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Quiz about Etymology  Words and Myths
Quiz about Etymology  Words and Myths

Etymology - Words and Myths Trivia Quiz


Each question relates to an English word we use often in speech and writing - but all have a story behind them. What is the provenance or origin of each of the following words, concepts and phrases...?

A multiple-choice quiz by alkmene. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
alkmene
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
157,884
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
15
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
10 / 15
Plays
1354
- -
Question 1 of 15
1. The Romans used the phrase 'sine cere' to refer to an honest mason who produced good-quality, made-to-last statues (a must-have in any affluent Roman household). This word has come into English as 'sincere', but what is its literal meaning? Hint


Question 2 of 15
2. The word 'marathon' has been twisted, adulterated and abused by the English passion for linguistic mongrels over the past century or so. The word which gave us such hybrid offspring as 'dance-a-thon', 'telethon' and so on is in fact the name of an Ancient Greek town. From which legend does this word find its way into our language? Hint


Question 3 of 15
3. The English word 'humour' derives from the Greek word 'humerus', which is the bone we refer to colloquially as the 'funny bone'.


Question 4 of 15
4. The word muscle derives from the Latin for 'little...'

Answer: (One word - it's a rodent)
Question 5 of 15
5. Everyone's favourite Freudian syndrome, the Oedipus Complex, derives from Sophocles' play about a King of Thebes who murdered his father and married his mother. Based on the MYTH, not on Freudian doctrine, who is Oedipus' female counterpart? Hint


Question 6 of 15
6. The word tantalise derives from the name of Tantalus, who dwells eternally... Hint


Question 7 of 15
7. The only part of a police car which is named after a monster from Homer's 'Odyssey' is...

Answer: (One Word)
Question 8 of 15
8. To draw the distinction between 'handmade' and 'manufactured' (as in factory-produced) is, in fact, incorrect.


Question 9 of 15
9. 'Et tu Brute', Julius Caesar's last words, translate literally as... Hint


Question 10 of 15
10. The English word 'nepotism', referring to the unethical practice of employing or promoting family members based on relationship rather than qualification or merit, derives from the Latin word for which of the following? Hint


Question 11 of 15
11. All the planets in our solar system, except Earth, are named after Greek Gods (note: obviously the moon does not count as a planet).


Question 12 of 15
12. The term 'in camera', referring to legal testimony given outside of the courtroom, is so called because witnesses' statements are typically filmed and then played to the judge or jury.


Question 13 of 15
13. The only two months of the year not named after Roman emperors are January and February.


Question 14 of 15
14. The English word 'sinister' derives from the Latin for... Hint


Question 15 of 15
15. 'Chronicle', 'chronometer', 'chronological' are among the many English words derived from the name, in creation mythology, of Zeus's grandfather.



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The Romans used the phrase 'sine cere' to refer to an honest mason who produced good-quality, made-to-last statues (a must-have in any affluent Roman household). This word has come into English as 'sincere', but what is its literal meaning?

Answer: without wax

In spite of the excellent state of Roman roads, statues would from time to time become cracked and chipped in transit. Disreputable stonemasons would hastily repair damaged statues with wax and send them on to customers. As soon as the goods were exposed to heat or jostled about a bit, the chicanery would become apparent.

Hence, a dependable statue-maker who repaired the damage properly came to be known as being 'without wax', or sincere.
2. The word 'marathon' has been twisted, adulterated and abused by the English passion for linguistic mongrels over the past century or so. The word which gave us such hybrid offspring as 'dance-a-thon', 'telethon' and so on is in fact the name of an Ancient Greek town. From which legend does this word find its way into our language?

Answer: The Battle of Marathon

It is reported that, after the fiercely-contested Battle of Marathon, a messenger was dispatched to Athens to report that the Greeks had defeated the Persians. According to legend, the messenger ran twenty-six miles straight to the city, delivered his message and promptly fell dead of exhaustion.
3. The English word 'humour' derives from the Greek word 'humerus', which is the bone we refer to colloquially as the 'funny bone'.

Answer: False

You'll find the humerus is actually the long bone in the upper arm. 'Humor' derives from the four humours - bodily fluids which Aristotle, Hippocrates and Aesclepius believed dictated one's general demeanour.
4. The word muscle derives from the Latin for 'little...'

Answer: mouse

Believe it or not, ancient doctors thought taut muscles resembled little mice under the skin, hence 'little mouse'.
5. Everyone's favourite Freudian syndrome, the Oedipus Complex, derives from Sophocles' play about a King of Thebes who murdered his father and married his mother. Based on the MYTH, not on Freudian doctrine, who is Oedipus' female counterpart?

Answer: He doesn't have one

There is no woman in Greek myth who both married her father and murdered her mother. Elektra was indeed complicit in the murder of her mother, Clytemnestra, by her brother Orestes, but out of revenge, and not as the result of sexual jealousy, however oblique or unwitting. Agamemnon, Elektra's father, had been murdered on his return from victory against Troy by Clytemnestra and her lover. Clytemnestra had in fact had ample cause to murder her husband: on instructions from Athena, Agamemnon had sliced their daughter Iphiginea (still living) into small strips and thrown her into the sea to ensure the safe passage of his fleet.
6. The word tantalise derives from the name of Tantalus, who dwells eternally...

Answer: in Hades

Guilty of hubris (overweening pride - a crime against the gods themselves), Tantalus was condemned to eternal hunger and thirst in Hades - specifically in Tartarus, a section of the Underworld reserved for evildoers (thanks to Lamia74 for pointing that out).

He stood forever in a cool, running spring, overhung with vines which were heavy with juicy grapes. Whenever he reached up to grasp the delectable fruit, however, the vines would snatch themselves just out of reach. Similarly, when he bent to scoop water from the stream, the water level would drop just below his reach.
7. The only part of a police car which is named after a monster from Homer's 'Odyssey' is...

Answer: Siren

The Sirens' irresistibly beautiful cry lured sailors to their deaths on rocky shores. Odysseus tethered himself to the mast of his ship to keep from succumbing to the call; his crew filled their ears with wax. Zeus alone knows why such a jarring, piercing sound should have been named after the most exquisite, deadly song in myth.
8. To draw the distinction between 'handmade' and 'manufactured' (as in factory-produced) is, in fact, incorrect.

Answer: True

'Manufactured' quite literally means 'made with the hands' (manus + facere).
9. 'Et tu Brute', Julius Caesar's last words, translate literally as...

Answer: And you, Brutus?

Anyone who has studied Shakespeare probably knows this one. Caesar had foreseen the treachery of Cassius, but his trusted friend and advisor, Brutus, was not the man he'd expected to stab him in the back.
10. The English word 'nepotism', referring to the unethical practice of employing or promoting family members based on relationship rather than qualification or merit, derives from the Latin word for which of the following?

Answer: nephew

This lovely word came into being in the early Roman Catholic Church. It is an oblique, euphemistic innuendo for describing high-ranking church officials' quaint practice of giving their illegitimate sons cushy jobs within the religious hierarchy to keep them quiet. Since priests were expected to be celibate, their offspring were nicely referred to as 'nephews' and presto - a new word was born.
11. All the planets in our solar system, except Earth, are named after Greek Gods (note: obviously the moon does not count as a planet).

Answer: False

The planets are named after Roman Gods, although they all have their Greek equivalents. Mars = Ares, Uranus = Ouranos (a pre-Olympian god), Pluto = Hades, Jupiter = Zeus, Saturn = Kronos (also pre-Olympian), Venus = Aphrodite, Mercury = Hermes, Neptune = Poseidon. In Ancient Greek, Earth is called Gaia, or Ge, who was a pre-Olympian goddess.
12. The term 'in camera', referring to legal testimony given outside of the courtroom, is so called because witnesses' statements are typically filmed and then played to the judge or jury.

Answer: False

'In camera' is in fact a Latin phrase meaning 'in a room'. 'Camera' is the origin of the English word 'chamber' (coming via the French 'chambre'), and has entered the language as is owing to the 'light-chamber' design of the device to which it refers.
13. The only two months of the year not named after Roman emperors are January and February.

Answer: False

Only July and August are named after Roman Emperors - Julius and Augustus Caesar - and it is no coincidence that these are the only two consecutive months with 31 days in them. The Roman calender originally had ten named months, which is why the months September (7), October (8), November (9) and December (10) correspond to Roman numbers which seem incorrect.

The winter months of January and February were considered not even worth naming, as nothing ever happened then.
14. The English word 'sinister' derives from the Latin for...

Answer: Left

Long after the fall of Rome, indeed, well into the twentieth century, a superstition has prevailed regarding left-handed people. They have been variously believed to be witches, demons, inferior, traitors, etc.
15. 'Chronicle', 'chronometer', 'chronological' are among the many English words derived from the name, in creation mythology, of Zeus's grandfather.

Answer: False

The Titan Kronos has survived into modern Western mythology as Old Father Time ('chronos' in Greek means 'time'), complete with long beard and hourglass, but he is Zeus's father, not grandfather, and the son of Ouranos (Uranus in the Roman tradition), the Sky, and Gaia, the Earth. Fearing the prophecy that a son of his would become king of the gods, Kronos swallowed his offspring.

His wife Rea rescued her favourite, Zeus, and fed Kronos a swaddled stone instead. He consequently vomited up the Olympian gods along with the stone, which Zeus set up as a monument at Pythos (later Delphi).
Source: Author alkmene

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