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'Edeophone'


Geoffrey Crabb

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Not often I get to use my Greek these days!!

The 'phone' part is Greek meaning 'sound', hence telephone, gramophone, phonograph.......

It is the convention to avoid hybrid coinings so we can assume the 'edeo' is Greek also. ('Television' is an exception, but 'proculvision' doesn't have much of a ring to it!)

'edeos' is the genitive case of the noun 'edos' meaning 'delight, enjoyment, pleasure'. That seems eminently appropriate to me.

Incidentally, Greek has two 'e's, - a short 'e' (epsilon) as in 'wet' and a long 'e' (eta) as in 'email' or 'edict'. The Greek 'edos' begins with a long eta so that indicates a correct pronunciation of 'EEEdeophone'.

I shall now have to vacuum my room to remove all the dust that's fallen from my trusty Greek - English Lexicon!

Quod erat demonstrandum?

 

Best wishes everyone!

Roger

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Not often I get to use my Greek these days!!

The 'phone' part is Greek meaning 'sound', hence telephone, gramophone, phonograph.......

It is the convention to avoid hybrid coinings so we can assume the 'edeo' is Greek also. ('Television' is an exception, but 'proculvision' doesn't have much of a ring to it!)

'edeos' is the genitive case of the noun 'edos' meaning 'delight, enjoyment, pleasure'. That seems eminently appropriate to me.

Incidentally, Greek has two 'e's, - a short 'e' (epsilon) as in 'wet' and a long 'e' (eta) as in 'email' or 'edict'. The Greek 'edos' begins with a long eta so that indicates a correct pronunciation of 'EEEdeophone'.

I shall now have to vacuum my room to remove all the dust that's fallen from my trusty Greek - English Lexicon!

Quod erat demonstrandum?

 

Best wishes everyone!

Roger

 

Thank you, Roger!

In the face of this eloquent ane erudite reply who can doubt the value of a classical liberal arts education!! :lol:

 

Liberal Arts majors can only chuckle as those who have taken a more lucrative vocation path mispronounce the names of the multiple

Ed-a-fones, Ay-ee-oel-us, and Jeff-er-ees that they can readilly afford. :o

 

Now, back to the dictionary where I can use my hard won education degree to look up the spelling and definition of "destitute"! :P

 

Greg

 

All the above said tongue in cheek with only the mildest touch of rue and with genuine appreciation of Roger's well crafted and lucid explanation. ;)

Edited by Greg Jowaisas
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  • 7 years later...

Just picking up this thread after hearing a science programme on BBC radio 4 yesterday.

The Aeolus concerned here was the Greek God of the winds.

 

Apparently there are 2 others sharing the name.

 

Aeolus was a name given to three mythical characters, but their myths are deeply intertwined in such a fashion that the characters are often difficult to tell apart.

However, the most famous of them was the son of Hippotes that is mentioned in Homer's Odyssey as the Keeper of the Winds; in this myth, Aeolus gave Odysseus a closed bag that contained all winds, but for the gentle West Wind that would take him home. However, Odysseus' companions, thinking the bag contained riches, opened the bag and the winds escaped, blowing the ship in all directions and thus extending their voyage back home. Aeolus was later considered to have been a god rather than a mortal as depicted in the Odyssey. He had twelve children, six sons and six daughters.

Another Aeolus was the son of Hellen and Orseis, and ruler of Aeolia. He married Enarete, with whom he had numerous children, including Sisyphus, Athamas, Cretheus, and Salmoneus. Finally, the third character with the same name was the son of Poseidon and Arne, and was often indistinguishable from the first Aeolus, keeper of the winds.

 

Presumably Sir Charles had read about Greek gods when selecting the name Aeola.

I was going to start a new topic, but thought I should search first, in case it had come up before.

 

 - John Wild

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14 hours ago, John Wild said:

 

 

 

Presumably Sir Charles had read about Greek gods when selecting the name Aeola.

 

 

 - John Wild

 

John, I think Sir Charles had been dead for some 20-odd years prior to the introduction of the earliest Aeola, so not sure we can credit him with choosing the name.

 

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