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PODCAST

Your Greek Word On A Sunday

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

education language learning

All Episodes

1:04

Episode 291: Catholic

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2025/04/20

(Intro & piano music) Happy Easter to those of you celebrating and I hope you're having a relaxing Sunday those of you who don't. Before the Byzantine separation that brought us Eastern and Western Christianity, this word meant 'a universal faith' or more accurately 'a faith recognised by all'. The first time we find that word in writing is in a letter from 110AD by Ignatius of Antioch, addressing the Christians in Smyrna to follow their Bishop like the church follows 'the uni...

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1:55

Episode 290:Hilarious

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2025/04/13

Let me tell you what happens when you're your own producer, editor and, host. You spend a few hours of research and writing your episode then, you get into the booth, do a few takes so you have options, edit everything to an episode you really like and when you're about to save it-at which point you've spend the better part of you afternoon-a message pops up telling you 'that episode already exists' and you remember that you've done that word two years ago! I think it's for the best as ...

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1:30

Episode 289: Idiot

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2025/04/06

(Intro & piano music) Happy Spring, everyone! The clocks moved, the days are getting bigger and the Sun is gracing us with its presence more often than not. On the first of April in most parts of the world, it's custom to lie, trick and prank eachother. Do you know why? There are a few theories but the most popular one goes back to 1564 in France. Up until that point , the French celebrated New Year's Day on the 25th of March and the celebrations lasted until the first of April but ...

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1:32

Episode 288: Matriarchy

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2025/03/30

(intro & piano music) It's Mother's day here, today, and I hope it's a happy one for all of you. My own Mum is listening from Athens so, Happy Mother's day Mum! Αρχή (arhi) in both ancient and modern Greek means 'The authority' but also, 'The beginning'. The word for 'Mother' in ancient Greek is 'Μήτηρ' and in modern 'Μητέρα'. Now that's a word that goes back a very long time and although we find it in all Latin based languages, more or less in similar form, Mutter in German, Madre ...

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1:10

Ep.287: Triptych

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2025/03/23

Hi everyone! After listening to this episode, visit the description and click on the word 'Audible' for a month-long free trial and a free audiobook download. On with our word! (Intro & piano music) Τρία (tria) in both ancient and modern Greek means 'three'. Πτυχή (ptyhi) means 'fold' and a picture you could fold because it was carved or painted in three compartments, was something very common in religious painting during the Middle Ages. However, it goes back much further, to ancient Gre...

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1:33

Episode 286: Diapers

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2025/03/16

(Intro & piano music) Before we begin, a shout-out to fellow thespian and loyal listener, David Charles for bringing today's word to my attention. A word with such an interesting and complex history . Thanks David! Δια (dia) means 'through' or 'across' and Ασπρο (aspro) in modern Greek , means 'white'. And here's the tricky part, 'asper' is the Latin word for 'rough' (hence 'asperity' in English) but it was also used for the shiny coins of small denomination in Greek Byzantium because the...

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1:52

Episode 285: Cataclysm

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2025/03/09

Before we begin, if you haven't listened to last week's news, we have become an affiliate to Audible. If you like listening to podcasts and books go to the description of this episode, click on the word 'Audible' and get your one month, free trial to download any item you like. On with our episode! (Intro & piano music) Every ancient culture has a myth about a flood that wipes out humanity. And so did the ancient Greeks. When Zeus decided that humans were corrupt, he sent a flood to...

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1:51

Episode 284: Acoustics

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2025/03/02

Happy March, everyone! At the beginning of the year, I promised to keep this podcast Ad free and find another way to make it a profitable endeavour and today, I'm here to celebrate exactly that! I would like to welcome our new sponsor, Audible! A place where you can find thousands of audiobooks and download them, for your listening pleasure. Head to the description of this episode, click on the word 'Audible' and get your one month free-trial that you can cancel at anytime. And if you're wond...

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1:27

Episode 283: Psychedelic

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2025/02/27

(Intro & piano music) With the state of our world being what it is , I thought this word is a good fit. Humphrey Osmond was a British-Canadian researcher and psychiatrist interested in exploring the possibilities of LSD to treat mental illness and substance abuse. He befriended Albert Hoffman (the scientist who discovered LSD) and, Aldous Huxley the author of books like The Doors of perception and Brave new world. Together with Huxley they tried to find a name for the experience of ...

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1:09

Episode 282: Geography

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2025/02/16

(Intro & piano music) Gaia in English and Γαία in Greek, was one of the first Ancient Greek gods and the mother of the world. Her modern name is 'The Earth'. Γραφείν (grafin) is the ancient Greek infinitive of the verb 'Writing'. Although the Babylonians were the first to attempt and draw a map of the world that surrounded them, the Ancient Greeks where the first to mathematically prove the earth is not flat (it really isn't). Eratosthenes, in the the 3rd century BC, made a pretty a...

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1:12

Episode 281: Orthodox

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2025/02/09

(Intro & piano music) Today's word is another example of a word having originally a wider meaning and getting very specific when attached to a belief. Ορθός (orthos) in both ancient and modern Greek means 'upright' but also 'correct'. Δόξα (doxa) means 'praise' but also 'opinion' and the combined word can mean all of the above. Well...used to. In 1054 AD the religious war in Byzantium, split Christianity in two. The East and the West, The East had a set of doctrines and needed a name to i...

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2:06

Episode 280: Diploma & Diplomat

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2025/02/02

(Intro & piano music) I usually get the question 'Where do you find all these words?' and most times the answer will be 'from all of you'. Whether you 've sent me a word asking if it's Greek that sends me down a rabbit hole and discover four more on the way or I'm having a chat with a friend and we both pause to the sound of a word they've just used and I jot it down for research or even if my friends directly ask 'have you looked that one up?' I guess, after all this time, we have ...

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1:09

Episode 279: Carat

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2025/01/26

(Intro & piano music)There is an ancient fruit that grows in Greece and it's the food that sustained thousands of Greeks, including my grandparents, during the second world war. It's called ΧΑΡΟΥΠΙ (charoupi). In ancient Greek it was called ΚΕΡΑΤΙΟΝ (cerateon) meaning 'little horn' because, it looks like one! The ancient Greeks discovered that the weight of each seed of the fruit never changes so they used it as a measure of weight against precious metals and stones. The Romans used to me...

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1:22

Episode 278: Stoicism

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2025/01/19

(Intro & piano music)In ancient Athens there were many philosophical schools of thought that one could join. The main philosopher of each school would gather everyone in the Agora (a place under the Acropolis where you can still visit today) and there, they would have their own spot within it, to hold their teachings and debates. One of the most misunderstood philosophical schools today, was formed by Zeno of Citium in 300BC. He'd gather everyone in his Στοά Ποικίλη (stoa pikili)- stoa me...

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1:02

Episode 277: Metamorphosis

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2025/01/12

(Intro & piano music)As we're moving into this new year, there's one thing I hope to be able to keep doing both as a human and an actor.Μετά (meta) in both ancient and modern Greek means 'after'. Μορφή (morfi) means 'shape' . The combined word was first introduced in English in 1447 by Osbern Bokeman, an English poet and friar who travelled to Italy a lot. The word in Latin sounds exactly the same as the Greek but the spelling is Latinised and it means 'the process of becoming something n...

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1:13

Episode 276: Epic

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2025/01/05

(Intro & piano music) Happy New Year, Everyone!The oldest and the most elegant of the muses-according to Hesiod and Ovid- was Calliope. Her name meaning 'beautiful voice'. She was the mother of Orpheus and she presides over song, dance and epic poetry. Επος (epos) in Ancient Greek meant a tale, a story and a poem about heroic acts was called Επικο (epiko) . The word came to English in two parts. In 1580 it started being used as a 'long poem' regardless of content and in 1731 was used...

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0:57

2024 Thank you!

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2024/12/29

Hello everyone!As the end of 2024 approaches, I'd like to take a minute to thank each and every one of you for the love and support you've shown for this podcast. I intend to keep your minute of knowledge ad free and try and find other ways to make this a profitable endeavour. In the meantime, there is a way you can help. Share this podcast. Far and wide. Post your favourite episode on social media, tell your friends, write a review, play an episode on speakers on the train. No, don't do that...

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1:27

Episode 275: Cinnamon

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2024/12/22

(Intro & piano music)Merry Christmas to those of you celebrating and, have a restful week ahead to those of you who don't. This is a spice that has travelled far and wide . Once a present fit for Kings or an offering to the Gods; It's referenced in most ancient religions as 'Precious'. In Greece it arrived form the Phoenicians and as far as we know the very first reference in Ancient Greek was in a poem by Sappho in 7th century BC. In Ancient Rome it was one of the most expensive spices, ...

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1:06

Episode 274: Card

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2024/12/15

(Intro and piano music)It's getting a little festive in some parts of the world so, I thought of giving you a word that describes one of my favourite festive traditions. Χάρτης (Chartis) in ancient Greek and Χαρτί (charti) in modern, means paper. The word came to English in the 15th century through Latin: Carta then French: Carte and in old English the name for a piece of paper you could play games with. The meaning of a stamped paper that you could write on and post to people, is from 1870 a...

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1:07

Episode 273: Telephone

Your Greek Word On A Sunday ·

2024/12/08

(Intro & piano music)Τηλέ (tele) is an Ancient Greek adverb meaning ‘far away’. Φωνή (phone) in both ancient and modern Greek means voice . In 1835 a system of conveying words to a distant point by means of musical notes, was invented by the French composer Jean Francois Sudre. For obvious reasons it wasn’t very practical. The combination of Greek words that was used to describe it however, carried on into foghorns signalling from ship to ship. That didn’t stick either. Then on Marc...

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