Cultural Post #7

[Daniel Matthew Kunath]

This entry is light, but an observation that seemed strange to me.  In English, we are taught the almost limitless importance of etymology, knowing which words come from Greek, Latin, Germanic, etc. While I asked Smaragda the etymology of a particular Greek word, she answered “That’s just what it is. There is no etymology.” I was floored, but then realized that many Greek words were made up by Greeks , and did not have any real history before them.  Many other words are just compounds of Greek morphemes, and so the etymology that Greeks care about only extends as far as Greek.  According to the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, everything comes from a Greek word, and that’s as far back as it goes.