Would you like to learn some Ancient Greek? by Caroline K. Mackenzie

The useful part

Following the bumper box office success of Christopher Nolan's Odyssey this summer, online searches for 'Learn Ancient Greek' have soared and students of all ages are signing up for classes offering entry to this magical language. Reading Homer's Odyssey in the original would be my number one reason for learning Ancient Greek. A close second would be the joy of recognising Greek everywhere in the English language.

How it works

• φόβος 'phobos' = fear) <img border="0" data-original-height="1132" data-original-width="1686" height=...
• You may be surprised by how much Ancient Greek you already know!
• The Greek word is given first, followed by a transliteration, i.e.
• Therefore in this blog, for fun, I shall share with you fifteen of my favourite Greek words, together with their English derivatives.
• a simple conversion of the Greek letters to their English equivalents, and then the meaning.

What to take from it

Underneath each entry I have included just a few English words which owe their etymology to the Greek.

Details worth keeping

Each word is introduced by an illustration by Barbarann Lang. and some of the English words have a brief note or explanation.