on and on.
We could do hours of this.
That last one you said was tentorian?
Stentorian.
Stentorian.
Stentor in Homer was a guy with a really, really loud voice.
And so you get stentorian, the adjective, which describes a really strong voice.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
So you said that you were explaining etymology to people?
It’s really because of the show.
I try to get people interested in the show.
And the easiest way for me to convey what it’s about is to give them a story behind a word to convey that, you know, words have history, words have meaning beyond necessarily what we use them for.
Right.
Yes.
And so I just, that was always my go-to example because it was the one that got me originally interested.
So, Michael, I’m going to equip you with something that will help you when you’re recruiting people to listen to the show.
There is a book called From Achilles’ Heel to Zeus’ Shield, and it’s by Dale Corey Dibley.
That’s D-I-B-B-L-E-Y.
Published in 1993.
You might find it on used bookstores or on one of the used bookstores online.
So From Achilles’ Heel to Zeus’ Shield, and it’s just filled with this, word histories from Greek and Roman myth.
That sounds amazing.
That sounds right up to you, Holly.
Well, Michael, we’re really glad that you called, and thank you for evangelizing the show.
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
All right, take care. Bye-bye.
Take care. Bye.
And if you’d like to share your language story, give us a call, 877-929-9673, or spill the whole thing in email to words@waywordradio.org.
