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Help[Facts] Re: Pagan alert!
in reply to a message by Phyllis
Here's a funny side-note: In my Greek class our prof told us that the Greek word *barbaros* is onomatopoeic. That is, it was given in imitation of the language of the savages, which sounded like "bar bar bar bar" to the Greeks.
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Yep thats true! "Barbaros" is a linguistic and not a racist slur meaning "a non-speaker of Greek".
Regarding the previous point, there are several cases of parallel developments in different languages. For example, the word "lens" evolved from the latin "lentil" (both are presently called lentil in French) just as the Greek word for lens ("fakos") developed from the Greek word for lentil ("faki"). Another case is the analogy of "supposition" and "suppository" which also holds in Greek: "Hypothesis" and "Hypotheton" :P
Regarding the previous point, there are several cases of parallel developments in different languages. For example, the word "lens" evolved from the latin "lentil" (both are presently called lentil in French) just as the Greek word for lens ("fakos") developed from the Greek word for lentil ("faki"). Another case is the analogy of "supposition" and "suppository" which also holds in Greek: "Hypothesis" and "Hypotheton" :P
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