Some Random Thoughts

Yesterday I discovered that the modern term 'papa' is actually taken from the vocative of the Ancient Greek word 'pappas', which is an endearing term for one's father, 'daddy'.

I learnt this from a Greek mime I'm currently reading, Theocritus XV. Jon MacKenzie and Jon Wayman bought me a Loeb edition of the bucolic poets for my birthday, which has given me the incentive to start preparing for next semester. For your information, our concept of a 'mime' and 'pantomime' is completely the opposite to that of the Ancient Greeks. In my understanding, Ancient Greek mime was quite a common, often vulgar form of entertainment, with more colloquial language and humour, much like our modern day pantomimes.

Due to a project I have been doing at work over the past few weeks, I taken the first steps towards learning French. The grammar of the language is naturally quite similar to Latin, and I think it would be a good skill to posses.