(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!

Now this is a surprising word. Not because of the way it arrived in English but because of how it evolved. Σχολή (scholi) in Ancient Greek Meant the interval from work. Your free time. What was considered the ideal or socially acceptable way to spend your free time was , learning by either thinking, debating or, discussing a matter. And there were places to go for that. Like the agora under the Acropolis where most philosophers gathered to train minds and debate their ideas with each other. Each philosopher’s place, within the agora, was named after their belief so, you had for example the Σχολή του Σωκράτη (scholi of Socrates) Socrates’ free time. But since that kind of learning was considered equally important as anything else, the place for lectures by philosophers would also be called Σχολή. In Latin 'Schola' meant a place for instructions, in Middle English 'Scole' meant the institution of learning and from 1590 onwards in English it was the name for all buildings used for the purpose of learning. 'Ecole' in French, 'escuela' in Spanish, 'scuola' in Italian, 'Schule' in German, 'Skola' (with a K) in Swedish, 'Σχολείο' in modern Greek and in English, keeping the anglicised Greek spelling of ΣΧΟΛΗ/SCHOOL

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Happy New Year Everybody! May you have a healthy and prosperous 2026 and may you be as passionate for the people and the things you love, as an Ancient Greek! If you like what you hear in this podcast, subscribe, share and review on the platform of your choice. It helps other people find us and a good word goes a long way! On with our first 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!

Today’s word is one that took many turns before settling to what we know today . Plato used it to describe the state of poets and oracles. A state that 'takes the soul beyond reason, truth or beauty and is driven by a god'. Later on the same state would be used to describe divine possession that leads to madness. And in the 1500s borrowed from Latin and French, Martin Luther will use the word to describe religious fanatics or people claiming to have received the word of god directly. In 1716 the clergyman White Kennett wrote the word describing someone passionate about a cause but the word remained a negative one as it excluded all reason. The 19th century was kinder and accepted the word as a state of passion and inspiration. Εν (en) ,in both ancient and modern Greek, is a preposition and means ‘in/within’ and θεός (theos) means ‘god’. The state of being inspired and passionate as if touched by a god is ΕΝΘΟΥΣΙΑΣΜΟΣ/ENTHUSIASM

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As the year ends and cold weather is setting, I thought of telling you a winter tale. And finish the year with the thought that, from the beginning of time, people always looked up to the vastness of the sky and tried to find meaning in our existence by creating and sharing stories and bringing everyone together. To listen. As an actor I couldn’t more proud to be human and be able to tell stories in any way I can. Thank you for staying with me this year, your company has been invaluable. See you in 2026!

(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!

There are several versions of this myth so I’m choosing the one that’s less complicated but have a look for the others . It’s fascinating how over the years , well into the Roman ones, people kept telling this story their own way. Artemis was the goddess of wild nature and hunting. Protector of animals, babies and mothers and connected to purity and youth. Καλλίστω (Callisto),who’s name means ‘beauty', was a nymph and a follower of Artemis and had vowed to stay a virgin. Zeus didn’t seem to care and seduced her by transforming into the god Apollo. When Hera, Zeus’s wife, found out, she turned Καλλίστω into a bear- an ‘άρκτος’ (arktos)- but before that, Zeus managed to save her unborn child and raise it in secret. When the child turned 15 he went hunting in the woods and there, met with a bear and without knowing it was his mother he was about to aim and kill. That’s when Zeus intervened once again and turned both of them into constellations. Preventing matricide and re-uniting them forever. A big and a small Bear constellation can be seen in the sky and in English they have kept their Latin names, Ursa major and minor. But the word for the Ancient Greek name of the celestial place where a bear can be found was given to the the terrestrial one. ΑΡΚΤΙΚΟΣ/ARCTIC

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(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!

Merry Christmas to those celebrating and I hope you’ll have a few restful days those of you who don’t. I was as surprised as you’ll be to find out that this is a combination of Greek words but my hunch was proven right! You see the modern Greek word is slightly different so I never thought to look, until now! In Ancient Greece one of the most popular breads was one made from barley, oil and sometimes milk . It was called Μάζα (maza) and it looked like a lump of dough. It was named after the infinitive Μασσείν meaning 'to knead by hand'. The word was also used in medicine and alchemy to describe a blend of substances or elements very close together and that, expanded into describing crowds. Years went by and one place you’d find so many people together was a church. In Latin it came as 'Massa' and dropped the final ‘a’ when the French adopted the word in the 11th century as ‘Μasse’. It came to English two centuries later and meant 'an irregular shaped lump' or a 'crowd'. Now put that on the side. In Hebrew god’s son is the messiah meaning ‘the anointed one’ and that later on was given as a name to Jesus of Nazareth. in Greek, that translates as Χριστός (Christos) and that came to Latin as 'Christus'. Now put the two together and you have a crowd celebrating the anointed one. ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥΓΕΝΝΑ/CHRISTMAS

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(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!

Today’s word is mostly known through Biblical stories but in the ancient world it was a high valued resin used as medicine and fragrance. And the name in Arabic means ‘bitter’. Trade, brought it to Greece from South Arabia and, they created a whole myth for it. What I find fascinating about this myth is that it’s not about a Greek princess but a Lebanese one and the myth comes probably from Cyprus but it is unclear what came first , an existing myth that was made to fit the origin of the resin or a myth that came with it but was altered to the point that it was made a Greek one? We’ll never know but it lasted through the years as both a story and a cautionary tale. Μύρρα (Myrrah) was a beautiful princess that had the misfortune of falling in love with her own father. For 12 nights her nurse, would lie to the King and say a princess has fallen in love with him but wishes to remain anonymous . So Μύρρα would hide her face and sleep with the King. On the 12th night, he wanted to find out who she was so he held up a torch and to his horror saw his daughter . He chased her with a sword but she managed to flee to Arabia and turned to the gods for protection for herself, and her unborn child. Aphrodite was not happy this , not happy at all. She didn’t tolerate bonds that didn't honour her so, she turned Μύρρα into a tree and in that form, she gave birth to the most beautiful boy of all times, Adonis. The bitter resin is said to be her tears and her story has been used in one form or another by Ovid, Dante, Mary Shelley, Ted Hughes, Ravel and, the Bible as one of the gifts the Magi brought to new-born Jesus. ΜΥΡΡΑ/MYRRH

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(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 countdown to Christmas has begun and It wouldn’t be December if I didn’t enter it with a cold! So I hope my voice is not too distracting and you can enjoy today’s episode! I have to thank my Iranian friend Lanna and her friend Mohsen for all the Farsi words guidance. Herodotus and Xenophon were established historians in Ancient Greece and they both mention a Persian all male caste , well versed in astronomy, science, philosophy and astrology. They were also quite influential in the Persian empire . Their practices involved praying, interpreting omens and they were believed to be the mediators between humans and the divine. Because of their vast knowledge, their title 'Mo’gh' in Greek, was immediately associated with wisdom. It means 'Priest' However, when Christianity took over the word kept its positive meaning in Latin, French and finally English, only to describe the three wise men that, by interpreting a star , travelled all the way from the East to meet a new born King. ΜΑΓΟΙ/MAGI

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Hi, thank you all for your ratings and reviews so far, I love reading what you think and it does help other people find us so please, keep them coming. If you have any questions or comments about what you hear in this podcast you can email us at yourgreeksunday@gmail.com and you can also follow us on Instagram at @yourgreeksunday . Before we move on with today’s word I’d like to correct myself on last week’s episode. Of course Apollo wasn’t Cyclops’s dad, it was Poseidon. I mix up my Olympians sometimes. Oops! On with today’s word!

(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 ancient Greeks had three words for 'glory'. All meaning a different kind of fame. We’ll stick to the one that before it got really popular in English in the 1920s it was university slang among students of the classics in the late 18th century and it just meant ‘prestige’. In ancient Greek it meant praise given to someone for an achievement in battle, never outside of one. A praise for something one accomplished themselves not as part of an army, not the one to have won the war and definitely not the one to reflect the entire nation . A simple praise in battle was called ΚΥΔΟΣ/KUDOS

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(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!

Following up from last week’s episode on giants and fossils here’s another word that comes with a mythical creature attached. When ancient Greeks found animal fossils that looked enormous, they called them ‘Giants’ but, when they found enormous fossils that had a hole in the middle of their scull they believed them to be a special type of giant. They named them Κύκλωπες (cyclops) meaning ‘central eye’. The last giant of his kind and son of Apollo was, Πολύφημος (Polyphemus) meaning, 'the famous one’ and in Homer’s Odyssey, he was blinded by Odysseus when the latter was kept prisoner in the giant’s island. For that ,Apollo punished Odysseus by making his journey home, much, much, much, much longer. It’s worth saying here that, many times a description of a creature from Phoenician merchants or creatures seen while fighting with foreign armies, would inspire stories and myths to explain things. Ivory in Ancient Greece wasn’t uncommon but it wasn’t for everyone. The statue of Athena inside the Parthenon was made of ivory and gold and that combination was generally used for high and religious art. Around the time of Alexander the Great the Greek name for ivory was applied, for the first time, to the animal and not just the material. The word came to Latin as ‘Elephantus’ then old French ‘olifant’, old English ‘Elpend’ and in modern English, keeping the Latin spelling, ΕLEFAS/ELEPHANT

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