How many people know Ancient Greek?

[greggd12]

As some of you may know, ancient Greek is taught in all public schools throughout Greece. Although, many people aren't actually able to speak modern Greek and communicate between each other because it is a dead language, similar to Latin. Greek people are taught how to write ancient Greek and they learn how modern Greek is derived from ancient Greek. As you can see in the video, many people don't actually remember much of it and it has actually been criticized that it is not so valuable as some educators may think. What are your thoughts?

 

[Stathi]

I think elements of ancient Greek are alive in modern Greek on some of the Greek islands and in isolated villages on the main land and Peleponnisos. And, in certain communities of Magna Grecia, in Scilly, Southern Italy and even coastal Mediterrean France. I was so suprised and delighted to hear ancient Greek verb forms spoken by some of the villagers of the island of Rhodes, Greece. I remember thinking, What? What am I hearing? I asked a friend who taught ancient Greek in Middle School and also a friend who is an archiologist. And, they said, yes, it is ancient. Modern Greek is more related to Ancient Greek then Italian, Spanish, French and Romanian are related to Latin. I say to Greeks every where on the planet, Yes, we do not speak Ancient Greek any more and have not for hundreds of years, but we can be amazed that ancient Greek is still vital, in stead of poo pooing it.

 

[d_kakavouli]

I think elements of ancient Greek are alive in modern Greek on some of the Greek islands and in isolated villages on the main land and Peleponnisos. And, in certain communities of Magna Grecia, in Scilly, Southern Italy and even coastal Mediterrean France. I was so suprised and delighted to hear ancient Greek verb forms spoken by some of the villagers of the island of Rhodes, Greece. I remember thinking, What? What am I hearing? I asked a friend who taught ancient Greek in Middle School and also a friend who is an archiologist. And, they said, yes, it is ancient. Modern Greek is more related to Ancient Greek then Italian, Spanish, French and Romanian are related to Latin. I say to Greeks every where on the planet, Yes, we do not speak Ancient Greek any more and have not for hundreds of years, but we can be amazed that ancient Greek is still vital, in stead of poo pooing it.

I have never heard of this!! How cool that there are people who still speak some parts of Ancient Greek. I would love to hear it spoken some day if I were to visit some of these villages some day.

 

[k_tsoukalas]

That was interesting! Ancient Greek is so different. So fascinating. I always wondered if modern Greeks knew Ancient Greek.

 

[ellinasgolfer0320]

It depends on your path in high school. Kind of like a major in college, high school students in Greece have to choose a path they want to follow, and depending in which path you choose, you may or may not learn ancient Greek.

 

[nadellii]

It depends on your path in high school. Kind of like a major in college, high school students in Greece have to choose a path they want to follow, and depending in which path you choose, you may or may not learn ancient Greek.

I would definitely choose to learn it!

 

[amygdalE]

As some of you may know, ancient Greek is taught in all public schools throughout Greece. Although, many people aren't actually able to speak modern Greek and communicate between each other because it is a dead language, similar to Latin. Greek people are taught how to write ancient Greek and they learn how modern Greek is derived from ancient Greek. As you can see in the video, many people don't actually remember much of it and it has actually been criticized that it is not so valuable as some educators may think. What are your thoughts?

I, too, have mixed feelings about learning any extinct language. Isn't it a waste of time for students? The purpose for the study, to begin with, is to be able to read the great ancient Greek literature in the original language, ... or for a foreigner to study Italian in order to understand what is being said in the great Italian vocal music. Unfortunately, for either purpose, it takes years to master the language. However, even a limited study may serve other purposes that a later adult may have, as in my personal case. To wit: As a high school student in Italy, I was required to study Latin and Classical Greek (besides some literature in translation). A footnote in the translated Iliad intrigued me: Atreide [ Gr. Atreides] is a patronym after Atreo [Gr. Atreus]. In my adult life, my limited knowledge of Cl. Greek helped me to analyze my native language. {It is a mixture of Greek, Latin, and Italian words, from its historical phases.} And more....

 

[ellinasgolfer0320]

I, too, have mixed feelings about learning any extinct language. Isn't it a waste of time for students? The purpose for the study, to begin with, is to be able to read the great ancient Greek literature in the original language, ... or for a foreigner to study Italian in order to understand what is being said in the great Italian vocal music. Unfortunately, for either purpose, it takes years to master the language. However, even a limited study may serve other purposes that a later adult may have, as in my personal case. To wit: As a high school student in Italy, I was required to study Latin and Classical Greek (besides some literature in translation). A footnote in the translated Iliad intrigued me: Atreide [ Gr. Atreides] is a patronym after Atreo [Gr. Atreus]. In my adult life, my limited knowledge of Cl. Greek helped me to analyze my native language. {It is a mixture of Greek, Latin, and Italian words, from its historical phases.} And more....

If you're a modern Greek speaker then ancient Greek will really improve your modern Greek. Many of the words used today are ancient Greek, and some of the expressions used are ancient Greek.

Speaking of latin, some words are Latin- e.g. the word for sugar in Greek is zaxari (ζάχαρη) which comes from zaccharo, and the word for honey in Greek is meli (μέλι) which comes from the Latin word mel

 

[amygdalE]

If you're a modern Greek speaker then ancient Greek will really improve your modern Greek. Many of the words used today are ancient Greek, and some of the expressions used are ancient Greek.

Speaking of latin, some words are Latin- e.g. the word for sugar in Greek is zaxari (ζάχαρη) which comes from zaccharo, and the word for honey in Greek is meli (μέλι) which comes from the Latin word mel

It's true that some Latin words entered Greek, but not in the case of "Honey". Indeed, Gr. Meli and Lat. Mel are cognate words, but there is no way offhand to tell which comes from which. I hold that Mel and the ubiquitous Miel is from Meli because Cl. Greek has many words [used by the ancient pre-Roman Gr. writers] that employ the root Mel- or Meil-. Very importantly, the honeybee was called Mel-issa or Mel-itta, whereas in Latin, it is called Apis. In my native dialect, honey = Mele, which is different from the French, Spanish, and other European derivatives of the Latin word. So, I count Mele as one the subsisting Greek words in my native town, which around 204 B.C. was founded by the refugees of Thourioi in Magna Graecia) which Pericles had repopulated with Hellenes (including Herodotus, Protagoras, et al.) // Cl. Gr. Meli > Mg.Gr. Mele; Lat. Mel/Mellis; Goth. Milith; Armenian Melr; etc. // [Mg.Gr. = Magno-Graecian language]

 

[amygdalE]

Yesterday, after dealing with my Mg.Gr. Mele, I was reminded of a parallel lexical situation: Gall in Mg.Gr. is Fele; in Latin it is Fel/Fellis, which is the basis of many European cognate words -- Fiel, Fiele, etc. Again, my Fele is unique and presumably derived directly from a Cl. Greek word, but I haven't been able to find it in some Gr. lexicons. The attested KholE` (= Gall) does not seem to be a cognate of Fell/Fellis or of Fele, as only the lambda sound is sheared by the words in question. So, even the issue about the origin of the Latin word is left open. // Today I found interesting posts in an Italian website: Somebody proposed that Ital. Fiele came about by an imitation to Miele (= Honey), from Lat. Mel/Mellis, but he did not realize that the derivation [by a Latin speaker] would be from the root of the word, namely Mell-. Likewise, the derivation of Fiele from Lat. Fel/Fellis should be from the root, namely Fell-.
Incidentally, they mention a Latin motto that contains the contraposition of Gall [bitter] and Honey [sweet] -- already made prosaically by some Greek writers -- Ubi Mel, ibi Fell -- = Where there is honey, there is gall/bile. [I was familiar with this type of formulation from a medieval German monk, who knew Latin authors: Ubi Amor, ibi Deus = Where there is Love, there is God. // Following that Latin motto contraposition, they suspected that the etymology of Fiele and the like was not a normal one. So, I suspect that my Mg.Gr. Fele derived, albeit abnormally, from the Latin word rather than Cl. Gr. PhElo- , which connotes deception. [Fiele was already used in medieval Latin, obviously from nominative Fel rather than Fell-.] //
PhEloO = I deceive; cheat ; Lat. Fallo. According to the Liddell-Scott Greek Lexicon, this Gr. verb is the archaic SphEloO with the loss of the initial S. My native dialect has SBALLU (= I flunk; go broke), which apparently harkens back to the archaic Greek verb rather than the Latin verb. // Doing etymologies is not an easy task, as it is already evident in Plato's "Cratylus".

 

[amygdalE]

Yesterday, unwittingly and for no reason, I used Bile as a synonym of Gall by writing
"Gall/Bile". Only much later did I realize that Engl. Bile seems to be a direct derivative of Gr. KholE, which is also responsible for Cholic. // Engl. Melancholic is obviously from Gr.
Melano-kholE [black/dark bile], which is one of Hippocrates' four bodily humors. //
The Engl. word Gall has been said to be from Anglo-Saxon Geall(a), which is close to the Latin Fel, genitive Fell(is). // Uncertainties remain.

 

[amygdalE]

I may as well continue dealing with some difficulties that I mentioned in this thread. As I noted, Melissa or Melitta [= bee, honey bee] is Apis in Latin. To add: The Cretan "Bee" was Spex, which, like the two aforementioned Greek names, is not a cognate of Apis. So, I have an unresolved problem: Where does Apis come from? (In innumerable other cases, the Latin words derive From Greek, as the Roman Varro and others have practically proven.)

I just came across an online article by a long-time glottologist, Pittau, a Sardinian Italian who has specialized in the study of the Etruscan language. The long article is a vocabulary of Italian words of uncertain etymology, which he traces back to what he calls Etrusco-Latin words [Etruscan words in Latin garb, attested in Latin literature]. As we always knew, It. Ape (= Bee) is from Lat. Apem (the accusative case of Apis), but now he contends that Apis has to be interpreted in view of the Etr.-Latin word APIANA [api-ana], which supposedly denotes a camomille plant that is dear to bees. [I would translate this word as the bee land or homeland.] Anyway, now my problem has been transposed: Where does the Etruscan Api- come from? I have already deciphered many Etruscan inscriptions and a proclamation by the Classical Greek language, but I do not find a Gr. cognate of it. In diverse Gr. lexicons, Apis is the name of an Egyptian God, the name of a mythical king of Argos, and the old and obsolete name of the Peloponnesos, but these names do not reveal their meanings; however, I found that the Peloponnese, or its southern part, has a long and creative history of BEE-KEEPING (apiculture). Probably that land was called Bee-land, *Apia or something like that, and Apiana in Latin or Etrusco-Latin. [The Gr. adjective Apios/Apia is attested.]
Correction: The Liddell-Scott Greek-English Dictionary points out that Apia or "Apia GE" was the old name of the Peloponnese or of Argolis, and that Apios/Apia = "Apian, Peloponnesian", but they do not give the meaning of these words.

 

[amygdalE]

I may as well continue dealing with some difficulties that I mentioned in this thread. As I noted, Melissa or Melitta [= bee, honey bee] is Apis in Latin. To add: The Cretan "Bee" was Spex, which, like the two aforementioned Greek names, is not a cognate of Apis. So, I have an unresolved problem: Where does Apis come from? (In innumerable other cases, the Latin words derive From Greek, as the Roman Varro and others have practically proven.)

I just came across an online article by a long-time glottologist, Pittau, a Sardinian Italian who has specialized in the study of the Etruscan language. The long article is a vocabulary of Italian words of uncertain etymology, which he traces back to what he calls Etrusco-Latin words [Etruscan words in Latin garb, attested in Latin literature]. As we always knew, It. Ape (= Bee) is from Lat. Apem (the accusative case of Apis), but now he contends that Apis has to be interpreted in view of the Etr.-Latin word APIANA [api-ana], which supposedly denotes a camomille plant that is dear to bees. [I would translate this word as the bee land or homeland.] Anyway, now my problem has been transposed: Where does the Etruscan Api- come from? I have already deciphered many Etruscan inscriptions and a proclamation by the Classical Greek language, but I do not find a Gr. cognate of it. In diverse Gr. lexicons, Apis is the name of an Egyptian God, the name of a mythical king of Argos, and the old and obsolete name of the Peloponnesos, but these names do not reveal their meanings; however, I found that the Peloponnese, or its southern part, has a long and creative history of BEE-KEEPING (apiculture). Probably that land was called Bee-land, *Apia or something like that, and Apiana in Latin or Etrusco-Latin. [The Gr. adjective Apios/Apia is attested.]
Correction: The Liddell-Scott Greek-English Dictionary points out that Apia or "Apia GE" was the old name of the Peloponnese or of Argolis, and that Apios/Apia = "Apian, Peloponnesian", but they do not give the meaning of these words.

Conclusion
Unfortunately the English language does not have an adjective for Bee that employs this very word as its root; Bee is used as an adjective, as in "bee honey". // We know that Eng. Bee is < Anglo-Saxon [Old English] Beo, wherefore the famous Beowulf = Bee-wolf.// Now, in view of the fact that Lat. Apis = Bee, we could use "Apian" as the adjective of Bee, with the meaning of the Gr. word hApalos, which is reported in the Bailly Grec Francais Dictionnaire as "tender, delicate, ... soft, soothing". So, now I surmise that Gr. hApalos > Lat. *Apilis [where -ilis, like -alis, is an adjective former, as in Apr-ilis (April), which I deciphered long ago], which > Lat. Api-s. But then, before Melissa/Melitta was coined, the Greeks, or the Dorians in particular, called the mellifluous insect, *hAp-, probably *hapE or *hapa (as in my Magno-Graecian dialect). [Latin adjectives: apr-ilis, civ-ilis, vir-ilis, Lati-alis, anim(a)-alis, etc .]

 

[amygdalE]

[never say NEVER.......]
Yes, "melissa" must have been coined after the Bee was called by some other name (that does not utilize "meli"), but now I think that "melissa" was coined as an epithet of the insect. Some Dorian said, "*hA *hapa melissa estin" and somehow the descriptive adjective got to be used widely, though only in Hellas, as a noun [as in many other situations] and the name of the insect.

Meanwhile I wander where the Eng. Be-o/Be-e comes from. By a stretch of the imagination, it is the result of two processes that occurred within the Greek language: the apheresis of the initial S or E sound of certain words, and the shift of the P [pi] sound to the B or PH sound of certain words, or vice-versa. So, possibly, *hapE > pE > mpE > be-. Modern Greeks use the letters "mp" to represent the B sound, since they sound off the letter Beta as a V. [BoulE` > *VoulE`/BoulEsE; in ancient times: > Eng. Will[en]; Lat. Volu[ntas].

 

[amygdalE]

[never say NEVER.......]
Yes, "melissa" must have been coined after the Bee was called by some other name (that does not utilize "meli"), but now I think that "melissa" was coined as an epithet of the insect. Some Dorian said, "*hA *hapa melissa estin" and somehow the descriptive adjective got to be used widely, though only in Hellas, as a noun [as in many other situations] and the name of the insect.

Meanwhile I wander where the Eng. Be-o/Be-e comes from. By a stretch of the imagination, it is the result of two processes that occurred within the Greek language: the apheresis of the initial S or E sound of certain words, and the shift of the P [pi] sound to the B or PH sound of certain words, or vice-versa. So, possibly, *hapE > pE > mpE > be-. Modern Greeks use the letters "mp" to represent the B sound, since they sound off the letter Beta as a V. [BoulE` > *VoulE`/BoulEsE; in ancient times: > Eng. Will[en]; Lat. Volu[ntas].

Another observation (while I continue investigating the classical Greek language): The Liddell-Scott Lexicon points out that Melissa [Bee] is an Ionian word, whereas Melitta is an Attic word, and that on some occasions, Melissa was used [in literature] as a synonym of Meli [Honey]. Unfortunately we don't have a written record of the originators of the word Melissa.
I said correctly that our English does not have the adjective form of Honey, but now I learned that the Old English [Anglo-Saxon] had it: Milisc [*Milish] (=honeyed, sweet). Interestingly, various Germanic languages employ the root MIL-, whereas the Romance languages employ the root MEL- [Greek and Latin!]. // We may presume that the ancient Germanics had the word *MIL, which is as they heard the Gr. Mel(i), whereas the ancestors of the Latins and others [Oscans, Apulians, Etruscans, etc., just to mention Italiotes ] were parts of the Greek-speaking Greeks. "Germanics" and "Graecians" are two ancient ethnicities -- with their respective languages, gods, favored beverages, customs, and biological traits. // I would translate "Graecian" as "Hellenistic", not Hellenic, but not in the particular history sense in which Hellenistic is used today. [Liddell-Scott: HellEnistEs = one who uses the Greek language. ] //
THE END -- maybe.

 

[amygdalE]

Another observation (while I continue investigating the classical Greek language): The Liddell-Scott Lexicon points out that Melissa [Bee] is an Ionian word, whereas Melitta is an Attic word, and that on some occasions, Melissa was used [in literature] as a synonym of Meli [Honey]. Unfortunately we don't have a written record of the originators of the word Melissa.
I said correctly that our English does not have the adjective form of Honey, but now I learned that the Old English [Anglo-Saxon] had it: Milisc [*Milish] (=honeyed, sweet). Interestingly, various Germanic languages employ the root MIL-, whereas the Romance languages employ the root MEL- [Greek and Latin!]. // We may presume that the ancient Germanics had the word *MIL, which is as they heard the Gr. Mel(i), whereas the ancestors of the Latins and others [Oscans, Apulians, Etruscans, etc., just to mention Italiotes ] were parts of the Greek-speaking Greeks. "Germanics" and "Graecians" are two ancient ethnicities -- with their respective languages, gods, favored beverages, customs, and biological traits. // I would translate "Graecian" as "Hellenistic", not Hellenic, but not in the particular history sense in which Hellenistic is used today. [Liddell-Scott: HellEnistEs = one who uses the Greek language. ] //
THE END -- maybe.

The END? Oh yea! One thing leads to another.........
I mentioned a well known fact, that in Greek (as well as in Latin and other languages) sometimes an adjective is used, with or without modifications, as a noun, which thereby becomes the name of the denoted thing. So, e.g., the adjective "melissa" (translatable in Latinized form as "melli-fic") became the name of a certain insect. Thus the name of a quality or a function becomes the name of that which has the quality or function. Linguistically speaking, this process is called Synecdoche [naming a part to name a whole]. Psychologically speaking, this process was called Reification in the 19th century: an aspect, condition, quality, or function is conceived as a thing [= Lat. Res] or substance (which exists on its own rather than in something else). E.g., BEAUTY is sought by artists. FREEDOM is now at stake.

Sometimes seen big things, forceful events (such as storms), and reifications are personified; that is, they are conceived as selves and having a mind, will, and emotions. Thus they are anthropomorphic. In my mentioned theory, personified powerful things were called THEOI, Gods, by early/paleolithic men. Zeus is a personified thunderstorm. Aphrodite is the personified froth of a tempestuous sea. And so forth. Tales/myths about the gods were woven by nomadic men, fishers, boatmen, hunters, family men, et al. Says Vico in his "New Science", the creation of the gods was the earliest and greatest human creation. // Man, or some men, has a Creative/Inventive Mind. I like Aristotle's term, Nous Poietikos (which used to be translated as Intellectus Agens: Agent Intellect), even though he was referring only to the mind's power to make abstractions from sensory data. [The mental artefacts are linguistic in nature, that is utilizing the images of sounds. So, the invention of a god is necessarily the invention of a word. En arkhE logos: in the beginning [of human culture] was the word, and the word was "theos" -- to rephrase what John of Ephesus, the evangelist, innocently said.

 

[amygdalE]

As some of you may know, ancient Greek is taught in all public schools throughout Greece. Although, many people aren't actually able to speak modern Greek and communicate between each other because it is a dead language, similar to Latin. Greek people are taught how to write ancient Greek and they learn how modern Greek is derived from ancient Greek. As you can see in the video, many people don't actually remember much of it and it has actually been criticized that it is not so valuable as some educators may think. What are your thoughts?

I don't think that the study of ancient Greek benefits modern Greek or Greek-derived languages, although it may be used to improve Greek -- if anyone wants to improve it. For instance, Anc. Greek (as well as Latin) had the vocative case of nouns by using an "-e" ending, which has been lost in most Mod. Greek nouns. Anyway, if prescribed, the school study of Anc. Greek would have to be glottological/linguistic rather than pragmatic (as when you study a foreign language in order to speak and understand it. // In my Magno-Graecian native language, nouns/names have no complementary cases; HOWEVER, personal names have a vocative form. E.G., when Amede`o or Amede`yu is called or is addressed by his name, one says "Amede`". This troncation or apocope is quite universal and not awkward.//[/MEDIA]
[/QUOTE] So, I would not propose a return to the use of "-e".
{For youngsters: Apheresis, Syncopation, and Apocope are respectively the cutting off of a sound at the beginning, the middle, and the end of a word -- which already occurred within the Greek language in ancient times. Ancient linguists named those three types of abbreviation.} // I love the archeology of physical artefacts, of ancient languages, of political systems, of theisms, and other human products. What they called Etymology was nothing but Lexical Archeology.

 

[amygdalE]

I don't think that the study of ancient Greek benefits modern Greek or Greek-derived languages, although it may be used to improve Greek -- if anyone wants to improve it. For instance, Anc. Greek (as well as Latin) had the vocative case of nouns by using an "-e" ending, which has been lost in most Mod. Greek nouns. Anyway, the school study of Anc. Greek would have to be glottological/linguistic rather than pragmatic (as when you study a foreign language in order to speak and understand it. // In my Magno-Graecian native language, nouns/names have no complementary cases; HOWEVER, personal names have a vocative form. E.G., when Amede`o or Amede`yu is called or is addressed by his name, one says "Amede`". This troncation or apocope is quite universal and not awkward.//[/MEDIA]

So, I would not propose a return to the use of "-e".
{For youngsters: Apheresis, Syncopation, and Apocope are respectively the cutting off of a sound at the beginning, the middle, and the end of a word -- which already occurred within the Greek language in ancient times. Ancient linguists named these abbreviations.} // I love the archeology of physical artefacts, of ancient languages, of political systems, of theisms, and other human products. What they called Etymology was nothing but Lexical Archeology.
[/QUOTE]
Speaking of LEXICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, recently I found online the work of E.R. Wharton [London 1890] : ETYMA GRAECA -- An Etymological Lexikon of Classical Greek. The title is in Latin, which means "Hellenic Etymons". He is clearly a great lexical archeologist of ancient Greek, who delved into all kinds of changes undergone by Gr. words. { Meanwhile I notice an inaccuracy in my term "Lexical Archeology", for it literally means "Verbal Arch." rather than the intended "Archeology of Words". In the classics, we would use the plural genitive case of Lexis. In English should we say "Linguistic/Glottological Archaeology"?} // About the original issue of this thread, in a school I would offer an elective [not mandatory] course of Classical Greek, just as I proposed it when I was a teacher of Italian in an American school, but some colleagues were horrified, since they were not lovers of Occidental culture or archaeologists thereof. That's sad.

 

[amygdalE]

I have a more pointed question: Why should the Classical Greek language, a foreign language in today's world, be studied by everybody? Because any language (as a whole) involves a way of thinking or understanding, and because the Cl. Greek Language involves an extraordinary PERSPICACITY of mind in this language makers -- which is learned by learning it. For example, a perspicacious human mind [which dwells and functions in the world, physical and social] distinguishes and NAMES that which is physical, psychical, or social. Only a Greek in possession of his language could write Anaximander's "Peri PHYSEOS". Only a Greek mind could talk about TO TI ESTI [or "to On/Ontos"]. Greek and some non-Greek minds have distinguished single and many things, as well as masculine and feminine humans, and they expressed these distinctions in the names they created. The Greek names of activities [verbs] embody (lexically) the time of occurrence-- the present, the past, the future, the "shall have been" tense, and so forth. The grammar of ancient Greek bears witness to the great perspicacity of the language makers. [Physis, a concocted verbal noun, is an example of mental reification. The gods of any culture are examples of personification . So, the human mind, especially the Greek mind, has many powers or functions. It is Aristotle's Nous Poietikos.]
Long live the Classical Greek language, one of the greatest human creations! {My above philosophy/theory of language needs elaboration and amplification. It should do for internet readers or for now.}

 

[amygdalE]

To continue and to not let this space go to waste: Obviously I advocate the universal study of the ancient Greek language [hellenikE glossa], which I explore and learn, but then should I consider myself an Hellene? The good ancient Isocrates declared, in other words, that anyone is an Hellene by the absorption of hellenic culture, not by virtue of his birthplace. So, I should call myself an Hellene. However, this term is ambiguous, since it may be used to state one's nationality, the citizenship of Hellas, or ethnicity. Therefore, I prefer using "Hellenistic" or "Graecist" in the sense of being a Greek culture absorber or lover or scholar, though not necessarly, as traditionally, being an expert knower of the Greek language (and possibly culture). The terms "Graecist" and "Latinist" are used traditionally in the restricted sense of " Gr. or Lat. language expert or cultivator". [To avoid ambiguity, I will say that my ethnicity, biological and cultural, is Graeco-Italian. My last name is the slightly modified Greek word that I employ as my username in this forum. Some early ancestor of mine in my native Greek town must have been an almond merchant and was called "Almond" in Greek. Occupational names used to be frequent. However, e.g., it was customary to say "Cooper" (= copper, a metal) instead of "Coppersmith". This process was called Metonymy [metOnymia] by some ancient Greek linguist.
Unlike a metonymy, a metaphor is the trans-portation of a word [an adjective, attribute, predicate, etc.] from one domain [e.g. the visual domain] to a diverse domain [e.g., a domain of invisible things]. E,g,, "These sounds have different hues, and the dark ones have bright flairs." "A storm is brewing in my mind." "The gods speak loudly." [Often we do think/speak metaphorically!]