Love and war seem incompatible, at least for Greek women
Mare clausum (the sea is closed)
We are witnessing these days of autumn inhumane spectacle of dozens, hundreds of shipwrecked, Subsharian generally, on European shores of the Mediterranean. Attracted by the European welfare, these people are thrown into a sea always dangerous to reach the coast of an alleged near paradise.
The fascinating source of the word “fascinating”
Sometimes we are “fascinated”, attracted, impressed, or touched (touché in French) to find out the origin of a word, as if as we removed the curtain we could look at what was behind or buried in the deepest part of valley. That is the strength of the etymology of the words, the knowledge of which provides us basic information on which their later extended meaning sits.
Aut insanit homo aut versus facit Either the man is crazy, or he’s writing poetry
“Aut insanit homo aut versus facit” is one of many “topics” of the Latin poet Horace Quintus Flaccus; topic in the etymological sense of “place”, passage appointment, from Greek τόπος. The verse, become “maxima”, sentence, is quoted by many people in a variety of contexts.
Androcles and the grateful Lion
Androcles and the Lion is a famous story that has enchanted the interest of many people from antiquity to the present day.
The ox as a monetary standard
At some point in the hominids’ evolution must appear the goods exchange or barter. This so simple and straightforward system can be used even today for exceptional trade operations, but certainly it would be very cumbersome for the development of an economy with large trade or huge commercial exchanges. It was necessary then to find a valuation system based on a pattern or unit. That is, it was necessary to invent the money, the coins and the currency and this happened in the Bronze Age, in the second millennium BC.
Beati hispani quibus vivere est bibere. Lucky the Spaniards, for whom living is drinking
“Lucky the Spaniards, for whom living is drinking” – A reference to the Spanish pronunciation of the Latin, in which “v” (“vivere”) was pronounced as “b” (“bibere”).
What is an epigram?
The word comes from the Latin epigramma, and this from the Greek ἐπίγραμμα (from ἐπί = on and γραμμα =, writing, letter), which means “inscription”. Its etymology refers to burial or votive inscriptions on stone or other material, naturally short
All the boys and all the girls: κόρους τε ἅμα καὶ κόρας (kórous te áma kaì kóras), πάντ᾽ ἄνδρα καὶ γυναῖκα (pánt’ándra kaì gynaîka).
One of the most important changes that has been originated in modern society, in Western society and worldwide is that of equality between men and women, full legal equality real and only partly in status or social function.
Decameter and decimeter
Following the acquisition of the abstract concept of number and its graphical representation, man needed to create a numbering or numeral system that would allow him to comfortably work with large quantities. To do this man needed to create a hierarchical system of multiple orders or levels, so that a certain number of units of a level were to become higher-level unit and so on. The criterion for organizing such a system is called “base”. So between us ten units are a set of ten and ten tens are one hundred or a century and ten hundreds are a thousand.