Ever since I became an educational therapist, I have developed an interest in the origins of words. So, whenever I come across a word that is of Greek origin, I will add it to my list. Maybe this will interest you.
- "Crypto" is in fact an Ancient Greek word, meaning "hidden." Hence "crypt," "cryptography," "encrypted," etc. are all terms that far predate digital computing. (And in the case of cryptography, form the logical and mathematical basis for the development of 20th c computer science.)
- The Greek word for wisdom is *sophia* and *philos* means a friend. So *philosopher* means a friend of wisdom.
- Do you know that there’s no word in Greek for privacy? When everyone knows everyone else’s business, you get a feeling of connection and security
- The term dyslexia is a Greek word meaning having difficulty with reading
- Do you know that the term *crypto* is taken from an Ancient Greek word *kryptos* meaning *hidden*?
- ‘Paralympics’ comes from the Greek preposition ‘para’ which means ‘alongside’ - it’s the event running alongside the Olympics.
- Cosmopolitan came into the English language in 1844, from the word “cosmopolite”, which has a Greek origin, meaning “citizen of the word”. Cosmopolite is derived from the word “kosmos” which means “world” and “polites” which means “citizen”
- Zoe is the Greek word for “life”.
- “Syndrome” is a word of Greek origin, meaning literally “running together”. In its original medical sense it refers to a condition in which two or more symptoms appear together without any obvious causal link between them.
- “Myriad” was originally a Greek word meaning “ten thousand”.
- “Euphemism” is derived from a Greek word meaning “use of an auspicious word for an inauspicious one”.
- “Homosexual” comes from the Greek “homos”, meaning “the same”.
- “Epicentre” comes from Greek words meaning “upon a point” and is a technical term for the point on the earth’s surface immediately above the point of origin of an earthquake.
- “Criterion” is a singular noun of Greek origin.
- In Ancient Greek drama the “protagonist” was the principal actor. The pro- part of the word is from the Greek word “protos”, “first”.
- The hier- part of “hierarchy” is derived from a Greek word meaning “sacred” or “priestly”.
- “Hoi polloi” is a phrase of Greek origin, which means “the many, the common people, the vulgar masses”.
- The name of the study of systems control is “cybernetics”. Its Greek origin, “kybernete”, means “governor”.
- Words such as anachronism, atmosphere, antithesis, chaos, climax, crisis, emphasis, enthusiasm, parasite, parenthesis, pneumonia, scheme, system, and tactics came into English from Greek by way of Latin. Direct borrowings include anonymous, catastrophe, criterion, idiosyncrasy, lexicon, misanthrope, orthodox, thermometer, and tonic.