Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
By Barbara McAllister
Word of the Day: Echo
The word “echo” is from a Greek word meaning sound, but its use has come to mean a repeated or reflected sound.
That meaning came from Greek mythology and the story surrounding a nymph named Echo. Echo was assigned the job of talking to Hera to distract her while her husband Zeus engaged in an affair. Zeus was not only famous as the head of gods, he was also famous for his wide-spread infidelities. When Hera found out what Echo was doing, she was enraged and cursed poor Echo so that she was only able to repeat what someone else said. Echo was condemned to always have the last word, but never the first. Echo subsequently fell in love with Narcissus and when her love was not returned, she pined away until nothing was left except her voice.
Cochlea, the inner part of an ear, is another word of Greek origin related to sound but from a different root. It is from the Greek word for snail shell, referring to the inner ear’s circular, coiled shape. A word that is related to echo is catechism, a term familiar to any Catholic. It originally referred to any oral teaching (to produce sound, make hear) like instructive dialogue. Specifically, “catechism” came to mean a summary of religious doctrine commonly in a question and answer format used most prominently in the Catholic church. The Echo of Greek mythology has a common root with modern Christianity.
