What is the focus of the influence of Greek mythology on English vocabulary learning?

Words from Greek mythology can be found everywhere in the daily life of British and American countries. As we all know, the olive branch symbolizes peace. This allusion originated from Athena, the god of war in Greek mythology. Athena extended an olive branch when she named Athens, wishing the city peace and prosperity forever. The word fatal, which we often use, evolved from the fate in Greek mythology. These three goddesses are in charge of the thread of life, Closso spinning and giant weaving; When she finished spinning and handed it to Atropos, Atropos immediately cut the thread of life, and life was over. Therefore, the word fatal derived from the goddess of fate is not only related to death, but also related to the whole life process. Zeus (Zel8), the leader of the Olympic God, and Apollo, the sun god, are household names in western society, and their related words are also widely known. Cupid's 8 Bow and Achilles'hee 1 are also well-known allusions in Britain and America. English advertisements often use the relevant meanings of allusions in Greek mythology to satisfy the cultural mentality of British and American people who advocate mythical heroes and gods. For example, the trademark of an advanced sports travel shoe produced in the United States is Nike, which borrows the name of Nikc, the goddess of victory in Greek mythology. Names of characters in Greek mythology have also entered the fields of science, technology and military affairs. American scientists named the plan to explore space Apollo, and named the submarine after the trident, the symbol of Poseidon. In addition, words from Greek mythology often appear in news reports because of their unique cultural images. For example, NASA calls it a "success-oriented" plan to make the space shuttle fly again, but the "discovery" odyssey is the best choice for all kinds of problems. In this sentence, the author flexibly uses the word "Odyssey", which originated from the hero Odysseus in Greek mythology. Odysseus, the hero of the Trojan War, went through hardships after the war and drifted at sea for 1O years before returning to the motherland. Here, the word "Odyssey" is used to refer to all kinds of setbacks and difficulties that Discovery experienced in space exploration activities.

An English word derived from the taboo of Greek immortals

1, Flora: the goddess of flowers in ancient Greek and Roman mythology. She married Zephyr, the god of the west wind, and her husband gave her a garden full of exotic flowers and plants. In spring, Flora and her husband, Zephyr, walked arm in arm in the garden, and flowers were everywhere they walked. Flora means "plant" in modern English. Derivative words: flowers, flowers, flowers, flourish.

2. Muse: the god in charge of art in Greek mythology. * * * Nine, namely history, lyric poetry, comedy (pastoral poetry), tragedy, song and dance, love poems, carols, astronomy and epics. The word music is derived from the art of Muse, and the place where Muse collects works of art is the museum. It is interesting that art brings happiness.

3. Pan (Pan): The animal husbandry god and the forest god will shout loudly when disturbed. The derivative panic.

4. Titan: One of the giants who once ruled the world. Titan refers to tall and strong people and important people in modern English. The derivative word Titanic means huge. Titanic was named after it.

5.Zephyrus (ZeFeros): the god of the west wind. The derivative word zephyr (west wind, breeze, breeze).

6. Atlas: One of the Titan gods in Greek mythology, who betrayed Zeus and was punished at the western end of the world, shouldering the sky with his shoulders. /kloc-In the 6th century, the geographer McCarter took Atlas as the first illustration of an atlas. Later generations are scrambling to follow suit. Atlas means map, atlas and bearer. Other derivatives: Atlantic.

7. Ceres: the patron saint of crops. In ancient Rome, when there was a drought, priests turned to witches for divination. As a result of divination, a new goddess Zeus was established and offered her sacrifice, so that she would bring rain to the earth. After that, Ceres became the protector of crops. Grain comes from Latin, which means "Ceres" belongs to the goddess of grain. Derivative: cereal (cereal, breakfast cereal).

Kronos: Father of Zeus. Afraid of children rebelling against themselves, they once swallowed their offspring. Like ruthless time, it devours everything. So the root "chron" means "time". Derivative: chronology (time-consuming, chronic): chronology (chronology).

9. Eros (EROS): eros. Is a beautiful boy with wings, equivalent to Cupid in Roman mythology. Whether it is eros or Cupid, they do nothing all day, flying around in the sky to practice archery, which makes everyone panic. Therefore, the words derived from them all contain derogatory meanings: pornography: insatiable greed.

10, Hygeia: Greek goddess of health, with the image of a young woman, dressed in a long white gown (white coat), wearing a priest's crown and feeding snakes with rice bowls. Derivative: hy-giene

1 1, morpheus: the god of dreams in Greek mythology. Dream God is the son of Hypnos, the god of sleep, and is responsible for people's dreams. Derivative: Morphine and Cannabis (Cannabis) are both opium (opium) extracts. Morphine has anesthetic and sedative effects.

Secondly, English idioms originated from Greek mythology.

1, Pandora's Box: Prometheus stole skyfire for mankind and angered Zeus. Zeus decided to punish mankind, so he ordered Vulcan to create a beautiful woman Pandora to seduce Prometheus' younger brother Epimetheus. As a result, Epimetheus was deceived and approached Pandora, so Pandora opened the box in her hand and released the evil, disaster, disease and misfortune inside, leaving only "hope" in the box. So Pandora's Box became synonymous with "the root of disaster".

2. The Sword of Damocles [3]: Damocles was a minister of Syracuse dynasty and worshipped the emperor's splendor very much. One day, the king sat him on the throne and hung a hairy sword on Damocles' head, telling him that the danger of kingship, like that sword, could come at any time. Therefore, the sword of Damocles has become synonymous with "hidden dangers in wealth", which can also indicate that the situation is critical and critical.

Damon and Pythias [3]: Damon and Pythias [3]: Damon's good friends. Pisias was sentenced to death in an accident. In order to enable him to go home to visit his relatives, Damon stays in prison as a hostage. If Pythias doesn't return on time, Damon will be executed. When the deadline expired and he was about to be executed, Pisias rushed back in time. The king was deeply moved and released them both. So, Damon and Pythias mean "the difference between life and death".

4. Penelope's Web: From the epic Odyssey [4]. Odysseus' wife Penelope is famous for her loyalty. The Trojan War lasted for ten years, and Odysseus was delayed for another ten years on his way home. In this long twenty years, many princes and nobles proposed to Penelope, and she said that she would not consider it until she finished weaving. In the evening, she opened the cloth she had knitted during the day. Therefore, Penelope's web-weaving has become an endless job.

5, the apple of discord [5]: meaning "the root of discord, the event of dispute." Peleus and thetis forgot to invite Eris, the goddess of discord, when they got married. The goddess was furious and left a golden apple engraved with "For the most beautiful", which caused a dispute between Athena, Hera and Aphrodite. This led to the long Trojan War.

6. "Judge of Paris" [5]: It means "don't love mountains and rivers, love beauty". Eri came to the gathering of the gods uninvited, leaving behind golden apples. In order to compete for the golden apple, the three goddesses decided to let Zeus decide that Zeus could not choose between his wife, the goddess of wisdom and the goddess of love and beauty. In a dilemma, Zeu brushed aside the clouds and looked around the world. He saw Paris, the second prince of Troy, herding sheep, so he gave the decision to Paris. The three goddesses were lured by "the biggest territory", "the wisest mind" and "the most beautiful woman", and finally Paris gave up her country and chose Venus to get the most beautiful woman Helen.

7. Helen of Troy: Because it was Helen who caused the fall of Troy, "Helen of Troy" became synonymous with "beauty, beauty".

8. Trojan horse [4]: It means "destructive things or people used to make enemies or opponents mistakenly think that they are beneficial to themselves". In the Trojan War, in order to attack Troy, the Greeks built a huge wooden horse with Greek soldiers inside. They deliberately pretended to abandon the Trojan horse and fled. The Trojan horse was invited into the city as a trophy. At midnight, the soldiers climbed out of the wooden horse and killed the people in the city. Troy fell. After repeated quotations, Trojan horse has become a widely circulated idiom, which is often used to describe hidden dangers. Covering saboteurs: engaging in underground activities and other meaning.

9. The stable in Augeas: It means "the dirtiest place: piles of thorny problems". King Augeas of Eris has thousands of cows, and the cowshed has not been cleaned for thirty years. Heracles spent a day cleaning up.

10, Achilles' heel: Greek warrior, crystallization of man and god. After being born, she was hung upside down by her mother and soaked in the Styx. Except for her heels, she was invulnerable. Finally, he was killed by Paris in the Trojan War. Achilles' heel means "there is no shortage of gold, no one is perfect", especially the only fatal weakness and shortcoming.

1 1, Song of Swan [3]: Literally translated as "Song of Swan", derived from the Greek idiom Kykneion asma. In ancient Greek mythology, the swan is the god bird of Apollo, so it is often used as a metaphor for literature and art. It is said that the swan never sings, but it will hold its neck and sing a song before it dies. Its songs are sad and touching. This is the only and last time it sings in its life. Therefore, this idiom in modern English is a metaphor for the masterpieces of poets, writers and composers, or the last performance of actors and singers. As early as the 6th century BC, there was a saying in the fable of Aesop, an ancient Greek fable writer, that "swans sing only when they are dead". In Britain, Chaucer, Shakespeare and other great poets and playwrights have used this idiom. For example, the image of Amelia portrayed in Shakespeare's famous tragedy Othello stands out in Death, exposing her husband's crimes. When she died, she compared herself to a swan and only sang the last song in her life [6].

12, under the rose: literally translated as "under the rose". Derived from ancient Roman mythology. Cupid is the son of Venus, the god of love and beauty, and Mars, the god of war. In order to protect his mother's reputation, Cupid sent a bunch of roses to Harper Crater, the god of silence, and asked him to keep his mouth shut about Venus' affair. Ha Boquera Di became silent when he accepted the roses, and became a veritable "God of Silence". Because of this myth and legend, the ancient Romans regarded roses as a symbol of silence or keeping secrets, and they became popular in daily life. When people visit and see roses painted on the table of the host family, the guests know that everything talked about on this table should not be spread. Under the rose, it means "sneaking around, sneaking around in private".

English words, originated from Greece.

The root of disharmony

Eris, the goddess of discord, threw a golden apple at a wedding, which read "For the most beautiful goddess". Thus, the goddess of wisdom Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, competed with each other. Finally, they went to Paris, the prince of Troy, for a verdict. The three goddesses made different promises to Paris. Aphrodite promised to give Paris the most beautiful woman in the world, so Paris gave the Xin apple to Aphrodite. Hera and Athena were very angry and vowed to get back at the Trojans. Later, Paris went to Sparta, Greece, and with the help of Aphrodite, she seduced Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world at that time. Paris kidnapped Helen, which aroused the public indignation of all Greeks, so the Greek countries formed a Coalition to expedition the Trojans. In the war, Aphrodite supported the Trojans, Hera and Athena supported the Greeks. The war was triggered by an apple, so the disharmonious apple means "the root of disharmony, the event of dispute".

Father-loving complex (father-loving complex)

Because her mother and her lover murdered her father, Elektra was determined to avenge her father. Finally, she and her brother killed their mother.

Achilles' heel

When Achilles was young, his mother soaked his whole body in the Styx with her feet in order to make him immortal, so that the sword could not hurt him, but his heel was not immersed in the Styx. As a result, when fighting Paris, Paris shot his heel and died, so Achilles' heel became synonymous with "fatal weakness".

Helen of Troy (femme fatale)

In the last year of the Trojan War, the Greeks adopted Trojan horses, and with the help of Hera and Athena, they occupied Troy. Because Helen led to the fall of Troy, Helen of Troy became synonymous with "beauty and beauty".

The Sword of Damocles

Damocles was a minister of Syracuse dynasty and admired the emperor's splendor. One day, the king sat him on the throne and hung a hairy sword on Damocles' head, telling him that the danger of kingship, like that sword, could come at any time. Therefore, the sword of Damocles has become synonymous with "hidden dangers in wealth", which can also indicate that the situation is critical and critical;

Damon and Pythias (the difference between life and death)

Damon and Pythias are good friends. Pisias was sentenced to death for an accident. Damon stayed in prison as a hostage so that he could go home and take care of his relatives. If Pythias doesn't come back on time, Damon will be put to death. When the deadline expired and he was about to be executed, Pisias rushed back in time. The king was deeply moved and released them both. So, Damon and Pythias mean "the difference between life and death".

Pandora's Box (Pandora's Box)

Prometheus stole skyfire for mankind and angered Zeus. Zeus decided to punish mankind, so he ordered Vulcan to create a beautiful woman Pandora to seduce Prometheus' younger brother Epimetheus. As a result, Epimetheus was deceived and approached Pandora, so Pandora opened the box in her hand and released the evil, disaster, disease and misfortune inside, leaving only "hope" in the box. So Pandora's Box became synonymous with "the root of disaster".

Penelope's web (a job that can never be completed)

This is an idiom in the epic Odyssey: Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, is famous for her loyalty. The Trojan War lasted for ten years, and Odysseus was delayed for another ten years on his way home. In this long twenty years, many princes and nobles proposed to Penelope, and she said that she would not consider it until she finished weaving. In the evening, she took apart the cloth she had knitted during the day. So penelope's net

It became a job that could never be completed.

Arachnida (the general term for arachnids)

A Lacny is a girl with superb knitting and embroidery skills. She once held an embroidery competition with Athena and committed suicide because she couldn't bear Athena's pollution. Athena later regretted and admired her embroidery skills, so she turned into a spider and wove her web forever.

Atlas (atlas)

Atlas is one of the Titan protoss and was punished for betraying Zeus. The title page of the atlas published by Dutch geographer Kaituo is printed with the picture of Atlas with the sky on its shoulder, hence the name "Atlas".

cereal

Originated from Ceres in Roman mythology, she is the goddess in charge of grains and the earth, that is, Demeter in Greek mythology;

Daphne (laurel)

Daphne is Apollo's favorite beauty. Naughty Cupid shot Apollo with a golden arrow and Daphne with a lead arrow. The golden arrow ignited love, and the lead arrow extinguished love. In this way, Apollo chased after Daphne, and finally Daphne had nowhere to run and became a laurel tree. Apollo was heartbroken and vowed to remember her forever and let people remember her. Apollo was in charge of music and poetry, so the ancient Romans woven crowns with laurel branches to reward the winners of music, art, sports competitions and battles. "Laurel" has become a symbol of superiority and honor.

Hercules task (very difficult task)

In order to punish Hercules, Apollo ordered him to serve King Ortiz 12 years. During this period, Hercules completed 12 major and arduous tasks and finally achieved positive results. Zeus sealed a constellation called Beowulf. The Hercules task is a metaphor of a very difficult task in English. Describe making great efforts. Hercules' choice now means immortality in English. The reason is that he is in virtue, virtue and God.

Among the gods of pleasure, pleasure chose virtue, and the god of virtue guaranteed that he could live forever. Finally, through Hercules' efforts, he lived forever and became the constellation Beowulf in the sky.

Goldie Knot means a thorny issue. A farmer named Goldie drove his cattle through a country called Phrygia, and was elected king by the local people, because a prophet predicted that Goldie would be their future king. To thank Zeus, Goldie offered an ox cart as a sacrifice to Zeus. He has a rope made of bark and tied it himself. This is the knot of goldie. Goldie left his last words that whoever can untie this knot can rule the whole of Asia Minor. Later, a man cut the knot with a sword. He was Alexander the Great who later conquered the whole of Asia Minor.

Narcissism (narcissistic complex, narcissism)

Narcissus was a handsome Greek youth. He refused the courtship of the goddess Echo, so he was destined to fall in love with his reflection in the lake as punishment. Because there was no law to make his love perfect, he became thinner and thinner, and finally became a flower named after him-narcissus, that is, daffodil.

Cassandra complex (Cassandra complex)

A prophetess in Greek mythology and daughter of Priam, king of Troy. As a temple witch, she was endowed with the ability to predict fate by Apollo, but Apollo asked for physical relations with her in return, and she refused. In a rage, Apollo cursed her: she said everything accurately, but no one believed her. After the city was broken, it was captured by the Greek general Ajax Jr., and the Greek fleet sank and died on its way home. Psychologically, Cassandra complex refers to those who are convinced that a disaster that has not yet happened is coming. Such a person usually claims that he can meet future disasters, but when he tries to convince people around him, he is laughed at and despised by others, so he is a person who is tortured by his ability to foresee disasters and his inability to do anything about reality.

Medusa (an extremely ugly woman)

Medusa is a banshee in Greek mythology and one of the three banshees in gorgon. Her father is Poseidon and her mother is Ceto, a sea monster. Her hair is full of snakes. It is said that she used to be a beautiful girl. Because Medusa is more beautiful than Athena, the goddess of wisdom, Athena turned Medusa's hair into a poisonous snake and an ugly monster in a rage; Medusa was finally taken down by Poerxiusi and presented to Athena, who set Medusa's head in the center of Zeus. Anyone who looks Medusa in the eye will become a stone statue. Later, the word Medusa had the meaning of "extremely ugly woman".

Hero hero

From Greek mythology, it means half man and half god, born of god and man.

Hercules mission

Hercules, Hercules in Greek mythology, Apollo ordered Hercules to serve King Ortiz 12 years in order to punish King Ortiz. During this period, Hercules completed 12 major and arduous tasks and finally achieved positive results. Zeus sealed a constellation called Beowulf. The Hercules task is a metaphor of a very difficult task in English. Describe making great efforts.

Hercules' choice now means immortality in English. The reason is that he chose virtue between the god of virtue and the god of joy, and the god of virtue guaranteed that he could live forever. Finally, through Hercules' efforts, he lived forever and became the constellation Beowulf in the sky.

Achilles' heel is bony in Chinese. English is used to express the dead hole of a person or the weak link of an event. This Greek myth is basically known to those who have studied English, so I won't describe it.

Gordian knot is translated into Chinese as "Goldie Knot", which means a thorny issue. This story is about a farmer named Goldie, who drove his cattle through a country called Phrygia and was elected king by the local people, because a prophet predicted that Goldie would be their future king. To thank Zeus, Goldie offered an ox cart as a sacrifice to Zeus. He has a rope made of bark and tied it himself. This is the knot of goldie. Goldie left his last words that whoever can untie this knot can rule the whole of Asia Minor. Later, a man cut the knot with a sword. He was Alexander the Great who later conquered the whole of Asia Minor.

Troy Troy is so famous, needless to say. Trojan virus in the computer also uses this word.

Oedipus complex Oedipus complex (killing father and marrying mother)

This story is so tragic. It is the representative of three great tragedies in Greek mythology. In psychology, Freud used it to show that children are hostile to their fathers and have a good impression on their mothers.

Father-loving complex, father-loving complex, refers to a daughter's love for her father and anti-mother complex. This is the view advocated by Freud. The name comes from the story of electra in Greek mythology. It is said that Elektra is determined to avenge her father because her mother and her lover murdered her father, and finally she and her brother killed her mother.

Narcissism narcissistic complex, narcissism

Narcissus was a handsome Greek youth. He refused the courtship of the goddess Echo, so he was destined to fall in love with his reflection in the lake as punishment. Because there was no law to make his love perfect, he became thinner and thinner, and finally became a flower named after him-narcissus, that is, daffodil.

Cassandra complex

A prophetess in Greek mythology and daughter of Priam, king of Troy. As a temple witch, she was endowed with the ability to predict fate by Apollo, but Apollo asked for physical relations with her in return, and she refused. In a rage, Apollo cursed her: she said everything accurately, but no one believed her. After the city was broken, it was captured by the Greek general Ajax Jr., and the Greek fleet sank and died on its way home. Psychologically, Cassandra complex refers to those who are convinced that a disaster that has not yet happened is coming. Such a person usually claims that he can meet future disasters, but when he tries to convince people around him, he is laughed at and despised by others, so he is a person who is tortured by his ability to foresee disasters and his inability to do anything about reality. You can watch the movie 12 monkey.

From here, we can find that the stories in Greek mythology have a great influence on modern psychology, and almost many psychological phenomena can be found in Greek mythology. Therefore, Greek mythology is widely used for reference in psychology. Latin has a great influence on medicine and botany, and many medical and botanical names are completely borrowed from Latin.

Titan Titan

Titan is a legend in Greek mythology that once ruled the world. This family is the children of Uranus and the earth goddess Gaia. They tried to rule the kingdom of heaven, but were overthrown and replaced by Zeus. Titan has great significance in English. If Big can be used to describe the size of watermelon in English, huge can be used to describe the size of elephant, and Titan can be used to describe an aircraft carrier or even a celestial body. Titan is Saturn's largest satellite, which is Titan in English. In English, metallic titanium was named after Titan by the chemist who discovered it. Because he found that titanium has good corrosion resistance, its corrosion resistance is almost close to platinum, and it can resist acid, chlorine and even aqua regia.

Pandora Pandora

In Greek mythology, hephaestus or Zeus, the first woman on the earth made of clay, was given to human beings as a punishment for Prometheus stealing fire. The gods also joined in, making her more attractive. According to myth, Pandora opened a box out of curiosity and released all the evils in the world-greed, nothingness, slander, jealousy and pain-when she closed the box again, only hope was left inside. Modern English can be used as a metaphor for natural disasters.

Medusa Medusa

Medusa is a banshee in Greek mythology and one of the three banshees in gorgon. Her father is Poseidon and her mother is Ceto, a sea monster. Her hair is full of snakes. It is said that she used to be a beautiful girl. Because Medusa is more beautiful than Athena, the goddess of wisdom, Athena turned Medusa's hair into a poisonous snake and an ugly monster in a rage; Medusa was finally taken down by Poerxiusi and presented to Athena, who set Medusa's head in the center of Zeus. Anyone who looks Medusa in the eye will become a stone statue. Later, the word Medusa had the meaning of "extremely ugly woman". In the fashion world, Medusa is used as its symbol by Versace, an Italian classic brand, because anyone who looks directly at Medusa will turn to stone because of its irresistible magic.

Phaeton phaeton

Phaeton is usually regarded as the son of Apollo, the sun god in Greek mythology. Others say that he is the son of Leona Ios and Fallos, who was stolen by Aphrodite to take care of her temple. Another tragedy, Phaeton begged Apollo to let him drive a solar car because he showed off that he was the son of Apollo, the sun god. The sun god tries to convince you that if you don't have this ability, it will bring harm to yourself and mankind. Phaethon wouldn't listen. As a result, that day, he lost control of the white horse in a panic. Solar cars first rose too high, and the earth suddenly became cold; Then it suddenly came, scorching the vegetation on the ground, turning a large part of Africa into a desert and blackening the skin of Ethiopian residents. Finally Zeus had to do it himself and kill Phaeton with lightning. Phaeton's body fell into a big river. In English, it is generally described that people who do not have a certain talent will take risks and eventually suffer.