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.

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.