Enter Here For Fun

I’ve had a soft spot for Pokemon characters ever since I learned years ago that many of their names come from Latin (filtered through Japanese). Even the word Pokemon comes from a Latin root; it comes from the phrase “pocket monster,” and monster is from the Latin mōnstrum, mōnstrī n. portent, omen, miracle, monster, from a verb mōnstrō, mōnstrāre meaning “I point out, show, appoint.” Reading about the new game Pokemon Go in the Halifax newspaper, I learned that the game was developed by Niantic Labs, a company whose name comes from a whaling ship, the Niantic, built in Connecticut. Connecticut also has a town named Niantic that takes its name from a tribe of native people.

While this background is interesting, what caught my Latin eye was an earlier game developed by Niantic Labs called Ingress, an English word meaning “means of entering” taken directly from a Latin noun ingressus, ingressūs m. entrance, way of entering, beginning, derived from the Latin verb ingredior, ingredī, ingressus sum meaning “I step in, I go in, I enter.” I learned that Ingress the game has been downloaded more than twelve million times, but I think Pokemon Go has far surpassed this number, even here in sparsely populated Canada.

Another wonderful English word from ingredior is ingredient, a thing "going in" a recipe. Surely one ingredient for fun is a mobile video game with Latin roots.

I Am Here

I’ve been reading the obituary pages more attentively in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, because I am always interested in learning about Canadians. In several obituaries I have read that memorial donations can be made to an organization called Adsum House, and I finally got around to investigating this Latin-named shelter. 

The organization takes its name from the Latin verb adsum, adesse, adfuī meaning “I am here, I am present.” The name may also be a reference to a quotation associated with Swiss psychiatrist C. G. Jung, because the founders of Adsum House were religious institutions. The quotation uses aderit, the third-person future form of the verb, meaning "[God] will be present, here." But then the internet leads me on to yet more background information, ultimately to one of my favorite poets, Quintus Horatius Flaccus. You can read about the Delphic oracle, Thucydides and the Peloponnesian war, Horace, and Erasmus in this article from the Harvard Review.

All from one little Latin verb—how powerful one word is, especially in a poem. How impenetrable Latin can be, especially in a quotation. How wonderful to read of writers and poets reacting to the same words in Greek, Latin, English, and Japanese over millennia. And, as always in this world, how astonishing of the internet to put all these connections at our fingertips, as I am here, as I write and think, in Nova Scotia, Canada in 2016.

Ancient Grains

A photograph in today’s Chronicle-Herald newspaper (Halifax) mentioned the Ceres Terminal in the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia.  The port of Halifax is still very busy, but I do not remember encountering this name before.  From a little research I was delighted to find on the company website a history of the name that does, indeed, go back to the Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres. Even more interesting: if you click on the YTI flag on the upper right of the history page, you will see a list of working vessels, among which are names from mythology like Argus, Romulus, Aphrodite, and Atlas!

Grain has been on my brain lately, as I get to know some unfamiliar grains. I am happy to report that spelt, an ancient form of wheat, is delicious; this fact delights me, because spelt was the ingredient of much bread consumed by Roman soldiers! From Ceres we get the word cereal; the best cereal I have eaten recently is Spelt Flakes produced by Arrowhead Mills.