Etymology or why TRAPEZA means "BANK" in Greek

Learning about Etymology is always fun, no matter how old you are. I find it quite easy to explain simple facts about Indo-European roots to children aged 6+. It is always a fun game to find words with such roots, and it tremendously expands children's scopes and horizons and teaches them logic and abstract thinking, especially when they begin studying foreign languages. Latin and Greek roots are no less interesting. In fact, our trip to Crete last summer gave me tons of ideas for researching and learning with my 10-year old daughter. It was a sort of a revelation, since I had never before been exposed to Greek and knew very little about it.

The revelation started at the airport when we saw the sign EXODOS: ΕΞΟΔΟΣ. It seemed too good - if not sacred! - to just mean 'exit'.

Religious words continued popping up in most unexpected places. The next one to attract my attention was 'communion bread' - Просфора or Prosfora - Προσφορές - which was written in very big letters almost in all shop windows next to the word 'SALE' and numerous percentage signs: -50%; -70%! This word took some time to solve, and finally somebody explained it to us: it just means 'OFFER', like 'special offer'. It is also used for communion bread ('offering' in this case), only with a different stress.

Yet another mystery was in the word meaning 'BANK' - TRAPEZA. From Russian ТРАПЕЗА and the verb ТРАПЕЗНИЧАТЬ it was quite clear that the word had to do with eating and not money. So we needed another explanation which was duly provided for us: originally (and still today, only with a different stress) the word meant 'TABLE'. And since there were very big tables in banks, the banks got the same name. Needless to say, tables normally have 4 sides (which are, depending on the skill of the carpenter ))), not always parallel to each other), hence - the geometrical shape - TRAPEZIUM or TRAPEZOID. 


Still, the most fascinating word for the etymology studies was Greek 'THANK YOU' - Ευχαριστώ /efxaɾiˈsto/. I had the hardest time trying to remember it until I suddenly realized that all I had to say was the word EUCHARIST in Russian - ЕВХАРИСТИЯ. Now it meant perfect sense - Thanksgiving, of course! If you go further down in etymology and try to figure out how Ευχαριστώ itself came about, you will get Ευ [eɸ] meaning 'good' or 'well' which we find in so many words like 'euphony', 'euphoria' or 'euphemism';  and the root χάρη /ˈxaɾi/ - 'grace, favour' with derivatives Χαρίζω [xaˈrizo] - 'give as a gift, donate, grant'. So it is obvious: Ευχαριστώ = Ευ + Χαρίζω = I Give you Good. Now it becomes quite clear  that the seemingly completely Russian word БЛAГОДАРИТЬ  is nothing but a Greek borrowing in the form of a calque or a loan morpheme-for-morpheme translation: (Ευ = Благо) + (Χαρίζω = Дарить). Now, isn't that fascinating! But of course, this little research wouldn't be complete without mentioning some other words that we know so well, that take their origin in the same root χάρη /ˈxaɾi/ - 'grace, favour'. Χάρισμα [xˈarizma] (recognize CHARISMA?) - gift, favour, talent; 

Χάρμα [xˈarma] (recognize CHARM?) - delight, pleasant sight. And this is where THE THREE GRACES came from: Οι Τρεις Χάριτες /oi/ /treis/ /ˈxaɾites/.

BOTTOM LINE:

When children in the good old days were taught the Classics - Latin and Ancient Greek - at schools, they were getting a lot more than just the knowledge of these two languages. It was a gate to linguistics. And linguistics, in its turn, develops an inquisitive mind, logic, abstract thinking and - above all - the understanding of the world in which we live - THE LANGUAGE!