Episode 280: Diploma & Diplomat

Your Greek Word On A Sunday

(Intro & piano music)

I usually get the question 'Where do you find all these words?' and most times the answer will be 'from all of you'. Whether you 've sent me a word asking if it's Greek that sends me down a rabbit hole and discover four more on the way or I'm having a chat with a friend and we both pause to the sound of a word they've just used and I jot it down for research or even if my friends directly ask 'have you looked that one up?' I guess, after all this time, we have build a system , you and me where you can find me by email or on my social media and suggest, ask or comment freely. Please, keep doing that. I love hearing from you! All the links on how to get in touch are on the description of every episode. Today's word however, falls under a different category. Me, watching television. There's this great series I'm watching and the title is the very word I'm taking about.

Διπλούν (diploun) is an ancient Greek infinitive and it means 'to fold in two'. In modern Greek Διπλό (diplo) means 'double. Yes, that's the same root word. Ancient Greeks didn't use paper but papyrus so, no paper was folded. The Romans however, took that word and applied it to the official, folded in half, document needed to prove you were a Roman citizen, an ID if you like. The word for that document travelled to England in the 1600s and despite the noun and the adjective getting different meanings with time, they both kept their attachment to something official. An official document folded in two is called a ΔΙΠΛΩΜΑ and someone appointed as a representative to a different country is called a ΔΙΠΛΩΜΑΤΗΣ. DIPLOMA and DIPLOMAT.

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