Driving forward with Greek and Latin

Friends visiting for the weekend just pulled out of the driveway, and as we were saying our last farewells, my husband and I noticed the tires on the car. My husband noticed the brand (Hankook), because the brand had been recommended to him, and I noticed the model, VENTUS AS, because ventus is the Latin word for “wind.” Having never heard of Hankook before, I searched the Internet and found their global site, where I learned about the scope of the business and interesting tire names. Probably in the not too distant future Hankook tires will be on your radar if not your vehicle, because Hankook is a Korean company, with plants all over the world, making millions of excellent tires. In addition to the VENTUS model, there are also OPTIMO (from the Latin word optimus meaning “very good, excellent, best,” and other models with names rooted in Greek and Latin, such as the KINERGY (from kin, Greek for “move,” and (en)ergy, Greek for “work”) and the DYNAPRO (from Greek dyn meaning “power” and Latin pro meaning “forward”). The DYNAPRO is an excellent name for a tire designed for the toughest pickup truck! I again maintain that knowledge of Greek and Latin helps us understand the world around us and gives us the power to name our inventions and creations, no matter who is doing the inventing and no matter where the inventions are coming into being. 

Out of this world

My big dog, a German shepherd, loves his new toy, and when he plays with it, I also smile. His new toy is a big, squishy, minty, hollow orange ball with the word Sol on it. It is one of a series of three dog balls called Sol, Luna, and Venus. They are made by a company with the name Orbee and go, collectively, under the name of Cosmos. I love dog toys with Latin names! Sōl, sōlis m. is the Latin word for sun, lūna, lūnae f. is the Latin word for moon (this ball glows in the dark), and Venus, Veneris f. is the Latin word for Venus, goddess of love and beauty and a planet.  See the Cosmos collection here. The name Orbee sounds like the Latin word orbis, orbis m. circle. My dog loves chasing his toys in circles around the yard!

Lysistrata, Temptress of the South

The Halifax Chronicle Herald Arts & Life section today features a review of a new production based on Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, and it sounds like an amusing entertainment. If you find yourself heading to Nova Scotia, you have until August 11 to catch a performance of this ancient Greek comedy translated to the American Civil War and performed by Two Planks and a Passion Theatre at Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, near Canning, Nova Scotia.  Pique your interest in Aristophanes’ original with this translation available at Perseus, and you can also try an audio version at a site with a great Latin name, LibriVox (“voice of a book” or “BooksVoice”).

Via Latin

At the Ovens Natural Park yesterday evening in Bayport, Nova Scotia, I spied a good-sized RV called a Via made by Winnebago on a Mercedes Benz chassis. This is the second occurrence this week for a via connection, as earlier in the week I learned that train service in Canada is called VIA Rail Canada.The Latin noun via, viae f. way, path, road is the source of these names. Via is a good name for an RV, as one must travel by way of roads to reach any destination. Via is also a good name for a rail service, as it provides a way of travel. In English we also use the word via as a preposition to mean "by way of," as "I am travelling to Montreal via VIA Rail Canada." In English we also use two pronunciations of via, both VAHYuh and VEEuh. I would love to travel via RV or train, but for right now I will enjoy the beauty of the Nova Scotia seaside.

Blowin' in the Wind

A young alumna of my school, a former Classics student and now a graduate of Carleton College in Minnesota, is spending her summer doing research in Manitoba, Canada. She is learning to use an Aeolian trap, a device which catches materials that are wind-borne. In an email she reported to me that the researcher who introduced her to the device did not know why it is called an Aeolian trap, so my former student explained the connection to the mythological Aeolus, king of the winds, who in Book 10 of the Odyssey gives Odysseus a bag of winds to take him home to Ithaka, and who also in the Aeneid is bribed by Juno, the queen of the gods, to disrupt Aeneas' voyage in Book 1 by means of a huge storm.

Safety First

Visiting a yacht supply store in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia yesterday, I noticed a display of life-vests for dogs with the brand name Salus. Looking around the shop, I then saw many other flotation devices for humans, too, made by the same company. What a good name for a means of safety during activities on the water! The name appears to come from the Latin noun salūs, salūtis f. safety. English derivatives from salūs include salutary, salubrious, and salute.