Well, you can't make this stuff up. On Friday afternoon, May 28th, as I drove along a back road on my way to beautiful Dutchess county, New York, I stopped behind a Lexus carrying two kayaks on its roof. I saw that the one on the right was an Acadia, but the one on the left was called a Dirigo. As I sit at my trusty computer looking into Dirigo kayaks, I discover that there is a model called a Dirigo Tandem, and as I continue to search around for information I find another kayak model called a Pungo, and then a wooden canoe model called a Molitor. On the same page as the Molitor, my ever-wandering eye spied an ad for a company called ExOfficio Clothing-Footwear-Gear, and when I clicked on this ad, I found an ad for Give-N-Go underwear which is treated with Aegis Microbe Shield. Wow! These adventure-outdoor outfitters are some Latin and Greek aficionados!
Dirigo is the motto of the great state of Maine, home of the manufacturer of Dirigo kayaks. In Latin dīrigō (3) means (literally) I rule in different directions, or simply, I direct. As the easternmost state, Maine receives the early morning sun first, and so in a way Maine "directs" the nation. Applied to kayaks dīrigō is a fitting name. Tandem applied to vehicles usually means a two-seater or a double-tractor-trailer; tandem in Latin means "at last, finally," which looks as if it derives from tam so + īdem, eadem, idem the same, or the same amount again.
Pungo also is a good name for a kayak, as the sharply pointed bow of the boat punches through the water; pungō (3) means I prick, sting, pierce. The past participle is punctus, a, um whence English puncture and punctuation, the latter of which is a constant sting to proofreaders the world around.
Molitor is a fabulous name for a canoe, and the photograph of the Molitor model that I saw online shows a beautiful and cleverly constructed boat. In Latin a mōlītor, mōlītōris m. builder derives from the verb mōlior, mōlīrī, mōlītus sum I labor at, work, build, devise.
Ex officio is a Latin phrase meaning from one's duty or position, so that a person who sits on a board ex officio is present as a result of the position he/she holds. But as the name of a clothing-footwear-gear provider, the phrase also could be interpreted to mean "out of the office," as in, let's get out of here and go climb a mountain, shoot some rapids, or camp out under the stars. Finally Aegis as a brand name is a mythological reference to the breastplate of the goddess Athena/Minerva, probably originating in a goatskin, but offering strong protection to the wearer/bearer.
I almost fear to go back to my researches, because I really do need to get my day started! But I am delighted to find so many classical allusions in the world of the adventurers.
