Common Words with Greek Origin

One of the most interesting things about language is its origin. The words we use today can be traced back thousands of years. The English language is a special one because it bears the unique traces of many sources from other languages, but none is so strong as that of Greek.

Greek and Latin influences enrich our formal vocabulary, resulting in many common English words. Here, we take a look at English words with Greek origins.

Cosmopolitan

The word cosmopolitan comes from Ancient Greek (kosmo politikos), meaning "citizen of the world.” The word was formed by combining the kosmos "world" and polites "citizen," from polis "city." You can use the word to describe a traveler, someone who enjoys visiting other areas, and someone who loves meeting new people and discovering new things.

Democracy

Our modern word "democracy" first appeared in 1644 as a term for government by the people in a state but came to be used everywhere in Greece by about 500 BC. The word "demos" is the Greek word meaning the people and the word "kratos" meaning strength or rule. Together, it literally means "the rule of the people."

Meteorology

Meteorology is the scientific study of the atmosphere and its phenomena. The word meteorology is derived from the Greek words meteōra , meaning "celestial phenomena" and Logos, meaning "word, thought, principle, or speech." Ancient meteorologists attempted to predict weather based on astronomical observations.

Hygiene

Hygiene consists of practices related to the preservation of health and sanitation, which covers a variety of personal and professional care activities such as in medicine, home care and community health. The word was ultimately derived from hygieine techne "the healthful art," from hygies meaning "healthy, sound, hearty," literally "living well."

Zodiac

The word zodiac comes from Latin zōdiacus, which is the Latinisation of the Greek zōdiakos kuklos, meaning "circle of little animals,” as half of the signs of the classical Greek zodiac are human figures. There are 12 zodiac signs in the western world, but there are also 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. It turns out that whilst the zodiac symbols we know today were created by Greeks, these symbols have origins that extend far beyond Greece.

Marathon

The etymology of the word marathon comes from the legend of Pheidippides, a messenger from the Battle of Marathon who ran to Athens to announce the Greek victory over Persia in August 490 BC. The word marathon is actually made up of two elements: márathon (an Old North-West Dialect form of marathwýn meaning "the place of the rich ones" or "the rich man's place") and nēsos, the proper noun for "island."

Atlas

The word atlas is etymologically derived from the Ancient Greek word atlas the Titan of Greek mythology who supported the heavens and whose picture appeared at the front of early atlases.

Charity

The word charity is a noun and it means “the state of doing good deeds to relieve the poor, or give money to the Church”. It actually came from the story of Charis, one of the three Graces in Greek mythology.