You learn something new every day. Unfortunately, you also forget something new every day, in my case at least. So, in an attempt to save my seeping memory, I’ve started making a note of any new knowledge I’ve picked up. Some of these are straight-up facts; others are real head-slap moments — a connection of dots that, frankly, shouldn’t have taken so long to join.
This week I’ve been listening to Stephen Fry’s Mythos, meaning there’s a distinct Ancient Greek flavour. It’s a fascinating piece of work, in part because of Fry’s interest in the history of language. Right, getting to it:
- Zeus wasn’t the first immortal. In fact, the King of the Gods wasn’t even the second or third immortal — there were whole generations before him. Which brings me onto …
- Titans preceded the Olympian gods. For a brief while, the two tribes were actually at war. Atlas (he of holding the world on his back) and Prometheus (he of having his innards plucked by vultures) were both titans.
- What’s more, if Stephen Fry is to be believed (and he usually is), then the word Titan was originally a bit of an insult.
- Words like music and museum derive from the word muse. Obviously … except I’d somehow missed that connection all my life.
- Oxford means — roughly speaking — Cow Crossing. I probably knew this in the back of my mind. Bosporus — the name for the boundary between Europe and Asia — also means Cow Crossing. I definitely didn’t know this in the back of my mind.
- Now for a change of pace: The South African flag has six distinct colours, more than any other country in the world. This might seem like pub quiz trivia … which makes sense, because it was a question in a pub quiz.
- The phrase “Which begs the question” was originally used to highlight a circular argument. Its meaning is now commonly thought of as “Which raises the question”. Some people aren’t happy with this change.
- A caribou is a type of reindeer. It has nothing to do with rum.