欧洲文化入门论文

The Influence of Greek and Roman Myth on English Vocabulary The origin of language is rich and colorful.The word is the base of the language .Many english words now have various meanings,which can?t be separated from the western rich culture heritage.

In the development of english vocabulary , it blended into plenty of ancient Greek and Roman culture elements,and also form a large number Special vocabulary and idioms.

From the twelfth century B.C. to the 6th century,ancient Greek transit form clan commune to slavery society.In this long time ,the Greek people Create beautiful myth.Then the myth was rewrote by the Roman people,leaving profound influence in the history.Since the birth day of myth ,with its rich content and special style ,it has encouraged and cherished people to struggle for the happiness of life from generation to generation .From the perspective of linguistics,up to now,Greek and Roman myth still show significant influence on the language of European people.Greek and Roman myth are the same myth system.But because the Roman …s national language is latin ,some godness may have two or more names .The next is the corresponding names of the main godness?names in Greek and Roman myth.

Greek Roman

Zeus Jupiter

Hera Juno

Athena Minerva

Apollo Apollo

Artemis Diana

Ares Mars

Aphrodite Venus

Demeter Ceres

Hephaestus Vulcan

Hermes Mercury

Poseidon Neptune

Hestia Vesta

Hades Pluton

Then,I will analyses some idioms ,place names,month names ,constellation names ,which are derived from ancient Greek and Roman myth .

1.Allusions idioms originated from ancient Greek and Roman myth.

A.“The strength of Antaeus”means full of energy .

Antaeus, son of Gaia and Poseidon, was a Libyan giant whose strength appeared invincible. He was extremely strong as long as he remained in contact with the ground (his mother earth), but once lifted into the air he became as weak as other men.He challenged all passers-by to a wrestling match that he invariably won. Then he will kill them, and collect their skulls, so that he might one day build out of them a temple to his father Poseidon. Heracles, finding that he could not beat Antaeus by throwing him to the ground, as he would regain his strength and be fortified, discovered the secret of his power (touching the ground) and held Antaeus aloft and crushed him to death .

B. “A freedom of pan” means carefree.

Pan is a the god of the mountain.He is the son of the wind god and one fairy lived in the forest.He is born with a man …s upper body ,but a sheep-like the lower part of the body .He usually wander in the forest without worries .

C. “Cupid’s Bow” means the people who fall in love.

Cupid is the Roman god of love and the son of Venus. He is a small, winged boy, blindfolded, carrying bow and arrows. The arrows, once struck the heart, makes the victim fall in love.

D. “Pandora’s Box” means the original of disasters.

In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman on earth. Zeus ordered Hephaestus, the god of craftsmanship, to create her and he did, using water and earth. The gods endowed her with many talents; Aphrodite gave her beauty, Apollo music, Hermes persuasion, and so forth. Hence her name: Pandora, "all-gifted".

When Prometheus stole fire from heaven, Zeus took vengeance by presenting Pandora to Epimethius, Prometheus' brother. With her, Pandora had a jar which she was not to open under any circumstance. Impelled by her natural curiosity, Pandora opened the jar, and all evil contained escaped and spread over the earth. She hastened to close the lid, but the whole contents of the jar had escaped, except for one thing which lay at the bottom, and that was Hope.

E.The sword of Damocles

Damocles was a courtier of Dionysius the Elder. According to a legend, Damocles on one occasion commented to his ruler on the grandeur and happiness of rulers. Dionysius soon thereafter invited his courtier to a luxurious banquet, where Damocles enjoyed the delights of the table until his attention was directed upward and he saw a sharp sword hanging above him by a single horsehair. By this device Dionysius made Damocles realize that insecurity might threaten those who appeared to be the most fortunate. So the sword of Damocles means symbolic potential disaster..

F. “Achilles’Heel” means deadly weakness

Achilles was the son of the mortal Peleus and the Nereid Thetis.when Achilles

was a baby, it was foretold that he would die young. To prevent his death, his mother Thetis took Achilles to the River Styx, which was supposed to offer powers of invulnerability, and dipped his body into the water. But as Thetis held Achilles by the heel, his heel was not washed over by the water of the magical river. Achilles grew up to be a man of war who survived many great battles. But one day, a poisonous arrow shot at him was lodged in his heel, killing him shortly after.

G. “Sisyphean Task” means the endless and unproductive labor.

Sisyphus is ancient Greek tyrants. After his death,he fall into the hell.Besides he was fined the boulder uphill.Every time he approached the top, the stone escaped his grasp and rolled to the bottom.And then he re-push day after day This study, the endless and unproductive labor.

H. “Apple of discord” is euphemism for the core, kernel, or crux of an argument, or for a small matter that could lead to a bigger dispute.

The goddess Eris inscribed "to the fairest" and tossed in the midst of the festivities at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, thus sparking a vanity-fueled dispute between Hera, Athena and Aphrodite that eventually led to the Trojan War . Thus, "apple of discord" became a euphemism for the core, kernel, or crux of an argument,or for a small matter that could lead to a bigger dispute.

I. “A Penelope?s Web” means the tactics of delaying something

on purpose or the task that can never be finish.

Odysseus was the son of Laertes and was the ruler of the island kingdom of Ithaca. He was one of the most prominent Greek leaders in the Trojan War, and was the hero of Homer's Odyssey. He was also the originator of the Trojan horse, the strategem by which the Greeks were finally able to take the city of Troy itself. After the death of Achilles, he and Ajax competed for Achilles' magnificent armor; when Odysseus' eloquence caused the Greeks to award the prize to him, Ajax went mad and killed himself.

Odysseus' return from Troy, chronicled in the Odyssey, took ten years and was beset by perils and misfortune.There were problems in Ithaca as well, however. During Odysseus' twenty-year absence, his wife, Penelope, had remained faithful to him, but she was under enormous pressure to remarry. A whole host of suitors were occupying her palace, drinking and eating and behaving insolently to Penelope and her son, Telemachus. In order to refuse these people ,she told them that she will web a colthe for his husband before she remarry someone.Then，she webed untill the Odysseus came back.

2. Astrionics names derived from Greek and Roman myth.

A:Milky Way

It is a path to Temple of Zeus ,to the ideal of Heaven, it is said the road is paved with milk.

B.Venus

Venus is the second planet from the Sun. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty.

C.Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun, next planet after the Earth in the Solar System.It is named Roman god of war ,after whom the month of March is named . D.Jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is names with the supreme Roman god Zeus.

E.Mercury

Mercury is the planet closest to the sun .It is names with the name of Roman god of thieves who served as a messenger for the other gods.

F.Saturn

Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun, second largest planet in the solar system and also the name of god of agriculture

G.Neptune

Neptune is the 8th planet from sun in solar system (Astronomy)and the name of god of the sea .

H.Plutoninth

I t is the planet in the solar system and the name of god of wealth and god of the underworld who is also identified with Hades.

I.Orion

Orion id a giant hunter who was killed by Artemis and became a constellation ,so it is also the name of a constellation in the celestial equator

h.Swan Song

In Greek mythology, the swan was a bird consecrated to Apollo, and it was therefore considered a symbol of harmony and beauty and its limited capabilities as a singer were sublimated to these of songbirds. The swan was described as singer in the works of the poets Virgil and Martial and others authors of antiquity.The earliest known reference to the idea that swans sing a beautiful song before dying first appears in Aeschylus' Agamemnon from 458 BC.In the play, Clytemnestra compares the dead Cassandra to a swan who has "sung her last final lament"Plato's Phaedo records Socrates saying that, although swans sing in early life, they do not do so as beautifully as before they die. Aristotle also noted that swans "are musical, and sing chiefly at the approach of death". By the third century BC the belief had become a proverb.By extension, "swan song" has become an idiom referring to a final theatrical or dramatic

appearance, or any final work or accomplishment. It generally carries the connotation that the performer is aware that this is the last performance of his or her lifetime, and is expending everything in one magnificent final effor t.

3.Month names derived from Greek and Roman myth.

a.January

Janus is the god of beginnings and transitions, thence also of gates, doors, doorways, endings and time. He is usually a two-faced god since he looks to the future and the past. The Romans dedicated the month of January to Janus.

b.March

The god of war, and one of the most prominent and worshipped gods. In early Roman history he was a god of spring, growth in nature, and fertility, and the protector of cattle. The month March is named after him .

c.May

It is named after Maia,the eldest of the seven Pleiades, mother by Zeus of Hermes.She is the godness of field.

d.June

It?s the month is named after the Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter and equivalent to the Greek goddess Hera.

4.Place names derived from Greek and Roman myth.

a.Athens

Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece,named after the goddess of wisdom and warfare .Athena and her uncle Poseidon were both very fond of a certain city in Greece. Both of them claimed the city and it was decided that the one that could give the finest gift should have it. Leading a procession of citizens, the two gods mounted the Acropolis. Poseidon struck the side of the cliff with his trident and a spring welled up. The people marveled, but the water was as salty as Poseidon's sea and it was not very useful. Athena's gift was an olive tree, which was better because it gave the people food, oil and wood. Athena named her city Athens.

b.Europe

Europe is also called Europa in some European poetry. Europa was the daughter of Agenor, and was beloved by Zeus. Zeus took the form of a beautiful white bull and encountered Europa at the seashore. By appearing to be very tame, he coaxed her to climb onto his back and then swam off with her across the sea to Crete. In Crete, Europa had three sons by Zeus -- Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthys. Zeus also gave her three gifts: the bronze man, Talos, to act as her guardian; a dog, Laelaps, which never failed of its quarry; and a javelin which never missed its mark. Europa

afterwards married Asterias, the king of Crete.

Europa is also the name of a daughter of Tityus, and mother of Euphemus.

5.Some image comes from the Greek and Roman myth.

a.Titans

In In Greek mythology, the Titans are a race of godlike giants who were considered to be the personifications of the forces of nature. They are the twelve children (six sons and six daughters) of Gaia and Uranus. Each son married, or had children of, one of his sisters. They are: Cronus and Rhea, Iapetus and Themis, Oceanus and Tethys, Hyperion and Theia, Crius and Mnemosyne, and Coeus and Phoebe.In 1912,the largest boar made in America acrossing the Atlantic Ocean is named Titanic.

b.Atlas

Atlas is a scion of the Titans, the Greek race of giants, and the son of Iapetus and the nymph Clymene. He is the father of the Hesperides, the Hyades and the Pleiades. He was also thought to be the king of legendary Atlantis.In the revolt of the Titans against the gods of the Olympic, Atlas stormed the heavens and Zeus punished him for this deed by condemning him to forever bear the heavens upon his shoulders. Hence his name, which means "bearer" or "endurer".To complete the eleventh of his twelve labors, Heracles had to obtain the golden apples of the Hesperides, and he asked Atlas for help. Heracles offered to bear Atlas's burden in his absence, when he went to retrieve the apples. Atlas agreed to perform the task readily enough, since he did not plan on ever bearing that burden again. When Atlas returned with the apples, Heracles requested him to assume the load for a moment, saying he needed to adjust the pad to ease the pressure on his shoulders. After Atlas bore the heavens again, Heracles walked off with the golden apples.

When Atlas refused to give shelter to Perseus, the latter changed Atlas into stone, using Medusa's head. On the place where Atlas stood, now lie Mount Atlas (north-western Africa). In art, Atlas is usually depicted as a man bearing a globe.

c.Hygeia

Hygeia was the goddess of good health. She was a daughter and attendant of the medicine-god Asclepias, and a companion of the goddess Aphrodite.

.Hygeia's opposite number were the Nosoi (Spirits of Disease). The Romans named her Salus.

In classical sculpture she was represented as a woman holding a large serpent in her arms.

d.Echo

The chief god Zeus had many affairs with both mortals and gods, much to his wife's dislike. While he pursued his amours, it was Echo's duty to beguile Hera's attention by incessantly talking to her. Hera discovered the ruse and as punishment,

she made Echo always repeat the voice of another.

Echo fell in love with a vain youth named Narcissus, who ignored her. Narcissus found a pool of water and stared at his lovely reflection until he died. Echo watched him until she pined away, now her voice remains, repeating the last few things people say.

The Greek version of the story of Echo (the above is of Roman origin [Ovid]) is as follows:

Echo was a very beautiful and musical nymph. She could sing and play many instruments. She lived deep in the woods and denied the love of any man or immortal. She therefore attracted the hatred and anger of many, including the god Pan whose love she turned down. Pan caused his followers the shepherds to kill Echo and tear her to pieces that were subsequently scattered far and wide. Gaia, the Earth goddess, received the pieces in her bosom and thus Echo, scattered now all over the earth, retained her voice and talents answering or imitating every sound or voice.

e.Norcissos

Narcissus is a example among several of a beautiful young man who spurned sex and died as a result. As such, his myth has much in common with those of Adonis and Hippolytus. In the Roman poet Ovid's retelling of the myth, Narcissus is the son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Liriope. Tiresias, the seer, told his parents that the child "would live to an old age if it did not look at itself." Many nymphs and girls fell in love with him but he rejected them. One of these nymphs, Echo, was so distraught over this rejection that she withdrew into a lonely spot and faded until all that was left was a plaintive whisper. The goddess Nemesis heard the rejected girls prayers for vengeance and arranged for Narcissus to fall in love with his own reflection. He stayed watching his reflection and let himself die. After his death ,the godnesses felt pity about him ,and change hin into narcissus.

In conclusion ,words in English vocabulary is countless,Greek and Roman myth show significant influence on the language of European people.Greek and Roman myth is the precious intellectual treasure of the people in the whole world.especially in western countries.Its influence on the English language is profound and historical.For English major ,paying enough attention on the Greek and Roman myth is necessary .L erning more western culture would be beneficial for us to communicate with the foreign people.