Are words like sophomore and nemesis all Greek to you? Here’s what they mean

Like a plethora of such words, nemesis has its roots in Greek mythology, and stands for the goddess of retribution and punishment who humbled the proud and arrogant. Hence, a successful person feared to offend her, for if he became too haughty, his downfall might follow. Today, the word is used to denote an avenger or punisher and also the punishment itself. In the sports pages, nemesis is applied to an athlete or a sportsperson who consistently beats an opponent. The report mentioned above talked about how the swing generated by left-arm pacers has been the nemesis of India’s batting order.

Another word, with an interesting etymology, on one of the sports pages was sophomore. It appeared last week in a report about the stellar performance of Indian women’s pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand at the All England Open Badminton Championships: “On Wednesday, at their sophomore All England, Treesa-Gayatri showed no second-season blues as they went about dismantling…” experienced opponents.

The word means a student in the second year of a course of study at a college or a university. It also refers to something associated with the second in a series. It was the second successive appearance of the two badminton players at the championship.

According to a popular folk etymology, it is a portmanteau of Greek words ‘sophos’ (meaning clever or wise) and ‘moros’ (meaning foolish or dull). So, the literal meaning of sophomore would be ‘a wise fool’. Another etymological line is that it derives from an earlier English term, ‘sophumer’, a variation of Greek ‘sophism’ (clever device). A sophist is literally one who is wise but the term became derogatory in Greek culture because it seemed a little unwise, or even arrogant, to proclaim about one’s own wisdom.

At Cambridge University, the second- and third-year students were called ‘sophisters’ (the first-year students were freshmen) probably because their knowledge and argument were not mature enough. Gradually, the term became sophomore.

Sophistry, which comes from the same root word meaning wise, has a negative connotation and is used as a synonym for evasive and fallacious reasoning.

I stumbled upon Trojan horse while going through a political report on how the ruling coalition in Jharkhand survived the rival’s plan to topple it, thanks to a legislator who was privy to the plan because of his friendship with the key players and alerted the parties in power.

This one too has a Greek origin. In the 10th year of the Trojan War, after several unsuccessful attempts to capture Troy, the Greeks resorted to a stratagem. They constructed a colossal wooden horse, filled it with armed men, and managed by trickery to have the unsuspecting Trojans draw the horse inside the city. At night, the Greek soldiers came out of the horse’s belly and captured Troy.

Though the wooden horse was a Greek subterfuge, it is called the Trojan horse, an expression which has become a symbol of treacherous infiltration, a fifth column.

In the digital age, Trojan horse has also come to refer to a computer programme that appears helpful but is designed to destroy data.

The Greek legacy is indeed copious and without it, the English language will lose much of its sheen.

Wordly Wise is a weekly column by Amitabh Ranjan published every Saturday in the Explained section. Please tweet your feedback to @ieexplained