Case File #013.04.09: MONETARY

The ancient Romans didn't exactly think of the goddess Juno—wife of their chief god, Jupiter, and the patron goddess of the Roman Empire—as an advocate of economics or a champion of the wealthy, but they did operate a mint out of her primary temple nonetheless. And because of this connection to the manufacturing of currency, one of Juno's popular epithets, Moneta, was also the Latin term for “coin” or “mint” and the root of the Late Latin monetarius, which meant “of the mint” or “relating to money.” It is no surprise, then, that the English word monetary, though it did not come into use until the early nineteenth century, is a direct descendant of that Latin adjective. Of course, the related English words money and mint also have a kinship with the epithet of the Roman goddess, and while they actually came to the language earlier than monetary, they arrived via more circuitous routes: money evolved from the Middle English moneye, an Anglicized version of the Middle French word moneie that itself evolved from the Latin moneta, and mint grew out of the Old English mynet, which came from the Latin by way of the Old Saxon word munita.

©2013 Michael R. Gates

Case File #013.03.28: PANIC

I hope this doesn't alarm you, but it turns out that the word panic has its roots in classical mythology. I swear to Zeus, it's true. Panic comes to English via the Greek term panikos, which means “of Pan” or “from Pan,” Pan being the ancient Greek god of forests, mountainous wilds, shepherds and their flocks, and essentially anything rustic or pastoral. With his satyr-like appearance and mischievous temperament, Pan spent a good deal of his time lustfully chasing after nymphs, who usually rebuffed his advances, or playing music on his pipes as he danced through the forests and hills. But he also got a big kick out of frightening unwary travelers by abruptly jumping in front of them or by making loud, sudden noises. Thus, in the ancient Greek world, Pan often got the blame for almost any sudden and frightening phenomenon. And in the modern English-speaking world, the word panic can be defined, in an etymological sense, as “to frighten in a Pan-like manner” or “the acute anxiety that results from being frightened in a Pan-like manner.”

©2013 Michael R. Gates