Word origins

• CandiaThe Mediterranean island of Crete.
• 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.
• ThemisA Titan, the embodiment of divine order, law and custom. She was the daughter of Gaia and Uranus.
• DorcasA member of a Dorcas association.
• orthographicOf a projection used in maps, architecture etc., in which the rays are parallel.
• kairosA time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action; the opportune and decisive moment.
• kanonSynonym of monochord (used mainly in reference to ancient Greek music)
• lethargicSluggish, slow.
• meniscusA crescent moon, or an object shaped like it.
• catharsisA release of emotional tension after an overwhelming vicarious experience, resulting in the purging or purification of the emotions, as through watching a dramatic production (especially a tragedy).
• Athosone of the Gigantes
• aetherOne of the Greek primordial deities who was the personification of light, brother-husband of Hemera and grandson of Chaos.
• semioticOf or relating to semiotics or to semantics.
• PhobosA son of Ares (Mars). Also the Greek god of fear.
• HeraclesSon of Zeus and Alcmene, a celebrated hero who possessed exceptional strength. Most famous for his 12 labours performed to redeem himself after killing his family.
• 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;
• IsidoreA male given name from Ancient Greek.
• anastomosisA cross-connection between two blood vessels.
• gnosisAn immanent form of knowledge or transcendent insight, such as sought by the Gnostics.
• TimonA male given name from Ancient Greek of mostly historical use.
• NathanaelAn Apostle in the Gospel of John; usually identified with Bartholomew.
• areteexcellence, goodness; virtue.
• thalassemiaAny of a group of inherited disorders in which the amount of hemoglobin in the blood is reduced.
• TheseusA legendary Ancient Greek hero most famous for defeating the minotaur in the labyrinth of Crete.
• despoticOf or pertaining to a despot or tyrant.
• kinesisThe movement of an organism in response to an external stimulus.
• hedonicOf or relating to pleasure
• mnemonicsThe study of techniques for remembering anything more easily.
• PatmosAn island of the Dodecanese, Greece.
• thripsAny of the many small insects of the order Thysanoptera, especially those that attack useful plants.
• SavaA river in southern Europe, a right side tributary of the Danube at Belgrade.
• dianeticsA self-help system designed by L. Ron Hubbard, today chiefly employed in Scientology.
• CorydonA male given name from Greek, notably used as a stock name for a shepherd in pastorals, in particular a shepherd whose love for a boy is described in Virgil's Eclogues.
• ThetisOne of the nereids; the mother of Achilles
• OrestesThe son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, who killed his mother, avenging his father's death, and was then pursued by the Furies.
• XerxesXerxes I, a Persian king of the Achaemenid dynasty who reigned 485-465 BC.
• rhodopsinA light-sensitive pigment in the rod cells of the retina; it consists of an opsin protein bound to the carotenoid retinal
• ApophisAn evil snake-god who tries to devour the sun every night.
• 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.
• CharisAglaea, one of the Charites.
• ElisAn ancient Greek city-state in northwestern Peloponnese, modern Greece.
• idiomaticPertaining or conforming to idiom, the natural mode of expression of a language.
• hegemonA dominating leader or force, especially that which dominates a separate political entity; a hegemonist.
• megalithA large stone slab making up a prehistoric monument, or part of such a monument.
• eidolonAn image or representation of an idea; a representation of an ideal form; an apparition of some actual or imaginary entity, or of some aspect of reality.
• CenozoicOf or pertaining to the Cenozoic era.
• boleThe trunk or stem of a tree.
• schistosomiasisAny of various diseases of humans caused by parasitic blood flukes of the genus Schistosoma.
• symphoniaConcord in Ancient Greek music.
• ureterEither of the two long, narrow ducts that carry urine from the kidneys to the urinary bladder.
• hemostasisThe regulated physiological process by which the body arrests bleeding at a site of vascular injury while preserving blood fluidity and normal circulation elsewhere.
• 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).
• magnesiamagnesium oxide
• PelionA mountain in Thessaly, northern Greece, forming a peninsula between the Pagasetic Gulf and the Aegean Sea.
• bradycardiaThe condition of having a slow heartbeat, defined as under 60 beats per minute for an adult.
• dynasticPertaining to a dynasty.
• amanitaAny of very many agaric mushrooms, of the genus Amanita, most of which are very poisonous.
• DesdemonaOthello's wife in Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, noted for being a victim of jealousy.
• sigmoidSemi-circular, like the uncial or lunate sigma (similar to English C).
• chloriteA dark green mineral resembling serpentine, being a mixed silicate of magnesium, iron and aluminium.
• stichA verse, of whatever measure or number of feet, especially a verse of Scripture.
• organonA set of principles that are used in science or philosophy.
• forbAny nonwoody flowering plant that is not a graminoid (a grass, sedge, or rush).
• dromeThe crab plover, Dromas ardeola, of North Africa.
• pygmalionOne who acts as the legendary Greek sculptor Pygmalion (who was granted the wish of having life given to a sculpture of his which he fell deeply in love with).
• perseA very dark (almost black) purple or blue-gray colour.
• AleisterA male given name from Scottish Gaelic, of rare usage, variant of Alastair.
• HelleA daughter of king Athamas, who, together with her brother Phrixus, fled from their stepmother Ino to Colchis on a golden ram. On their way, she fell from its back and was drowned in the strait called, after her, Hellespont.
• stoichiometricOf or relating to stoichiometry.
• cryopreservationThe preservation of biological tissue at cryogenic temperatures, typically at -80°C (dry ice temperature) or -196°C (the boiling point of liquid nitrogen).
• LysanderA British military aircraft used during World War II
• cronyA close friend.
• AtheneAthena.
• TinosAn island in the northern Cyclades.
• Tobita model where the dependent variable is censored.
• ambidextrousHaving equal or comparable ability in both hands; in particular, able to write well with both hands.
• ArtaA regional unit in northwestern Greece that is a part of the Epirus region.
• Hellenthe mythological patriarch of the Hellenes, the son of Deucalion (or sometimes Zeus) and Pyrrha, brother of Amphictyon and father of Aeolus, Xuthus, and Dorus
• 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.
• phraseologyStudy of set or fixed expressions.
• calligraphicOf or pertaining to calligraphy.
• bromeAny grass of the genus Bromus.
• epicentreThe point on the land or water surface directly above the focus, or hypocentre, of an earthquake.
• photolysisAny chemical reaction in which a compound is decomposed after absorbing a photon.
• mesicCharacterized by an intermediate degree of moisture, in between xeric (dry) and hydric (wet); somewhat moist.
• stadionA Greek unit of distance based on standardized footraces, equivalent to about 185.4 metres.
• xenophobicExhibiting or characterised by xenophobia, a fear or hatred of strangers, foreigners, or extraterrestrial life.
• 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.
• extropyNegentropy.
• cystineA nonessential amino acid formed by the oxidation of cysteine; it contains two cysteine residues linked by a disulfide bond.
• kourosA sculpture of a naked youth in Ancient Greece, the male equivalent of a kore.
• zygoteA eukaryotic cell formed from the fusion of two gametes (“reproductive cells”) during a fertilization process.
• apologiaA written defense of a position or belief.
• UrielAn archangel in Judaism and Christianity.