A box-shaped instrument with strings that produce musical sounds when the wind blows on them.

According to the ancient Greeks, Aeolus was the king or guardian of the winds. He lived in a cave with his many, many sons and daughters, and sent forth whatever wind Zeus asked for. When Odysseus stopped there on his way home from Troy, he received a bag of winds to fill his sails. But while he was asleep, his men, thinking it contained treasure, opened the bag and released the raging winds, which blew their ships all the way back to their starting point. An aeolian harp produces enchanting harmonies when the wind passes over it. According to Homer, it was the god Hermes who invented the harp, by having the wind blow over the dried sinews attached to the shell of a dead tortoise.

(1) A guide. (2) A center of attention.

In Greek *kynosoura* means “dog's tail,” and in Latin *Cynosura* came to mean the constellation Ursa Minor (Little Bear)—what we usually call the Little Dipper. The first star on the dog's or bear's “tail,” or the dipper's “handle,” is Polaris, the North Star, long used as a guide for seamen or travelers lost on a clear night, since, unlike the other stars, it always remains in the same position in the northern sky, while the other constellations (and even the rest of its own constellation) slowly revolve around it. Since *Cynosura* also came to mean the star itself, the English *cynosure* now may mean both “guide” and “center of attention.”

Using extremely few words.

Ancient Sparta was located in the region of Greece known as Laconia, and the Greek word *lakonikos* could mean both “Laconian” and “ Spartan.” The disciplined and militaristic Spartans, the finest warriors of their time, were known for putting up with extreme conditions without complaint. So English writers who knew their ancient history came to use *laconic* to describe the habit of saying few words. Today we can refer not only to a laconic person but also to laconic wit, a laconic answer, or a laconic phrase—such as “Men of few words require few laws,” uttered by a Spartan king.

Having to do with the memory; assisting the memory.

The Greek word for memory is *mnemosyne*, and Mnemosyne was the goddess of memory and the mother of the Muses. So something that helps the memory is a mnemonic aid, or simply a *mnemonic*. Such traditional mnemonic devices as “Every Good Boy Does Fine” (for the notes on the lines of a musical staff with a treble clef) or the “Thirty days hath September” rhyme help to recall simple rules or complicated series that might otherwise slip away. (For extra credit, guess what “King Henry Died Drinking Chocolate Milk” or “King Philip Could Only Find Green Socks” stands for.) Notice that the first *m* isn't pronounced, unlike in other *-mne-* words such as *amnesia* and *amnesty*.

(1) Relating to the philosopher Plato or his teachings. (2) Involving a close relationship from which romance and sex are absent.

The philosopher Plato presented his theories in a series of dramatic conversations between Socrates and other people, now called the “Platonic dialogues.” Among many other important concepts, he taught that everything here on earth is a pale imitation—like a shadow—of its ideal form, and this ideal form is now often called the “platonic form.” But *platonic* is probably usually seen in the phrase “platonic love.” Because Socrates (through Plato) teaches that the philosophical person should turn his passion for a lover into appreciation of beauty and love of a higher power and of the universe, close but nonsexual friendship between two people who might be thought to be romantically attracted is today known as platonic love or friendship.

(1) Lesbian. (2) Relating to a poetic verse pattern associated with Sappho.

The poet Sappho wrote poems of self-reflection but also of passion, some of it directed to the women attending the school she conducted on the Greek island of Lesbos around 600 B.C. Even though most of the poems survive only as fragments, they have been greatly admired for many centuries. They were written in an original rhythmical pattern, which has become known as sapphic verse. Later admirers, such as the Roman poets Catullus and Horace, honored her by adopting the sapphic meter for their own poetry. Because of Sappho, the island of Lesbos also gave its name to lesbianism, which writers often used to call sapphic love.

Socrates lived and taught in Athens in the 5th century B.C., but left no writings behind, so all we know of him comes through the works of his disciple Plato, almost all of which claim to be accounts of Socrates' conversations with others. Today Socrates is best remembered for his method of teaching by asking increasingly difficult questions, the so-called *Socratic method*. This generally involves the use of *Socratic induction,* a way of gradually arriving at generalizations through a process of questions and answers, and *Socratic irony,* in which the teacher pretends ignorance while questioning his students skillfully to make them aware of their errors in understanding.

(1) A grammatical mistake in speaking or writing. (2) A blunder in etiquette or proper behavior.

In ancient Asia Minor (now Turkey), there was a city called Soloi where the inhabitants spoke Greek that was full of grammatical errors. So errors in grammar, and later also small errors in formal social behavior, came to be known (at least by intellectuals) as solecisms. The British magazine *The Economist* publishes a list