Hello and happy July everyone! The results of the prize draw are in and our winner is...Melanie Bittner from Germany! Congratulations Melanie, you will be receiving your gift very soon! Thank you for submitting your favourite episode which is from 2022 (now that's a loyal listener!). Let's pretend for a moment we're an old fashion radio station-I'm gonna lower my voice-and this, is a request from Melanie. Here, is her favourite episode

Hello, and welcome to Your Greek Word On A Sunday, a weekly, bite-size podcast for anyone curious on language, etymology and connections. I am your host, Emmanuela Lia and wherever you are in the world, if you want to entertain your brain for a few minutes, this is the podcast for you. Let's Go!

Συριγξ (Syrinx) in Ancient Greek was the name of an Arcadian Nymph. When the god Pan was young, he fell in love with her and chased her to the shores of the river Λάδων (Ladon). She clearly wasn't interested because she hid among the canes by the shore. Pan never found her but he made his musical instrument, known as pan-pipe from those canes and he named it, in Greek, after her. Later on, anything with the shape of a hollow cylinder would be named after her. From long tunnels to injection instruments, her name would reach medieval Latin as Syrinx , before landing in England. Συριγξ/Syringe

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Hello, and welcome to Your Greek Word On A Sunday, a weekly, bite-size podcast for anyone curious on language, etymology and connections. I am your host, Emmanuela Lia and wherever you are in the world, if you want to entertain your brain for a few minutes, this is the podcast for you. Let's Go!

This is a word that has changed very little and has a very interesting story. Στίζειν (stizin) is an ancient Greek infinitive meaning 'to mark'. The verb is Στιγματίζω (stigmatizo). Although in many countries being tattooed is considered an honourable action, the Ancient Greeks used it as a mark of disgrace. And they learned that from the Persians. In one of the battles between Greece and Persia, some Greeks joined the other side. When that battle was lost and Greeks surrendered, the Persians thought the traitors might double cross them in the future so, they marked their foreheads with the Persian royal emblem. We have several mentions from the historian Herodotus of Athenians, marking their enemies' foreheads with the Athenian symbol, the owl. Greeks also used a very painful method way to remove tattoos. It took 20 days and involved a cloth to tie around the head, a needle to pierce the tattoo, salt to dry it and either, gypsum and sodium carbonate or pepper dust and honey. Tattoos seemed to be almost exclusively on foreheads and marked criminals and slaves too. The word came to English in the late 1500s in the writings of courtier and author Sir John Harington and he used the Latinised spelling of the Ancient Greek noun ΣΤΙΓΜΑ/STIGMA

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Hello and welcome to our 300th episode! I know, right? I never thought I'd make it this far and it's all thanks to you! Have you entered the prize draw yet? Email me your favourite episode, your name and where you're listening from at yourgreeksunday@gmail.com by July 1st , for a chance to win a personalised gift. I will announce the winner on the episode of July 6th! On with our Myth-Of course it's a myth!

Hello, and welcome to Your Greek Word On A Sunday, a weekly, bite-size podcast for anyone curious on language, etymology and connections. I am your host, Emmanuela Lia and wherever you are in the world, if you want to entertain your brain for a few minutes, this is the podcast for you. Let's Go!

The Phaeacians were a mythical tribe in Homer's Odyssey who helped Odysseus get back to Ithaca. When Poseidon wrecked Odysseus's ship in the shores of Scheria, some say that's ancient Atlantis, he didn't anticipate Athena's and Aphrodite's determination to help our hero get back home. By transforming into several women and appearing in the Phaeacians' Princess dreams, they managed to make her help him get to King Alcinoous and ask for a ship. The Phaeacians were experts in sailing and navigating but they had a secret. A rock, clear in colour that came from the depths of the Ocean. It was said it held the knowledge of all the countries in the world and if you stuck a piece of it under your ship , it would not only make it indestructible but it would navigate itself by reading your mind about your destination and take you there safely. The word came to English the usual way, through Latin and French in the late 14th century. A rock that has been formed in cold waters or on the surface by extreme cold is a ΚΡΥΣΤΑΛΛΟ/CRYSTAL

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