Scylla

In ancient Greek and Roman myth, Scylla was a rock off the Italian coast, personified as an evil monster on the other side of a strait from Charybdis, a whirlpool. If you sailed away to escape either monster, you were in danger of the other one.
English word: The metaphor of Scylla and Charybdis means being caught between two evils -- "between a rock and a hard place."

Selene

Selene was an ancient Greek goddess of the moon, (Roman Luna) even more ancient than the Olympian gods. Over time, she merged with Artemis, to become one of her aspects.

English word: From Selene are derived selenium, a nonmetallic element, and selenology, the science of the moon.

Sibyl

To the ancient Greeks and Romans, a sibyl was a woman who lived in a cave and uttered prophecies. Ten Sibyls were known by the places where they lived. For example, the Sibyl of Cumae lived in a cavern near Naples. My brother and his wife gave me a drawing of this cavern from when they lived near there.

English word: We still use the word sibyl to refer to a prophetess, and the adjective sibylline means "oracular."

Silvanus

Silvanus was the ancient Roman god of the forest. He was akin to Pan, and was often depicted with the lower half of a goat, and the upper half of a man.

Modern Word: From this ancient god we get the words sylvan, "related to a forest," and the names Pennsylvania and Transylvania.

Siren

To the ancient Greeks and Romans, sirens were a group of minor female divinities that sang an irresistible song that enchanted sailors to their doom, as described in the Odyssey. Odysseus had his men put wax in their ears, so they wouldn't hear the sirens singing, while he had the men tie him to the mast of the ship, so he couldn't be lured by the singing, but could still hear it. In form, sirens had the heads, and sometimes the busts and arms, of women, but otherwise had the form of birds.

Modern word: Our word siren retains the original meaning of a dangerous and enticing woman. It also means a device for sounding signals of warning. In addition, it refers to a genus of eel-shaped amphibians.

Somnus

To the ancient Romans, Somnus was the god of sleep (Hypnos to the Greeks). He was said to live in a dark cave where the sun never shone. At the mouth of the cave grew poppies and other plants associated with sleep. Somnus was the father of dreams.

English word: From Somnus, we get somnolent, sleepy, and somnambulism, sleepwalking.

Sors

Sors was the ancient Roman god of luck.

English word: From Sors we get sort, meaning a rank or condition, a kind of any type. We also get sorcery and sorcerer for magic and magic worker.

Sphinx

In Greek and Roman myth, a sphinx was a monster with a woman's bust and head, a lion's body, and an eagle's wings.

English word: The Sphinx is the famous landmark statue near the pyramids outside Cairo. From the same source, we get sphincter, a muscle that constricts a tube or opening in the body, keeping it tightly shut.

Stentor

In the ancient Greek Iliad, Stentor was a herald during the Trojan War, whose "voice was as loud as that of fifty other men together."

English word: Derived from this name is our word stentorian, meaning "extremely loud, a herald, anyone with very loud voice."

Styx

The river Styx, in ancient Greek myth, was the chief river of the underworld. It separated the underworld from the human world. It circled the underworld seven times, and it conferred immortality on any who crossed it

English word: Our word derived from Styx is Stygian, meaning "infernal, gloomy."

Tantalus

In ancient Greek and Roman myth, Tantalus was a wealthy king who was the son of Zeus (Roman, Jupiter), the king of the gods, and one nymph or another . Because of a terrible sin, he was punished in the lower world. He had to stand in water up to his chin, with a branch of fruit just over his head. Yet whenever he reached for some fruit or tried to drink some water, they were out of his reach.

English word: Our word tantalize means "to tease by keeping something desirable in view, but out of reach.

Terpsichore

In ancient Greek and Roman myth, Terpsichore was one of the nine Muses. She was the goddess of choral dance.

English word: Our word terpsichorean means "related to dance."

Thor

Thor was the ancient Norse god of thunder.

English word: The common word we get from Thor is Thursday.

Titan

To the ancient Greeks and Romans, Titans were the primeval deities, who were the children of Uranus and Gaia. The Titans were overthrown by their children, the gods of Olympus. The Titans include Oceanus (Ocean), Hyperian (sun), Theia (moon), Themis (law and order), Mnemosyne (memory), Atlas, Rhea (the mother of the Olympian gods), and Cronos (the father of the Olympian gods. The Titans were never completely abandoned, but were still honored separately, or their attributes and legends were incorporated into those of the later gods who replaced them.

English words: Our word Titan means one who is gigantic in size or power. Titanic means one who is like the Titans. Also, we have titanium, a metal resembling silicon.

Troll

In ancient Norse and Swedish, a troll was a supernatural being, sometimes imagined as a dwarf, sometimes as a giant. It was said to live in caves, hills, and like places.

English word: The word troll persists in English as a small, magical creature, such as the troll who lives under the bridge in "The Three Billy Goats Gruff." Words spelled exactly the same refer to a way of singing, with a full voice, and a way of fishing with a line. Neither of those words have anything to do with the small, magical creature.

Troy

In Latin, Troy (Greek Ilium) was the ancient city that was the object of the Trojan War recounted in the Iliad. It was named after Tros, the founder of the city. (Ilium was named after one of his sons, Ilus.)

English word: Our word Trojan means an inhabitant of Troy. It also means someone who shows pluck, endurance, or determined energy, as in the phrase"work like Trojans." We also have the phrase Trojan horse, meaning a treacherous gift, bearing the seeds of the destruction of the recipient.

Tyr

Tyr was the ancient Norse god of war.

English word: From Tyr, we get Tuesday.

Uranus

To the Romans, Uranus (Greek, Ouranos) meant Heaven, sky, a personification of heaven. He was either the husband or son of Gaia (Earth), and the father of the Titans, Cyclopes, Furies, and others.

English word: We have Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun, and uranium, a radioactive element of the chromium group.

Valkyrie

In ancient Norse myth, the Valkyries the maidens of Odin. They carried the souls of heroes slain in battle to Valhalla, the Norse paradise.

English word: Although it's uncommon, in English Valkyrie is a beautiful, statuesque maiden. As it happens, it was also the name of my stepdaughter.

Venus

To the ancient Romans, Venus (Greek, Aphrodite) was the goddess of love. She was the wife of Vulcan and the mother of Cupid (although Vulcan was not necessarily his father).

English word: From Venus get the name for Venus, the second planet from the sun, which is often the morning or evening star. We also get venereal, relating to sexual intercourse, especially to describe sexually transmitted disease.

Vesta

Vesta was the ancient Romans' goddess of the hearth, fire, and cookery. The Romans had a temple dedicated to this goddess. It was tended by vestal virgins, who rekindled the sacred fire on March 1 every year, using the method of friction of wood.

English word: Our word vestal comes directly from the Latin. It means "characteristic of or befitting a vestal virgin, hence "chaste" or "pure."

Vulcan

To the ancient Romans, Vulcan (Greek, Hephaestus) was the god of fire, especially in its fearful aspects. He was also the god of metal working, the smith of the gods. Ironically, this ugly god was the husband of the beautiful Venus.

English word: More than one word comes to us from Vulcan, including volcano, vulcanism, and vulcanize. In "Star Trek," Mr. Spock is from the planet Vulcan. Also, many corporations use Vulcan in their names.

Woden

To the Norse, Woden (or Odin) was the king of the gods.

English word: From Woden we get Wednesday. Most of the names of the days of the week and the months of the year come from myths.

Wyrd

To the Norse and Anglo-Saxons, Wyrd was the goddess of fate or destiny, hence magical or strange.

English word: The familiar English word is weird, meaning "magical" or "strange."

Zephyrus

To the ancient Greeks and Romans, Zephyrus was the god of the west wind, the mildest and gentlest of the woodland gods.

English word: From this word we get zephyr, a gentle breeze.

Eros

Eros was an ancient Greek god of love (Latin, Cupid), commonly said the be the son of Aphrodite (Latin, Venus). This is the same little guy with the bow and arrows that made people and gods fall in love.

English word: Eros is the source of erotic and related words.

Erda

In Norse myth, Erda was the wife of Odin, the chief god. She was the daughter of Nott, the goddess of night.

English word: From Erda is derived Earth.

Elf

This word comes to us from Anglo-Saxon myths. It is a small, humanoid being. Elves include pixies, nixies, dwarves, mermaids and mermen.

English word: The word elf has remained in English since Anglo-Saxon times.

Electra

In the ancient Greek story of the Odyssey, Electra is the daughter of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and his wife, Cassandra. Electra is also the title character of a play by Sophocles, and a play by Euripides.

When Agamemnon returned from Troy, having led the Greeks to victory, Cassandra and her lover, Aegisthus, murdered Agamemnon. Aegisthus was also going to murder Agamemnon's son, Orestes, but a servant took him away and hid him. When Orestes was grown, the oracle of Delphi told Orestes he must kill Cassandra and Aegisthus in revenge for Agamemnon's death. Orestes went to his father's tomb to perform a ritual for the dead. At the tomb, he encountered Electra, who had also come to perform a ritual for their father. Electra may have participated in killing Cassandra and Aegisthus.

English word: Like several other mythic terms, Electra survives in an English phrase, Electra complex, the term Carl Jung gave to a theory developed by Sigmund Freud. In this theory, a young girl wants to kill her mother and marry her father. This theory is the female counterpart of the Oedipus complex. Electra also appears in the name of various corporations.

Elysium

To the ancient Greeks, Elysium was the home of the valiant dead. It was much like the nominal Christian view of Heaven, except that the gods did not live there.

English word: Rather than a single word, Elysium lives on in our language as a phrase, Elysian fields, a metaphor for heaven or paradise.

Echo

The source of this familiar word was an ancient Greek myth. Echo was a nymph who was so fond of talking, she always had to have the last word. Zeus, the king of the gods (Jupiter to the Romans) was always fooling around with nymphs (as well as women and goddesses), and he persuaded Echo to keep his wife Hera (Juno to the Romans) busy with talking, so Hera wouldn't catch Zeus in the act with a nymph. When Hera found out what Echo had been doing, Hera cursed the nymph, and took away her voice except to repeat the last words she heard. "You'll still have the last word," Hera told her, "but you can never speak first."

Echo fell in love with a beautiful young man. I guess he could be called an Adonis, but that's a different myth. The young man who attracted Echo was named Narcissus, another word you'll probably recognize. Even though he was very handsome, he had never been interested in a romantic relationship. Echo followed him around, and hoped and hoped he would fall in love with her, too. But she could not start a conversation with him. One day, when he was out hunting with some friends, he called out to them, "Where are you?" Echo answered back, "Where are you?" "Come here!" he called out. And "Come here!" she repeated. At the same time, she went to him, expecting him to throw her arms around him.

However, when he saw Echo, Narcissus rejected her. He did not want to return her love for him. Heartsick, Echo continued to follow him around, repeating what he said, until she faded away, with nothing left but her voice.

As for Narcissus, he earned his own entry here as the name for a flower.

English word: This ancient Greek story remains in our language as the word echo, a repeating sound, caused by sound waves bouncing off hard surfaces, and then bouncing off again.

Dwarf

From Anglo-Saxon, a dwarf is an animal or plant that is much below the normal size of its species or kin. Dwarves are known in many folk tales, notably "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves." Like gnomes, they do good work for humans if they like the humans.

English word: The word dwarf, and its plural, dwarves, are common in English. They both refer precisely to the Anglo-Saxon root, "an animal or plant that is much below the normal size of its species or kin." The words may refer to an unusually small species of plant or animal, or they may refer to humans born with genes that express as dwarfism.

Dryad

To the ancient Romans, a dryad (oak tree) was a type of nymph whose life is bound up with that of a tree. Dryads, some specific to particular trees, appear in several mythful tales, such as the story of Daphne and Apollo. Daphne was a beautiful nymph, and Apollo, the sun god, fell in love with her. However, she rejected his advances, and prayed to her father, a river god, for relief. The river god turned her into a laurel tree, which became sacred to Apollo. It's branches were used to crown victors of Roman games and in the Roman senate.

English word: Our word dryad refers to a Roman dryad.

Dionysus

Dionysus was the ancient Roman god of wine and revelry (Bacchus to the ancient Greeks). He was also the god of agriculture and the theatre.

English word: Our word Dionysian "being of a frenzied or orgiastic nature," in contrast to Apollonian.

Dido

In ancient Roman myth, Dido was the founder and queen of Carthage. In the ancient tale, when she arrived at the site that later became Carthage, washed up by a storm or in flight, she made a deal with a local headman that she could have as much land as she could encompass in an oxhide. So she cut it into a single strip large enough to enclose the site of Carthage.

In Vergil's Aeneid, she entertained Aeneus, the founder of Rome, after he fled from Troy. Pricked by Cupid's arrow, she fell in love with Aeneus. Because of complicated rivalries among the gods, Jupiter (Zeus to the ancient Greeks), Mercury, the messenger of the Roman gods (Hermes to the Greeks), told Aeneus he must leave this land, taking his followers to what became the Italian peninsula. After Aeneus left Dido, she became so distraught, she killed herself.

English word: A dido is a fanciful caper or antic; also a fancy, curved edge.

Delphi

The ancient Greek city of Delphi was sacred to Apollo, whose oracle was located there.

English words: One English word derived from Delphi is dolphin, the animal that was sacred to Apollo. Another is delphinium, a flower thought to resemble a dolphin. A third English word is delphic, meaning "oracular."

Cynosure

In ancient Greek and Roman myth, Cynosure was one of the nymphs of Mt. Ida, who cared for Zeus when he was in hiding from his father. In gratitude, he set her in the sky as the constellation Little Bear (Ursa Minor), or as the last star in the tail of the Little Bear, the pole star.

English word: Although in modern English, we seldom hear it used for the pole star, Cynosure still has that meaning. It also means "the center of attention," and "that which serves to guide or direct."

Cupid

To the ancient Romans, Cupid was a god of love (Eros to the ancient Greeks), sometimes called Amor. The myths of his origins vary, but a common one says he was the son of Venus (the goddess of love) and Mars (the god of war). He was usually portrayed as a child or baby with wings, who carried a bow and a quiver of arrows. When he shot someone with one of his arrows, the person fell in love. One of the best-known of the stories about Cupid is the story of how he fell in love with Psyche, but that one I'll save for later.

English word: The name of this god has survived in English, and the image of the winged baby with bow and arrows is the common symbol for Valentine's Day. The phrase cupid's bow describes shapely lips. Cupidity means inordinate greed for wealth. Even Kewpie doll comes from Cupid.

Croesus

In ancient Greece, Croesus was the king of Lydia, in the sixth century B.C. He was fabled for his wealth.

English word:The phrase "rich as Croesus" refers to the ultimate in wealth.

Cornucopia

This word combines two Latin words, cornus, meaning "horn," and copia, meaning "plenty." In other words, it means "horn of plenty," the image so often presented of a huge sheep's horn overflowing with fruits and vegetables.

It receives its name from Amalthea, the goat who fed and cared for Zeus, when his mother put him in hiding from his father, Saturn, who feared that his son would kill him and take over his role as king of the gods.

After Amalthea raised him, Zeus broke off one of her horns, which forever after was filled with an unlimited supply of fruits, nuts, and herbs.

English word: Today, cornucopia still means "the horn of plenty," an emblem of abundance.

Comus

To the ancient Romans, Comus was the god of festive mirth, the son of Bacchus and Circe. He was sometimes even the god of excess. He wore a wreath of flowers on his head, and was shown in the process of dropping a torch.

English word: In addition to the obvious coma, a state of profound unconsciousness, the god Comus gives us the words comic, comical and comedy.

Cockatrice

To the ancient Romans, a cockatrice was the same creature as the basilisk for ancient Greeks, a monster that was hatched from "a rooster's egg," and looked like a cock with a serpent's tail, and eight legs. In some stories, it had scales. Its stare was lethal, and it carried a deadly venom. It could be killed by showing it its reflection in a mirror.

English word: In English, cockatrice always refers to the same mythical monster.

Circe

In the ancient Greek tale of the Odyssey, Circe was a bad-tempered but beautiful sorceress. She had turned Scylla into a monster, out of jealousy. She was a daughter of the sun. She turned men into swine. or other animals. When Odysseus (Ulysses to the Romans) showed up on Circe's island, she turned his men into pigs. However, Mercury had warned Ulysses of what Circe would do, and gave him an herb that protected him from her spell. In order to rescue his men, Ulysses forced Circe to release them. Nevertheless, he fell under her spell. She, likewise, fell in love with him, and and he stayed on with her, on her island for about a year or two. They had at least two children together.

Eventually, when Odysseus decided to leave Circe, and return to his home in Ithaca, Circe told him what he needed to know about the two possible ways he might take his ship.

Chimera

In ancient Greek myth, a chimera was a fabulous monster, part lion, part goat, part dragon, and fire-breathing.

English word: The word chimera means a nightmarish apparition. It has also come to be used to refer to creatures created by recombinant DNA from separate species.

Charybdis

In Greek myth, Charybdis was a whirlpool caused by a monster sucking in and spitting out water three times a day. Charybdis is paired with Scylla, another evil monster on the other side of a strait. If you sailed away to escape either monster, you were in danger of the other one.

English word: The metaphor of Scylla and Charybdis means being caught between two evils -- "between a rock and a hard place."

Chaos

In an ancient Greek creation myth, the original state of matter was called Chaos, meaning "empty and formless."

English word: From this myth, in addition to chaos, we get the words chasm and gas.

Centaur

In both Greek and Latin myths, a centaur is a creature that is half man and half horse. They are said to be descended from Ixion, who violated the ancient law of hospitality as both host and guest. As host, he violated it when he murdered his father-in-law, who had come to collect his bride price.

He also violated it as a guest He was wandering in exile, because nobody would perform the ritual to cleanse him of the sin of killing his father-in-law Zeus took pity on him and invited him to Olympus as a guest. Once there, Ixion lusted after Hera, the wife of Zeus, further violating the law of hospitality. To trick him, Zeus created the likeness of Hera from clouds, and watched as Ixion mated with the cloud form, which gave birth to the monster Centaurus, and his twin brother Lapithus. While Lapithus became a noble warrior, Centaurus was deformed, and mated with wild mares, founding the race of Centaurs. Some people speculate that this myth sprang from the sight of the first horse-mounted men.

English word: The word in English refers to the same mythical creature, half man and half horse.

Cassandra

In Greek myth, Cassandra was a princess of Troy. Apollo fell in love with her and gave her the gift of prophecy. She rejected his advances, so he changed the gift so that nobody would believe her, even though her prophecies came true.

English word: A Cassandra is a prophet/ess of evil who is not believed.

Calypso

In ancient Greece, Calypso was a water nymph, the queen of a "western" island. She kept Odysseus (Roman Ulysses) and his men on her island for seven years after he was shipwrecked. She tried him to persuade him to stay longer, until Zeus commanded her to let him go.

English word: Our word calypso refers to a ballad-like improvisation in African rhythms. It is often a satire on current events, composed and sung by natives of Trinidad. It is also played in the British West Indies at an annual pre-Lenten carnival.

Calliope

In ancient Greek and Latin myth, Kallos (meaning beauty and voice) was the name of one of the nine muses. She was the patroness of epic poetry. She and Apollo were the parents of Orpheus, who became the patron of music.

Orpheus was one of the Argonauts. When the Argonauts had to resist the call of the Sirens, he played his lyre and sang, preventing their song from attracting the sailors.

Orpheus is perhaps best known with Euridice, his beloved. Orpheus literally went to Hell to win her back from death. Like Lot's wife, who turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back at the forbidden place from which they came, Euridice was lost to Orpheus, drawn back into the underworld.

English word: The word calliope has one clear meaning in English: a steam-powered musical instrument. It is played from a keyboard, as an organ. It is commonly associated with circuses.

Caduceus

In Roman myth, the caduceus was the staff of Mercury, god of speedy communication, trade, and merchandise. Originally, the staff belonged to Apollo, who gave it to Mercury in exchange for the lyre, which Mercury invented. Apollo was the god of both music and medicine, hence the symbol for doctors: a staff with two entwined snakes, with a pair of wings at the top.

English word: The word caduceus has survived intact in English, referring to the symbol for doctors.

Boreus

Boreus was the ancient Greek god of the north wind.

English word: In English, boreal means northern. It is used in the phrase aurora borealis, the northern lights.

Basilisk

In ancient Rome and Greece, a basilisk was a fabulous monster, akin to a creature called a cockatrice. It was supposedly hatched from a rooster's egg, and sometimes it had scales. Its stare was lethal, and it carried a deadly venom. It could be killed by showing it its reflection in a mirror.

English word: The word basilisk refers mainly to the mythical creature in a metaphoric sense. Also, it refers to several tropical lizards allied to the iguanas.

Bacchus

Bacchus was the ancient Roman god of wine and drunkenness (Greek, Dionysus). The Romans celebrated drunkenness because it liberated them from social norms. At first, the celebrants of Bacchus were all women. Later, men were also admitted to their revelries, which then became much more frequent.

The women revelers were called Bacchantes, (Maenads in Greek) and their celebrations were called Bacchanals. The women became so wild, they hunted wild animals and tore them apart with their bare hands. In a play by the Greek poet Euripides, Maenads murdered the king of Thebes, and tore him apart. His own mother tore off his head, thinking he was a lion.

Eventually, the Bacchanals became so wild and excessive, the Roman Senate banned them.

English word: Both Bacchantes and Bacchanal have survived in English. However, is usually used to refer to ancient Roman worshippers, while bacchanal is used in a more figurative sense for modern wild, drunken parties.

Aurora

In ancient Roman myth, Aurora was the goddess of dawn (Eos in ancient Greek). Aurora also meant Aurora's tears for her son, Memnon, who was slain in the Trojan war.

English word: Our modern word aurora refers to a luminous phenomenon, the rising light of morning. In the phrase aurora Borealis, it refers to the "northern lights," an electromagnetic phenomenon seen in the northern regions of the world. At the same time, the phrase aurora Australis equals "southern lights," the same phenomenon as the northern lights, in the southern hemisphere.

Augean Stable

In both Greek and Latin myth, Augeus was the king of Elis. He kept a herd of 3000 oxen, which were sacred to the sun. Their stable had not been cleaned in 30 years when Hercules was assigned the task of cleaning them in one day, one of the 12 labors he had been assigned to perform in order to atone for the insane murder of his wife and children.

He accomplished the task that seemed impossible when he was able to divert the course of two rivers so that they washed out the filthy stables.

English word: In English, instead of a single word, we have a phrase, Augean stables, used to describe a foul, filthy mess that requires a heroic effort to clean up.

Atropos

In the ancient Greek myth, Atropos was the eldest of the three Fates, whose job it was to spin out the thread of life,

Aphrodite

Aphrodite was the ancient Greek goddess of love (called Venus by the ancient Romans). Her name means "foam-born," because she rose out of the sea, fully grown, mature, and magnificently beautiful, as shown in The Birth of Venus, the famous painting by Botticelli. She was a goddess of triple aspect: Aphrodite Urania -- ideal, spiritual love; Aphrodite Genetrix -- marriage; and Aphrodite Porne -- lust and prostitution.

Aphrodite played an essential role in the story of the Trojan War. At a wedding, all the gods and goddesses were invited except Eris, the goddess of discord. She attended the wedding anyway, and tossed out a golden apple, inscribed "To the fairest." Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena each claimed to be the fairest. To settle the dispute, Zeus gave the choice to Paris, a prince of Troy. Each of the three goddesses tempted Paris with a special gift. Venus won by offering him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, who was already married to Menelaus, the king of Sparta. Paris carried Helen off to Troy, the spark that ignited the Trojan War.

English word: Several words are derived from the names for Aphrodite. The most obvious is aphrodisiac, a substance that stimulates sexual desire. Several English words derive from Aphrodite Genetrix: genital -- related to the reproductive organs; progenitor -- ancestor; even gentleman and gentlewoman -- man or woman "of gentle birth." Another English word derived from an aspect of Aphrodite is pornography -- sexually arousing written material or its graphic portrayal. Another English word that may derive from Aphrodite is April, the month when love blooms.

Ambrosia

In ancient Greek myths, ambrosia was the food of the gods, which made them immortal.

In English: The English word ambrosia refers to delicious food. It is used specifically for a form of fruit salad. The version I know combines mandarin oranges, crushed pineapple, and coconut, although other versions contain sour cream, marshmallows, and sometimes other fruits. The adjective form of the word is ambrosial.

Aeolus

In ancient Greece myth, Aeolus was the keeper of the winds. He was the king of an island near Sicily. In The Odyssey, he received Odysseus (Ulysses to the ancient Romans), and provided a west wind to sail home, and gave him a leather bag containing the other winds. Unfortunately, Odysseus' men opened the bag of the winds, which blew them off course and greatly prolonged their voyage.

English word: In English, aeolian means borne or produced by the wind. An aeolian harp is a box fitted with strings so that when the wind blows across it, it produces musical tones. The Aeolian islands are the group of islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, supposedly the home of Aeolus.

Adonis

In the ancient Greek myth, Adonis was a youth who was so beautiful when he was born that Aphrodite, the goddess of love, put him into a wooden chest and gave him to Persephone, the goddess of the underworld, to keep him safe. When Persephone saw how beautiful he was, she refused to give him back to Aphrodite. This sparked a quarrel between two goddesses. Zeus, the king of the gods, resolved the quarrel when he decided to have Adonis spend four months each year with each of the two, with four months of the year to himself.

The myth goes on that Adonis was killed by the tusks of a boar sent by one of the other gods. In another version of the myth, Adonis was born from a tree when a boar tore up the bark of a tree with its tusks.

In ancient Greece, women practiced the cult of Adonis. At midsummer, they planted "gardens of Adonis," consisting of fast-growing salad greens, on flat rooftops. After the plants withered and died, the women wailed and mourned their beautiful god. However, the next year he returned, for he was a god of vegetation, a god of birth-death-and rebirth.

English word: In English, just as in ancient Greek, Adonis refers to a beautiful youth.

Aegis

In ancient Greek myth, the aegis was a shield that Hephaestus, the god of iron-working, made for Zeus, which he sometimes lent to his daughter Athena. Usually, it is associated with Athena.

English word: The word aegis also means a shield, and is the name given to a class of guided missile cruisers, and to many businesses.

Gordian Knot

Gordias appeared in Phrygia, an ancient kingdom of Asia Minor, on an ox-cart with his wife and his son, Midas. Because Midas seemed to fulfill certain prophecies, the priests declared him king of Phrygia. Gordias tied the ox-cart with a knot that was so intricate that it seemed impossible to untie. An oracle said that the one to untie the knot would become the king of Asia.

In 333 B.C., Alexander the Great solved the problem, after conquering Phrygia, when he took his sword and cut the knot. After that, he did indeed become the "king of Asia," conquering virtually all of the Middle East and most of Central Asia, all the way to India.

English word: Like Achilles, Gordias presents a two-word phrase in English, Gordian knot. This metaphor represents solving a problem by a brilliant, unexpected stroke.

Achilles

Achilles was the leading Greek hero of the Iliad, the ancient Greek epic told by Homer, the blind bard. Achilles' father was a mortal man, and his mother was an immortal sea nymph. In an effort to make him immortal, too, his mother dipped him in the River Styx, which separates Earth and the Underworld. However, in order to dip him in the water, she held him by the heel of one foot, which remained vulnerable.

The Iliad starts with Achilles' wrath and withdrawal from the fleet about to sail away to invade Troy. He thinks Agamemnon has insulted him. Agamemnon was the brother of King Menelaus, whose wife Helen had run away with Paris, the prince of Troy. After Achilles and the other Greek kings agreed to invade Troy and retrieve Helen, Achilles thought Agamemnon insulted him because Agamemnon kept for himself a beautiful slave Achilles had claimed for his own, as a spoil of war. When Achilles withdrew from the war, he didn't just go and sulk in his tent by himself. He also withdrew his warriors, the Myrmidons, a powerful troop of soldiers.

Throughout most of the Iliad, Achilles stays out of the fight against Troy. Eventually, he goes out to fight again, seeking vengeance for the death of his dearest friend, Patroclus. In the fighting, Achilles engages in one-on-one combat with the great Trojan hero, Hector. When Hector is dead, Achilles defiles his body, instead of allowing his family to bury it with religious honors. At last, Hector's father, the King of Troy, ransoms Hector's body, and the epic ends with Hector's burial.

Curiously, Achilles' vulnerable heel does not affect the Trojan War. However, later epics describe the death of Achilles, when an arrow strikes him in the heel, and he dies as a result.

English word: In English, Achilles has not contributed a single word, but a phrase, or two phrases: Achilles' heel and Achilles tendon. The first refers to a strong person's one vulnerable point. The second refers to a body part, which connects the muscles of the calf to the bone of the heel. It is essential in order to walk normally.

Gnome

In Germanic myths, a gnome is a small, humanoid creature that lives under ground. Gnomes are thought to be very intelligent. They do work for humans if they like them.

English word: In English, gnome has retained its original meaning. Garden gnomes are small statues placed in gardens. The best-known gnome is the roaming gnome, used in advertising for trevelocity. Gnome is also the name of a free software project, providing a desktop for the Unix operating system.

Gemini

In Roman myth, Castor and Pollux were the sons of Leda and Jupiter, who appeared to her in the guise of a swan. That creates a vivid image, a woman seduced by a swan. Castor was noted for taming and managing horses, which were essential to the Romans. Pollux was noted for boxing. The two of them were among the argonauts. During a storm on the voyage of the Argos, Orpheus played the harp and prayed for relief. The storm abated, and stars appeared over the heads of Castor and Pollux. When Castor was killed in battle, Pollux was so inconsolable, Jupiter set them among the stars as the constellation Gemini, "the twins".

English word: In English, Gemini is the name of the zodiacal constellation described. As a result, it is also used in astrology. It happens to be my own astrological sign.

Genius

The ancient Romans believed that each man is born of a spirit that guides him throughout his life, his genius. For women, the guiding spirit was her juno.

English word: In English, a genius is someone of extraordinary intelligence and creativity. The word "juno," however, was never adopted into English.

Atlas

Atlas was the largest of the Titans, giant gods the ancient Greeks believed preceded the Olympian gods. When Zeus declared himself king of the gods, the Titans would not accept him as such, and thus ensued a long war between the Titans and the Olympians. After the Titans were defeated, most of them were sent to Tartarus, similar to Hell.

Atlas, however, was sent to a place far to the west, where he was condemned to stand bearing the weight of some great pillars, separating earth from the heavens. After eons, bearing the weight of the world, Atlas was so tired and weary that when Perseus approached, carrying the head of Medusa, the loathsome Gorgon whose look turned men to stone, Atlas asked Perseus to let him look at Medusa's head. When Perseus held up the head and showed it to Atlas, Atlas turned to stone, relieving him of his burdensome life. The stones now form Mount Atlas, in the far northwest of Africa.

English word: the word atlas means a powerful man, as in "Charles Atlas." The Atlantic Ocean is also named after Atlas because it is in the far west, where Atlas supposedly stood. Also, atlas means a book of maps, from images of Atlas holding the earth as a globe on his head and shoulders.

Athena

Athena was the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom -- and weaving, and crafts. She was also the goddess of war, but only when fought for protection. She was also called Pallas Athene, and sometimes Athena Parthenos -- meaning Athena the virgin. Versions of her myths vary, but in the best known version, her father was Zeus, that randy god who often mated with goddesses, nymphs, and mortal women who caught his fancy. One who caught his fancy was Metis, the goddess of crafty thought and wisdom. After he had his way with her, he became frightened because of a prediction that her child would become greater than its father. To prevent the birth of a child, Zeus swallowed Metis. However, she was immortal, and the child she had conceived continued to grow. Finally, Zeus felt a terrible headache. At his command, one of the other gods split his head open with an axe. Out of the gaping wound stepped Athena, full grown, armed and armored.

Athena got into a dispute with Poseidon, the god of the sea, over which of them would be the reigning deity of a Greek city-state. To settle the quarrel, they decided that each of them would create a gift for the people of the city, and let the people choose. Poseidon took his great trident, struck it into the ground, and a spring of water bubbled up. Athena made an olive tree sprout from the ground. The people chose Athena's gift, because it provided food, oil for lamps, and wood to burn. Thus, the city took the name Athens, and built a magnificent temple called the Parthenon -- honoring Athena Parthenos. In addition to the myths about her origins, Athena appears in many other myths of ancient Greece.

English word: From Athena is derived the name of the city of Athens, of course, and Parthenon. From Pallas Athene is derived the word Palladium, which was originally a great statue of the goddess, and later came to mean a safeguard, or a protection. Palladium also refers to a rare metallic element of the platinum family.

Argonaut

A complex myth of ancient Greece is the story of Jason and his crew of heroes, the Argonauts, and their quest for the Golden Fleece. The heroes were called Argonauts because they sailed on the ship Argos.

Jason was the prince of the city of Iolcus. His uncle, Pelias, murdered his father, and seized the throne. To protect him, his mother hid him with a wise centaur. After some time, when Jason returned home, his uncle wanted to kill him. However, it was a special feast day, when the laws of hospitality were required. Still determined to get rid of Jason, the uncle told him that Jason could have the throne if he brought back the Golden Fleece from the island of Colchis, where a dragon that never slept guarded it.

With his ship Argos, Jason gathered 50 heroes to sail with him on his quest. Along the way, they shared many adventures, all recounted in the myth. In Colchis, the king agreed to allow Jason to take the Golden Fleece, if he completed certain tasks. The daughter of the king, Medea, fell in love with Jason. She was a sorceress, who gave him magical ointments that helped him complete the tasks. After Jason succeeded in capturing the Golden Fleece, Medea sailed away with him in the Argos, which took them back to Iolcus.

In Iolcus, Pelias refused to keep his word to step down from the throne. Medea worked her sorcery so that the daughters of Pelias killed him. The people of Iolcus were so angry at the death of Pelias that they forced Jason and Medea to flee the city, which led to their own sad story.

English word: argonaut describes the gold hunters of the California gold rush of 1849, and the Alaska gold rush of the 1890s. Oddly enough, argosy, a large ship, or a large fleet of merchant vessels, is generally thought not to derive from Argos, but from Ragusa, an ancient port city.