Music literally means the art of the Muses, the nine Greek goddesses who presided over the arts and sciences. The concept of a museum was originally intended to be a shrine for the Muses.
Planet comes from the Greek verb planomai (πλανώμαι), which means “to wander.” To the Ancient Greeks, planets were simply wandering stars.
There are scores of Greek words used in English that start with tele, a prefix denoting distance. A telephone carries your voice across distances, a telescope helps you see far-off places and a telegraph lets you send long-distance messages.
Ya is the equivalent of hi and bye: a chilled, friendly way of speaking to someone as you arrive or leave.
The Greeks have a great phrase for talking about doing something that’s completely for yourself: ‘Gia parti mou‘. It roughly translates as ‘my party’, with the emphasis being on treating oneself and not caring about anyone else.
Éla is an everyday expression that literally means ‘come’ or ‘come now’.
Demotic Greek refers to the modern spoken form of the Greek language, and literally means “language of the people”.
Compared to Demotic Greek, Pontic Greek retains many archaic features of the language that have since evolved within Greece.
The Greek language does not feature very much dialectical variation. However, isolated communities retain very strong dialects. Some of these include Tsakonian and Griko.
