Your Greek Word On A Sunday

Emmanuela Lia
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Language Learning
  • Updated Weekly

Award nominated, bite-size podcast. Every Sunday, Greek words used in the English language. Travelling words, connecting cultures. 3228fe0c7e699146558c2355b0d1ced04be2b945

  1. 8h ago

    Pedal

    Happy June everyone! If you like what you hear in this podcast, you can subscribe, download and review it wherever you listen. A click and a few nice words go a long way! On with our 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! This month, I’ll be telling you about words that  come from the same root. Some are more straight forward than others and today, I’ll start with the most obvious one. Although it had a bit of a journey. Πούς (pous) in Ancient Greek meant 'foot' and when it moved to Latin became ‘pes’. A thing 'of the foot’ was ‘pedalis’ and in French ‘Pédale’. In 1610 it came to English to describe a pipe organ’s lever and in the 1800s a piano’s one. In the late 1800s the first bicycles were introduced to Greece and with them that exact word, now a loan, to describe a  ΠΕΤΑΛΙ/PEDAL Instagram @yourgreeksunday , Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.social email yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

    1 min

  2. May 31

    Terpsichore

    Welcoming Casablanca today! An ancient city that was established by Berbers in the 7th century BC and was later a pirates' port. Thank you for listening Casablanca! If you like what you hear in this podcast, you can subscribe, download and review it wherever you listen. A click and a few nice words go a long way! On with our 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! Daughters of Zeus and the Titan Mnemosyne who gave birth to all nine of them, the Muses lived between mount Olympus and the earth. They were assigned an art form (or more) each, to inspire humans and the seventh of them, was in charge of dance and choral song. She’s usually depicted dancing and holding a lyre. Her name entered the English language in the early 1700s, as a noun, in the writings of politician, philosopher and writer Anthony Ashley-Cooper. Τέρψη (terpsi) means ‘delight’ and χορός (choros) means ‘dance’. ΤΕΡΨΙΧΟΡΗ/TERPSICHORE  Instagram @yourgreeksunday , Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.social email yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

    1 min

  3. May 24

    Turn

    I am welcoming Denver in Colorado this week! Oh my, this city has too many facts to choose from but there’s one that won my heart! And although it was a marketing ploy to make people move west in the late 1800s and it doesn’t have  ‘300 days of sunshine’ it still has 245. That’s all you need to know, people! 245 days of sunshine. Thank you for listening Denver!  If you like what you hear in this podcast you can subscribe, follow and review it wherever you listen. A click and a few nice words go a long way! On with our 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! In Ancient Greece, craftsmen and artists who wanted to make something, they would use an  early design of a lathe. A machine like a big clasp with a bow attached at the end. The clasp would keep the object steady  and by moving the  bow with one hand to rotate it, they could smooth out or carve on it with the other. although most times it was a two person job. I’ll upload a photo on Instagram and Facebook for you to see it. The word came to English before  the 1300s as a verb not a noun although nowadays is used as both. A wider use of the verb started a century later. The Ancient Greek lathe’s name was based on its rotating motion and in English it arrived from the Latin ‘tornare’ and the French ‘tornier’ and in Middle English it was ‘turnen’. A lathe in both ancient and modern Greek is called a Τόρνος (tornos) and the verb is ΤΟΡΝΕΥΩ/TURN Instagram @yourgreeksunday , Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.social email yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

    2 min

  4. May 17

    Triceps

    Triceps Let’s hear it for Birmingham joining our audience this week!  The  second biggest city in England, nicknamed ‘the city of a thousand trades’ because during the Industrial revolution it was the fuel of the country, from jewellery to heavy machinery. And today, there’s a show with that name by the Birmingham Royal Ballet paying homage to the city.  Welcome Birmingham! Thank you for listening.  If you like what you hear in this podcast you can subscribe, follow and review it wherever you listen. A click and a few nice words go a long way! On with our 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! In ancient Greece among the classes of mythical creatures were, the monsters! Today I’ll tell you about Cerberus, the guardian of the underworld. A monster that claims as many forms as every writer who decided to describe it. They all agree it was a dog that made sure nobody gets in and out of Hades without permission but whether it had 50, 100 or just 3 heads , a dragon tail, a mix of dog and snake heads with poison, three backs or three bodies, depends on who you read. The description that survived was the three headed one and it matched the description of all his monster siblings that were multi headed.  He became very famous when Hercules managed to subdue him. There’s an adjective that was attached to Cerberus and sometimes you only had to say that to imply him. Τρια (tria) in both ancient and modern Greek means ‘three’ and κεφαλή (kefali) means ‘head’. The masculine combined word came to English in 1577 in John Grange’s fiction novel ‘The Golden Aphrodite’. In Latin the word used in anatomy to describe the upper muscle of your arm that looks as if it has three tops, three heads, is a direct transfer from Greek, minus the alphabet adjustment. And since the beginning of the 20th century we use the shortened and singular version ΤΡΙΚΕΦΑΛΟΣ/TRICEP Instagram @yourgreeksunday , Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.social email yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

    2 min

  5. May 10

    Trophy

    Welcome Cordoba! I’m so glad you joined our audience. This is the city where Christopher Columbus first met with Queen Isabella and secured a stipend to continue his studies and prepare for his expedition . One of the Queen’s demands was that he wouldn’t go to any other monarchs for funding. And the rest is history.  Thank you for listening Cordoba! (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! Τρέπειν (trepin) is an Ancient Greek infinitive meaning ‘to turn’ in modern Greek the noun is τροπή (tropi). Around 490BC a practice started appearing in Ancient Greece that would become a custom and travel all the way to today albeit a little modified. After every battle they’d win , ancient Greeks would find the exact spot where they believed the enemy started turning away and they would either place a stick with an enemy armour on it (like a scarecrow) or they would build a small monument as a reminder of their victory and a threat so the enemy won’t attempt to come back. The custom was adopted by the Romans but it started disappearing around 600BC. The word came to English through Latin and French in the 1500s and shortly after started it’s figurative shift. By the revival on the Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 the word was well established as a reward for the winner of a sport. ΤΡΟΠΑΙΟ/TROPHY Instagram @yourgreeksunday , Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.social email yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

    2 min

  6. May 3

    Trapeze

    Happy May everyone! Give a big welcome to Mexico City! The birthplace of colour television. Oh yes! In the 1940s, 23 year old Guillermo Gonzales Camarena invented the 'chromoscopic adaptor for television equipment'. The base for what would become colour television 10 years later. Thank you for listening Mexico City!  (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! This month it’ll be talking about words that sound like they come from the same root but actually don’t. In the mid 19th century the young french aerialist and acrobat Jules Leotard was practicing over his father’s pool using his modified equipment . A rod held horizontally by two ropes on either side. That was something he saw used closer to the ground but never so high and never in full swing! He first performed on it in 1859 at the Cirque Napoleon in Paris and brought his act to London in 1861 flying above audiences eating their dinner. The shape the equipment forms with the ceiling, is an Ancient Greek geometric shape that is named after the very much still in use Greek word for ‘table’ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΙ/TRAPEZE  Instagram @yourgreeksunday , Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.social email yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

    2 min

  7. Apr 26

    George

    Hello everyone! If you like this podcast why not spread the word? Leave us a review or a comment on the platform of your choice, it helps other people find us by nudging the algorithm to suggest us and , it puts a smile on my face reading what you have to say. You can also email me at yourgreeksunday@gmail.com with any questions or comments about what you hear in this podcast and if you don’t want to do any of that, thank you for listening, that’s more than enough! On with our 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! Γαία (Gaia) in ancient Greek and Γη (ge) in modern means ‘earth’ and έργο (ergo) means 'work'. Ancient Greeks apart from the Goddess Demeter, connected Zeus with the fertility of the land so, sometimes they’d call upon that capacity of his with the name 'Zeus the γεωργός (georgos)'. Later on, that would become a name in itself Γεώργιος (Georgios) officially and Γιώργος (Giorgos) in everyday language. When Christianity gained popularity, a Roman soldier with that name would become a saint and crusaders between the 11th and the 13th centuries  would bring his worship to England. A century later, he would become the patron saint of the island but his name wouldn’t be popular enough to name your children after until 1714 when the House of Hannover took on the British throne. ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΣ/GEORGE Instagram @yourgreeksunday , Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.social email yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

    2 min

  8. Apr 19

    Static

    Hello everyone! Give a warm welcome to Kansas city in Kansas for joining us! And I made a point mentioning it’s in Kansas because there are two Kansas cities . Oh yes, one in Kansas and one in Missouri and they’re divided by a single road. There’s a lot of history as to why and how that happened but both cities are named after the river that runs through them and that river is named after the Native American tribe Kanza that used to be there. Thanks for listening Kansas . Now cross the road and tell your neighbours to join us!  (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! Ιστημι (istimi) is the Ancient Greek verb for ‘I stand’, in modern Greek is στέκομαι (stekome). The word moved to Latin quite intact (minus the Latin spelling of course) and in 1570 , mathematician, occultist and, astronomer of the court of Elisabeth the 1st , John Dee translated the word in a preface he wrote for a  translation of Euclid’s elements by Henry Billingsley. He used the word to describe weight and equilibrium and the word remained in that use for many years until 1839 when it was first applied to frictional electricity. ΣΤΑΤΙΚΟΣ/STATIC Instagram @yourgreeksunday , Blue Sky @yourgreeksunday.bsky.social email yourgreeksunday@gmail.com

    2 min
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About

Award nominated, bite-size podcast. Every Sunday, Greek words used in the English language. Travelling words, connecting cultures. 3228fe0c7e699146558c2355b0d1ced04be2b945

Information

  • Creator
    Emmanuela Lia
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    344
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Your Greek Word On A Sunday
  • Show Website
    Your Greek Word On A Sunday

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