welcome back friends to todays lecture todays
session for english language for competitive
exams um today we are going to as i already
mentioned in my last class vocla vocabulary
related to greek mythology you know greek
mythology has given us innumerable words we
dont even realize that these words have their
origin in the greek mythology the legendary
the mythical gods and goddesses and personae
personalities from greek mythology
so ah the first name that comes to mind when
we talk about greek mythology is homer h o
m e r and from homer we get the adjective
homeric which is larger than life which is
of epic proportion so what is epic epic is
a lengthy long verse or poem that has ah ah
that is of tremendous huge magnitude so homer
is writer of great epics iliad and odyssey
iliad and odyssey narrating the adventures
of the greek gods goddesses warriors yeah
so epic proportion so whatever is homeric
is in todays language related to homeric proportions
or large larger than life or epic or um of
very great magnitude huge magnitude we hear
stories about the persons homeric tantrums
um this is ah a homeric attempt preventing
catastrophe ok so an epic about the escapees
and adventures of gods and heroes in the trogon
war thats what homer did but then here we
have to say about ah in todays ah lingo or
terms we use it to denote something which
is larger than life
next is achilles heels now achilles who was
achilles again a greek hero when achilles
was a child he his mother dipped him when
if the infant achille into the river sticks
and made him invulnerable to any kind of weapon
except in the heel by which she held him therefore
heel of achille is the weak spot and it proved
in the case of achilles who was killed before
the walls of troy when prince paris shot him
in the heel with a poisoned arrow so therefore
achille heel he was insive invincible ok he
wouldnt have died otherwise but only portion
of his body the only part of his body that
was vulnerable was his heels so the tendency
of achilles which binds the muscles of calf
to the bone of the heel they receive the name
from this myth you should also know in quadruplets
that is ah animals mammals that move on four
feet this tendency is called the hamstring
to hamstring an animal is to lame it by cutting
this tangle so to hamstring means to weaken
to destroy the efficiency of somebody something
to cripple so achilles heels is a weak spot
french is her achilles heel it is very or
she is very weak in ah the french subject
next word aegis this could be spelt without
any also aegis the aegis was the mantle and
shield of the god zeus z e u s this is some
something a name that all of you should be
familiar with zeus the su supreme god in greek
mythology so even the king of the gods zeus
he needed protection in his wars with the
titans so zeus lent the aegis to his ah daughter
ethane when she went into battle on the side
of the greeks during the trogon war homer
describes this as a sort of cloak a mantle
it is generally associated with statues of
ethane on which it appears as a short cloak
covered with scales whether it was a shield
or a cloak its certainly had protective powers
since on it were serpents and head of the
gorgon which turned men to stone if they looked
at it so in modern usage the meaning of aegis
is a ah a shield or protection and it also
it has been extended to include sponsorship
or auspices so look how language develops
how it evolves so now we say auspices sponsorship
i am talking about modern term in modern terms
not the greek terms today aegis is mostly
used as part of the fa i mean as ah under
the aegis supporting programs projects mostly
in that public welfare it can also be used
in the legal context
next word and its a name cassandra woddie
allen has made a movie yeah ah so um apollo
fell in love with cassandra and um who was
the daughter of king prime he gave her the
gift of prophesy ah but when she failed to
carry out her promise to love him he decreed
that nobody should believe her although she
spoke the truth so ah cassandra is therefore
ah prophet a female prophet or rather a prophet
of dome today the name is applied to anyone
who utters warnings of trouble to come whether
the prophecy is believed or not but cassandra
today so you are cassandra means you are giving
a warning of troubles to come
next word is chimera i will also write cassandra
the chimera was a horrible monster that breathed
fire it had the head of a lion body of a goat
and it had a serpents tail it also had a goats
head on its back now ah it is a fantastic
combination so a wild dream an impractical
idea some ah fantastic idea a vein fancy is
the chimera the adjective is chimerical robert
louie stevenson the great english essayist
he wrote an essay called eldorado and he says
that the goals that men seek and he terms
them chimeras so wild fancies something that
is not practical
next word is hermitically sealed now hermits
he was the roman ah its a roman name for mercury
mercury is a patron god of magic in the middle
ages alchemida precedes of chemistry was known
as a hermitic art to put the hermitic seal
or the seal of the hermits on a bottle ah
in the laboratory meant to twist the neck
with flame and therefore seal it airtight
so hermitically sealed the expression is often
used figuratively to imply that a persons
mind is shut against the infil infiltration
of new ideas or information so you are hermetically
sealed its a very bad thing dont be hermitically
sealed that means you are closing out new
ideas exchange of information
next word is hydra headed again very popular
term hydra hydra headed the hydra was a water
monster you know hydra hydrogen hydrant hydraulics
hydrophobia so all these words even dehydrate
thats where it comes from so where thats where
these words come from so ah hydra was a mo
water monster it had nine heads think of indian
mythology also a monster with ten heads ah
the hercules a ah great ah hero greek hero
ah a man with immense strength he was ordered
to kill the hydra now the hydra had remarkable
regenerative powers as soon as hercules would
cut off a head two new ones replaced it think
of the film ah terminator the two second terminator
terminator two the judgment day and the more
you kill the villain is ah android the robot
the faster he would or it would regenerate
itself so all these ideas and plots ah come
from the greek mythology now remember in hydra
in hydra scales the heads could not grow back
if fire was applied immediately to the cut
hercules therefore enlisted the aid of an
assistant who quarterized the necks as hercules
severed the heads hydra headed means hard
to eliminate or destroy the term is applied
to an evil which apparently put down in one
place springs up elsewhere in biology the
hydra is a fresh water animal of microscopic
size which has the property of its mythological
name say if this is cut up each part will
develop into new hydra
iridescent iris thats the origin was a lovely
made in who left a trail of color as she carried
messages from the gods to the earth she was
the goddess of the rainbow so the word iris
i r i s itself may mean a flower a part of
the eye or the combination of the brilliant
colors so it was ah its a beautiful name suggesting
beautiful imagery therefore poets were fascinated
by the name in tanisens lines from loxley
hall he um uses the word is the verses in
the way the spring a livelier iris changes
on the burnished off and turns to thoughts
of love so loxley hall and tennices tanisens
use of the word iridescent beautiful being
next word is pandoras box you open a pandoras
box and what happens troubles the first woman
according to greek mythology was someone called
pandora milton tells us the british the english
poet milton john milton ah the poet the writer
of paradise lost an epic poem and he tells
us how he got she got her name he tells milton
says pandora whom the gods endowed with all
their gifts so pan means all wis when we use
the word pan indians all indians across india
so pan p a n andorra means gifts so every
god and goddess contributes something to make
her a perfect being zeus angered at mankind
sent her down to be a cursed man not to a
particular man but to mankind until she was
created the earth was only inhabited by man
and bees the gods gave her a box which she
was warned not to open unable to overcome
her curiosity she did open it one day trouble
then came up on earth all the ills that plagued
the body and mind of man flew out only hope
remained that something something someday
something better would come so opening a pandoras
box now it has become a ah very popular very
common usage in our language it could be anti
feminist when women do something opening a
pandoras box but we often say that politicians
yeah you steer this problem you wake up this
problem and you are going to open a pandoras
box so its better to let sleeping dogs lie
dont steer the issue or otherwise there will
be pandoras box all sorts of mudslinging will
happen a pandoras box in other way other words
is a source of evil a seeding cauldron on
which there should be ah yeah lid this is
a cauldron cauldron is something a huge pot
in which you boil something stew something
next word is promethean one of the most popular
and sympathetic greek figures prometheus was
a titan who brought the gift of fire to man
kinds so that by its use man could develop
his civilization see the use of fire was very
important like prometheus um we often say
the scientist of our time have rested from
nature the secret that is no longer a secret
so promethean has if someone who has to make
immense sacrifice in order to bring something
good to mankind larger good of mankind we
often say once again men are turning into
to the symbol of prometheus as a lesson a
warning to mankind so prometheus was bound
to the edge of a precipice a cliff and every
day a vulture or eagle would eat off his lever
that was meant to be a punishment but then
prometheus was a hero ok and he could bear
the punishment
next word is antaean i advise you if you are
interested in all these words to keep looking
up these words for more um background knowledge
and understanding and how these are used so
antaean is having the power to renew ones
strength antaeus was a wrestler son of poseidon
neptune and earth and he was incieve invincible
as long as he was in contact with mother earth
so son of poseidon and earth poseidon ah also
another word for neptune the aragonites were
heroes who sailed with jason on the argo in
quest of the golden flees so the coinage of
the term astronauts or astronauts can be um
explo explained as like the argonauts of antiquity
the argonauts sailed the seized on the argo
their swift ship so antaeus a wrestler son
of poseidon and argonauts heroes who sailed
with jason on the argo now remember the astronauts
are being ah um ah for example we can say
the astronauts are propelled in a capsule
towards the astras stars or outer space the
word cosmonaut became equated with astronauts
next word is sisyphean it comes from the word
or the name sisyphus s i s y p h u s he was
a king of currant ok and its used for a task
that is endless at the same time ineffective
the myth of sisyphus 
from sisyphus you get sisyphean a task that
is arduous as well as ineffective
next word is titan the titans where the members
of um divine beings the descended from the
primordial deities and they preceded the olympian
deities now ah the titans most famously include
the first twelve children of the primordial
gaia that is mother earth and uranus so gaia
and uranus they were giant deities so titans
origins of titans giant deities so today when
we say its a titan that means a giant figure
its a very positive name you take titanic
steps towards something gigantic steps he
is a titan in the field of science ok titanic
structure so you ah politician of titanic
magnitude giant almost like a deity god like
proportions you are paying someone a huge
respect you can call him a or her a titanic
figure
next is pantheon p a n t h e o n it means
all the gods or peo of a people or religion
the deities of the hindu pantheon today we
also call a group of famous or important people
with pantheon has come together in order for
a ah um you know to collect um something to
ah for a charitable cause so a pantheon of
starts a pantheon of musicians so group of
important people the pantheon of the all time
greats the beetles have joined the pantheon
of all time great musicians
next word is argus eyed a r g u s someone
who is very watchful keen sighted very observant
remember argus was a mythological monster
who had a hundred eyes some of which always
remained awake the 
argus eyed very observant the principle of
the college is argus eyed
next word is bacchanalian 
look at them spelling double c h a n a now
this is characterized by drunken rivalries
or by esthetic frenzies bacus was the god
of wine and bacchanalia were fees of um revelry
in his honor so when we say bacchanalian festivity
we mean by people were reveling and drinking
and behaving in general very wildly
next word is calliope c a l l i o p e calliope
was the muse of eloquent someone who could
speak beautifully a name meaning beautiful
voice is humorously applied to this modern
harse sounding instrument calliope a series
of extreme whistles played from a key board
stem organ so these are the synonyms
next word is cornucopia it means horns of
plenty in exhaustible rev reserves symbol
of abundance the infant zeus ok was nursed
by a goat name amelthia one of whose horns
had the power of being filled with whatever
the owner desired so cornucopia means horn
of plenty
and next word is cyclop cyclopians so cyclops
were giants who erected structures by piling
up huge stones without cementing them this
is used to denote something which is huge
massive and it is often used to ah describe
a type of early architecture
next word is gorgon g o r g o n gorgons were
three sisters very ugly sisters anyone who
looked at them would turn into stone medusa
one of the three gorgon sisters um she was
um the only one of the gorgons who was subject
to mortality she celebrated for her personal
charms and the beauty of her hair locks neptune
became enameled of her obtained her favors
in ah the temple of minerva now the violation
of the sanctity of the temple provoked minerva
and she changed the beautiful locks of medusa
into serpents so a woman with serpent like
coil hair so medusa and her sisters they came
into the world with snakes on their head instead
of hair their bodies were also covered with
scales impenetrable scales and their very
looks at the power of killing or turning to
stones so surrendered his name immortal by
his conquest of medusa he cut off her head
and the blood that dropped from the wound
produced the ah innumerable serpents of a
certain continent so the conqueror placed
medusas head on the shield of minerva which
was used when he went on his expedition the
head still retained the same petrifying power
as before and it was fatally known in the
court of sepias the king as medusas head you
look at it you turn into stone so something
very inauspicious medusa head is now also
used to denote certain kind of texture of
hair
next word is harpy h a r p y a ravenous person
the harpies were flying female monsters so
today it has come to denote someone who is
very um who is a ravishing grasping ravenous
demanding per person they snatch the food
of their victims and the souls of the dead
so thats where the word comes from someone
who are very greedy someone who is very greedy
some people who are very greedy
next term is janus faced j a n u s that means
two faced 
one half is something and another half is
something else janus h faced two faced janus
was a god his status or his statues rather
show us with two heads facing in opposite
direction so a person who is duplisicious
who is hypocritical today we say janus you
know he is not able or not willing to give
ah or take a stand
next word is jovial quite common joyous merrymaking
inspiring happiness jovial is pertained to
jupiter persons born under it is believed
persons born under the planet jupiter are
supposed to be joyous joyful ok ancient sculptures
and poets represented jupiter and zeus as
smiling appointment so that it is jovial coming
from jupiter happy
next word is mentor m e n t o r we often use
this often in academic as well as corporate
set ups mentor he is my mentor we describe
a mentor as a teacher or someone who gives
us counseling we also use for athletic this
word for athletic coaches mentor remember
ah um the greek mentor was the friend of ulysses
to whom the later entrusted the education
of his son so mentor became the educator of
ulyssess son so thats how we get the word
next word is mercurial synonyms are swift
active quick silver you know having the qualities
of mercury mercury the messenger of the gods
who flew with the aid of his winged footwear
sandals therefore swift and active we say
mercurial temper
next word is myrmidons look at the spelling
these are loyal followers attendance who execute
order without question or pity or mercy no
questions asked just shoot myrmidons was a
tribe of warriors who followed achilles so
when today in todays language if someone is
a blind follower who could do anything for
the sake of pleasing the leader we call them
myrmidons sycophants if you take it to another
level
next word is narcissism which is self love
and admiration narcissus was a handsome youth
who fell in love with his own reflection and
was changed into the flower of same name so
when people are too obsessed with themselves
we call them narcissistic you harbor narcissistic
tendencies self love excessive self all of
us should love ourselves which is very normal
but to be obsessed by ones or to try and people
who are obsessed looking at their own reflection
harping on their own glory achievements they
are narcissistic they want people to praise
them all the time nemesis n e m e s i s nemesis
was the goddess of retribution of punishment
the upholder of the moral courts the nemesis
in other words is an agent of retribution
or punishment ok its a jing so you are a nemesis
you ah i met my nemesis there yeah someone
who opposed me who somehow you know brought
punishment or me
there is a word called odyssey which is very
common o d y double s e y which means long
voyage now if you say i am going from here
to my hometown that is not an odyssey that
is a journey thats a common normal regular
journey odyssey is a long voyage it is often
dangerous brought with danger adventures ok
so you are odyssey writers often use you know
the process of the this writing this novel
my odyssey or my journey as an as someone
very accomplish so my odyssey but then you
you have seen ups and downs you dont just
say i sat in a train from here to my hometown
and then that was an odyssey remember odyssey
is another word for ulysses he is the hero
of homers odyssey he took ten years to get
home from the trogon war meeting many strange
or encountering many strange creatures as
well as ah facing lot of adventures misadventures
perils and dangers thats how you get the word
next word is olympian you know the festival
of games olympics olympian is majestic mount
olympus was the home of the gods majestic
is olympian is majestic epic proportion sometimes
you often use the word as like someone who
is detached and aloof but then you have to
earn that detachment and aloofness you cant
just act standoff is and call yourself olympian
olympian means someone who has achieved a
lot and remains aloof a person living in ivory
tower so olympian but basically more commonly
the usage is for majestic and
next word palladium the word comes from pallas
p a l l a s it means safeguard the bill of
rights is the palladium of our the constitution
is the palladium of our freedom of our rights
so um from the word derives from pallas p
a l l a s another tern for minerva her image
or palladium guarded troy and troy could not
be taken until ulyssis had stolen the image
so palladium was like a maskers to safeguard
the city so we use the term to something a
document that safeguards us constitution safeguards
us bill of rights in america safeguards citizens
next word is phoenix so from palladium we
move on to phoenix 
phoenix p h o e n i x a person or thing supposed
to have died or passed into oblivion written
off basically finished done with ok but then
what happens the person rises again so phoenix
like ability to rise from the ashes phoenix
was a bird living ah thousands of years ago
after being consumed in fire it rose fresh
and youthful from its own ashes today we often
call you know this sportsmen the cricketer
he has been written off by his critics but
then he stayed or come back scored a century
and phoenix like ability to rise again so
a symbol of courage determination strength
and absolute an absolute refusal to be written
off
next word is protean not protein but protean
p r o t e a n protean is someone who is capable
of changing shape proteus was the old man
of the sea who could change his form and appearance
at will so we say protean like actor you know
someone who could who can change his looks
protean ah like politician who changes his
face everyday his his decisions his ideologies
everyday
next word is saturnine saturnine saturn yeah
was the father of jupiter in greek mythology
saturn saturnine it turn the name into adjective
which is heavy gloomy serious saturn was the
father of jupiter saturn was jovial and his
period of rule was supposed to be the golden
age the feast celebrating his worship of gay
and wild so it meant having a wild time however
astrology has given saturnine a gloomy aspect
for persons born under the influence of the
planet saturn are supposed to be sad and gloomy
so saturnine we often say saturnine temperament
next word is stentorian very loud voice bellowing
stentor was herald of the greeks herald means
someone who would see in ancient time we didnt
have advertisements television to ah project
or ah to announce something of important so
they used to have heralds who would call out
or declare or shout out something of importance
so stentor was the herald of the greeks which
was like having a loud ah human loud speaker
ok someone in todays time someone who speaks
very loudly great authority bellowing that
is stentorian
and the next word is stygian stygian is derived
from the river styx if you remember i was
just telling you the story of achilles the
infant achilles was dipped into the waters
of the river styx so stygian comes from there
the river styx flowed down to the lower world
they believe that there is a this world the
higher world the lower world spirits entering
had to cross it on a ferry now stygian means
inky very dark gloomy and hellish so thats
the meaning
