It took a global lockdown to afford me the time to write this blog, so I figure it makes sense to digest some of the interesting etymologies of words arising more commonly in a time of a pandemic and enforced quarantines.
Speaking English is a uniquely human trait*, and so is belief in God (at least, as far as we know), which is fortunate for this terribly contrived effort to start talking about gods. The Greek word for god is theos, which graces us with the study of God in the form theology. A pantheon is the collection of all gods, an…
Let’s begin in ancient Greece. Around 6% of Modern English is of direct Greek descent, with its influence mostly concerning the portion of our vocabulary relating to academics, politics, science and religion. There are obvious candidates, like democracy (demos = people…