Your Greek Word On A Sunday Emmanuela Lia

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I have a three combo word for you today, yup, that's as Greek as it gets! And it seems to have been distorted a little in English in order to single out personality traits but: Ιδιος (idios) in ancient Greek meant 'one's own', we could say 'one's self' but... mmm... ok let's go with that! Συν (sin) means 'with' and κράση (krasi) means 'a mixture' . So the combination of all the things that make someone themselves. From your personality, to your mannerisms, to the way you carry yourself. That singular combination and not one personality trait, that makes you, you is your  ΙΔΙΟΣΥΓΚΡΑΣΙΑ/IDIOSYNCRASY 
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Τύπτω (tipto) in ancient Greek means 'I strike', 'hit' or 'dent' something. In Latin it was 'typus' and meant 'symbol' or 'an emblem'. Around 1713 it moved to meaning 'printed on metal or wood'. Στερεό (stereo) means 'solid' and the combined word in 1804 meant a printing plate, an additional meaning in 1819 was 'to fix something firmly' and lastly in 1953 the word got  the meaning we still use today ΣΤΕΡΕΟΤΥΠΟ/ STEREOTYPE
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My first job, shortly after I arrived in England, was a stage adaptation of 'Middlemarch', an epic story by George Eliot. The pen name of Mary Ann Evans. As time went by ,I realised that the name I was known for in Greece and had been working for years was too difficult for anyone in this industry to remember so, I decided to keep my first name but officially shorten my surname. In fact if you go to my IMDb you'll see three different versions of my name all of which are versions of my real name. Ψευδές (psevdes) means 'False' and όνομα (onoma) means 'name' . The combined word came to England from France in 1828 and was spelled in Latin characters. It is used only for when a person changes their name for a specific purpose , a pen name or a stage one. ΨΕΥΔΟΝΥΜΟ/PSEUDONYM
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The history of this word goes back to those considered to be the first European civilisation. There is truth and there is myth connected to the Minoans.  A name we know was given to them by the Greeks but have no evidence that, that's what they called themselves. Archaeological discoveries place them in Crete and their first ruler, according to the Greeks, was King Minos (his story and myth are for another episode).  The symbol mostly found in the unearthing of this ancient civilisation is a double axe known as Λάβρυς (Lavris/Labris). Ancient Greek historians would write about the main palace in ancient Κνωσσός (Knossos) The capital city of ancient Crete, as 'The House of Λάβρυς' and surprisingly it's not shaped as a double axe but a ΛΑΒΥΡΙΝΘΟΣ/LABYRINTH 
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In 3rd century BC there was a biographer of philosophers and author of the history of philosophy, Διογένης Λαέρτιος( Diogenes Laertios) . In his 7th book (out of 10) he begins with a reference to Pythagoras's beliefs on how one should lead their life, one of them being , and I quote: Drunkenness, he considers to be a damage and he disapproves any kind of exaggeration, he says we should have συμμετρία and not overdo it with drinking and eating. 
Συν (syn), among other things, means 'with'. Μέτρο (metro) means 'measure' . Whether it's used to describe moderation, proportions or compare measurements, the word has made it through centuries and keeps on going! ΣΥΜΜΕΤΡΙΑ/SYMMETRY



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Τάσσω (tasso) in an Ancient Greek verb and it means 'I put things in order' . Something that was studied in Ancient Greece was the technique of how to put things in order, how to strategize and make smart decisions to achieve your goal (I know I'm summarising here but this is a bite-size podcast after all) . That technique was called Τακτική τέχνη (taktiki techne) and the word came to English in the 17th century , quite late if you think about how many successful strategists England had before that. ΤΑΚΤΙΚΗ/TACTIC
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