Word origins

• ganglionAn encapsulated collection of nerve cell bodies, typically linked by synapses, and often forming a swelling on a nerve fiber.
• dynamismGreat energy, drive, force, or power; vigour of body, mind, or personality; oomph or pizzazz.
• ParthenonAn ancient temple to Athena and monument in the city of Athens. It is a symbol of Greek achievement in the arts and of Athenian democracy.
• doryA small flat-bottomed boat with pointed or somewhat pointed ends, used for fishing both offshore and on rivers.
• SamosAn island belonging to the Sporades and a city on it, in the Aegean.
• problemaA problem set forth in the Ancient Greek scholarly tradition.
• rhizomeA horizontal, underground stem of some plants that sends out roots and shoots (scions) from its nodes.
• kylixAn Ancient Greek drinking cup with a stem, two handles, and a broad, shallow body.
• OdysseusA male given name from Ancient Greek.
• myopiaA disorder of the vision where distant objects appear blurred because the eye focuses their images in front of the retina instead of on it.
• exegesisA critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text.
• aphrodisiacArousing or intensifying sexual desire.
• minosThe mythological first king of Crete, a son of Zeus by Europa, who imprisoned the Minotaur in a labyrinth and after death was made a judge of the dead in Hades; a putative corresponding historical person.
• ZenonA surname.
• rheologyThe branch of physics that studies the deformation and flow of matter.
• thebesA city in central Greece, the capital city of Boeotia and an important political centre in antiquity.
• hydrocephalusA usually congenital condition in which an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the cerebral ventricles causes enlargement of the skull and compression of the brain, destroying much of the neural tissue.
• catabolismDestructive (lytic) metabolism or metabolization, usually including the release of energy and breakdown of materials.
• abioticNonliving, inanimate, characterised by the absence of life; of inorganic matter.
• dinosAn Ancient Greek mixing-bowl or cauldron, without handles or feet.
• IolaA female given name.
• telosThe aim, purpose, or end goal.
• pentathlonAn ancient athletics discipline, featuring five events: stadion, wrestling, long jump, javelin and discus
• archeThe first principle of existing things in pre-Socratic philosophy, initially assumed to be of water.
• cyberneticOf or relating to cybernetics—the mathematical study of communication and control in living organisms or machines.
• ElissaDido, queen of Carthage.
• lithiaLithium oxide, Li₂O, used in the manufacture of ceramics and glass.
• AgamemnonOne of the most distinguished heroes of Greek mythology. He is the son of King Atreus of Mycenae and Queen Aerope and the brother of Menelaus. He is famous for rallying the Greeks in the Trojan War, yet infamous for the sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia at the commencement of the war.
• kairosA time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action; the opportune and decisive moment.
• semioticOf or relating to semiotics or to semantics.
• ErisThe goddess of discord and strife, whose apple of discord sparked events that eventually led to the Trojan War; equated by Homer with Enyo (goddess of violent war) and identified with the Roman goddess Discordia;
• kinesisThe movement of an organism in response to an external stimulus.
• PatmosAn island of the Dodecanese, Greece.
• thripsAny of the many small insects of the order Thysanoptera, especially those that attack useful plants.
• OrestesThe son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, who killed his mother, avenging his father's death, and was then pursued by the Furies.
• stadiaA level staff or graduated rod used by surveyors to measure differences in level, or to measure horizontal distances by sighting the stadia hairs (graduations) through a telescope.
• grammaA grandmother.
• oticOf, relating/pertaining to, or located near the ear.
• oikosA basic societal unit in Ancient Greece; a household or family line.
• PhineasA male given name from Ancient Greek, Hebrew (פִינְחָס), or Egyptian of biblical origin.
• hegemonA dominating leader or force, especially that which dominates a separate political entity; a hegemonist.
• boleThe trunk or stem of a tree.
• NicodemusTo be kept hidden, in the manner of the Pharisee Nicodemus.
• JoppaA small settlement in Hayle parish, south-west Cornwall, England (OS grid ref SW5636).
• PelionA mountain in Thessaly, northern Greece, forming a peninsula between the Pagasetic Gulf and the Aegean Sea.
• dynasticPertaining to a dynasty.
• sigmoidSemi-circular, like the uncial or lunate sigma (similar to English C).
• stichA verse, of whatever measure or number of feet, especially a verse of Scripture.
• forbAny nonwoody flowering plant that is not a graminoid (a grass, sedge, or rush).
• perseA very dark (almost black) purple or blue-gray colour.
• TinosAn island in the northern Cyclades.
• XenophonAthenian historian and philosopher born 427 B.C.E. and author of the Anabasis and Memorabilia. He was a pupil of Socrates and became a general during the Persian wars.
• GomorrahA city in the Middle East, which, according to the Hebrew Bible and to Islamic tradition, was destroyed by God (along with Sodom) for the sins of its inhabitants.
• stadionA Greek unit of distance based on standardized footraces, equivalent to about 185.4 metres.
• GethsemaneA biblical location in ancient Jerusalem, a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives where, according to the four Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus underwent the Agony in the Garden and was arrested the night before his crucifixion.
• apologiaA written defense of a position or belief.
• UrielAn archangel in Judaism and Christianity.
• DeimosA son of Ares (Latin: Mars), god of terror.
• PythiaA priestess of Pythian Apollo, the Oracle of Delphi
• ladeTo fill or load (related to cargo or a shipment).
• EleutheraA long thin island in the Bahamas, east of New Providence.
• bouleOne of the bowls used in the French game of boules.
• matiIn Greek culture, a protective symbol resembling an eye, supposed to ward off the evil eye.
• palindromeA word, phrase, number or any other sequence of units which has the property of reading the same forwards as it does backwards, character for character, sometimes disregarding punctuation, capitalization and diacritics.
• ThessalyA historical region and administrative region in north-central Greece; one of its 13 peripheries. It contains the prefectures of Karditsa, Larissa, Magnesia and Trikala.
• steganographyThe art and science of concealing a secret message, data, or file within another innocuous message, image, audio file, or physical object in a way that hides the very existence of the hidden information from casual observation.
• boreasThe north wind.
• BereniceA female given name from Ancient Greek, notably of ancient queens of Egypt.
• panoplyA splendid display of something.
• meonspignel, Meum athamanticum
• encausticPrepared by means of heat; burned in.
• dyadA set of two elements treated as one; a pair.
• ergonWork, measured in terms of the quantity of heat to which it is equivalent.
• mazaAn Ancient Greek barley cake.
• antagonizeTo work against; to oppose (especially to incite a reaction).
• zymeA ferment.
• daimonSynonym of demon, particularly as
• anaphoraThe repetition of a phrase at the beginning of phrases, sentences, or verses, used for emphasis.
• seleniteA soft, glassy form of gypsum (chemical formula CaSO₄·2H₂O).
• polluxA variety of petalite always found with castor.
• MimasA son of Gaia; one of the Gigantes.
• anthropicOf or pertaining to mankind or humans, or the period of humanity's existence.
• EpictetusA Greek Stoic philosopher (c. 50 – c. 135).
• HathorThe goddess of joy, love, and motherhood; one of the "Eyes / Daughters of Ra", the consort of Ra/Horus; often depicted as having a cow's head.
• miasmaA noxious atmosphere or emanation once thought to originate from swamps and waste, and to cause disease.
• koinoniaCommunion by intimate participation, associated with the Christian church.
• klystronan electron tube used to amplify microwave-frequency electromagnetic radiation.
• anaglyphA decorative ornament worked in low relief or bas relief, such as a piece of cameo jewelry.
• meneThe high middle singing voice (especially as for a boy) or part in musical composition, corresponding roughly to the alto.
• AbydosAn ancient city in Egypt with archaeological interest.
• apothekeA Greek storeroom or warehouse.
• LysistrataA woman who withholds sex in order to get her way.
• telesisDirected social advancement via education and the scientific method.
• ApostolosA male given name from Ancient Greek.
• RamessesName of several pharaohs of 19th and 20th dynasty of Ancient Egypt, 13th to 10th century BC.
• asymptoteA straight line which a curve approaches arbitrarily closely as it goes to infinity. The limit of the curve; its tangent "at infinity".
• KnossosAn ancient city and archaeological site in the island of Crete, in modern Greece.
• ParmenidesAn Ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, in southern Italy. Founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy.
• KratosThe god and personification of power and strength.
• emesisThe act or process of vomiting.