Everyday allusions to myths

WoodNymph

New Member
Have you ever noticed how often people allude to myths in everyday life? Many of the stories and legends have become such a part of our language that people probably don't even realize they are referring to mythology.

I heard a newscaster yesterday mention that something was some politician's "Achilles heel". What other mythology references do you hear (or use) often?
 

Libros

Member
Lots of English words have connections to myths. Our days of the week and a few months still bear the names of European deities.

Handsome men are described as Adonis or Apollo. Tall women are described as Amazonian.

You can have mercurial, jovial, and saturnine temperaments. You can practice martial arts, desirable things can tantalize you, and you can work yourself into a panic.

And of course, to protect against venereal diseases, grab a Trojan!

Just a few off the top of my head.
 

Myrddin

Well-Known Member
Sometimes if someone does something without thinking about it first, I refer to them as Epimetheus, the Titan who only thinks about the consequences of his actions after the fact. Of course, if someone attempts to tell me what will happen if I do a certain thing, I would likely say, "Thank you, Prometheus" (with sarcasm heavy in my voice).
 

Nadai

Active Member
The Pomegratate commercial features Venus to sell their product. The commercial for that round chocolate candy says that it is the candy of the Gods...

...lots of words we have are from Greek myths...Arachne was beaten by Athena and turned to a spider and now we have the word arachnid... Narcissus died because he saw his reflection in a pool and couldn't stop staring at himself and so we have the word narcissist. Echo was in love with Narcissus, but because he rejected her she went to a cave and whithered away to nothing but stone and her voice...when he called to his reflection she called back to him...so we have the echo... there are tons of those connections.
 
There are so many references to mythology that I never caught until I started paying attention. If you really pay attention to just about every film, you can see allusions to mythological stories. The goals and glory of the hero in a superhero movie, for example, kind of parallel the goals and glory of a mythological hero.
 

Alejandro

Active Member
In Arabic and [Ki]Swahili, certain words derive from the mythical characters of ancient Mesopotamia and Israel. In Arabic the sun is called shams while bahr and r'ha are words for the sea or ocean. There is an obscure word for "sun" in Kiswahili: shumushi, and it seems clear to me that both Arabic shams and Swahili shumushi come from the ancient Mesopotamian sun-god Šamaš (Shamash).

Bahr and r'hahave maintained their ancient Arabic and Hebrew forms pretty much exactly. Bah'r (or Baher, or Bahar, if you like) was an ancient South Arabian personification and god of the sea; the East Africans who worshipped him before the advent of Christianity in Abyssinia identified him with the Greek Poseidon. In the Swahili spoken in East Africa today, the word for the sea or the ocean is bahari.

R'ha is exactly the same word used, in the Hebrew Scriptures, for a primeval sea-monster, usually transliterated into English as Rahab. The Biblical Rahab is usually interpreted as a poetic personification of the chaotic primordial ocean of darkness we encounter in the first chapter of Genesis.

Also in Kiswahili, the word for "promiscuity," or "sexual immorality," is uasherati. If you took out the first and last letters of this word, it becomes an exact ancient Hebrew form of the name of Elath, the queen and mother of the gods of Canaan. The Hebrews called this fertility-goddess Asherah or Asherat. The Kiswahili word literally means "Asherat-ness."
 
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Alejandro

Active Member
The English word "gun" is thought to derive from Old Norse gunn, possibly a contraction of the feminine name Gunnhildr, which in turn is a combination of two Old Norse words gunn and hildr, both of which mean "battle." Gunn is also translated as "war." Gunn and Hildr are the names of two of the Valkyrjur [Valkyries] from Norse mythology. Perhaps the name Gunnhildr, which English "gun" supposedly comes from, is a reference, in some way, to these warrior-maidens(?)...
 

Myrddin

Well-Known Member
The English word "gun" is thought to derive from Old Norse gunn, possibly a contraction of the feminine name Gunnhildr, which in turn is a combination of two Old Norse words gunn and hildr, both of which mean "battle." Gunn is also translated as "war." Gunn and Hildr are the names of two of the Valkyrjur [Valkyries] from Norse mythology. Perhaps the name Gunnhildr, which English "gun" supposedly comes from, is a reference, in some way, to these warrior-maidens(?)...
I'm not surprised that "gun" would translate to something like battle. There are only so many uses which these devices can used for -- killing, killing, and more killing! :mad: Seriously, whoever invented them shold be shot. :)

That is an interesting connection. I kind of like the Valkyries, too. I'm sure "gun" is a reference to the warrior maidens somehow, having been derived from their names. I couldn't tell you how, though.

E. M.
 

Caburus

Active Member
"A face that launched a thousand ships" - very beautiful but dangerous = Helen of Sparta
"Beware Greeks bearing gifts" - beware of ulterior motives = Wooden Horse of Troy
"To harp on" - to constantly annoy = the Harpies who tormented King Phineus
"Oedipus Complex" - Freud's theory of loving your mother and hating your father = Oedipus & Jocasta
"Midas Touch" - to be successful in everything you do = King Midas who turned what he touched into gold
There are lots more - Pandora's Box (a big problem) ; Titanic (something big); Odyssey (a long journey); nemesis (Goddess of vengeance); hermaphrodite (child of Hermes and Aphrodite); hypnosis (from the God Hypnos); cereal (from the Goddess Ceres); etc.
Not forgetting Nike sports wear, Ajax cleaning products, Ambrosia creamed rice, and Nyx Cosmetics. Oh, and vulcanized rubber!


Two of my favourites;
The word 'atlas' meaning a book of maps. This is named from the Titan Atlas who carries the sky on his back. Atlases were originally star-charts, but then came to mean geographical maps as well.
The word 'chronology' meaning the passage of time. Named after the Titan Cronus, the keeper of time.
 
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Myrddin

Well-Known Member
Let's not forget playing a Trojan Horse - to hide someone or something within something else = Wooden Horse of Troy, as well
I love this one.


Been referred to in The Simpsons in the episode aptly called "Lemon of Troy" - the characters hide out in Ned Flanders' trailer in a no parking area to gain access to Shelbyville's car impound lot. Also, The Thomas Crown Affair with Pierce Brosnan, the thieves gone in for Crown's distraction hid themselves in a sculpture to gain access to the basement of the Gallery. It is in fact Renee Russo's character who comes to the conclusion that they "played a Trojan Horse". These are just what's off the top of my head. There are plaenty others, of course, and not always with hidden people. i.e. a camera hidden in a picture for "eyes" on the inside.

I like "Beware Greeks bearing gifts", too. Thanks for reminding me, Caburus. :)

E. M.
 
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