Etymology Word of the Week – As some of you know, in addition to working in the Admissions Office, I also teach Latin at Saint Ignatius and am something of a "word nerd." Thus, each week, I’ll sneak a vocabulary word (sometimes derived from Latin, sometimes not) into the e-blast. Here then is this week’s edition of the Etymology Word of the Week.
Pantheon - “a temple dedicated to all the gods (especially the one in the city of Rome); the place of the heroes or idols of any group, movement, party, etc.” From the Greek prefix pan- meaning “all” and the Greek noun theos meaning “god.” (All information is from www.wikipedia.org, www.etymonline.com and/or www.dictionary.com)
RELATED WORDS/PHRASES – pandemic, Panglossian (from the name of a character in Voltaire’s Candide; means “overly rosy view of the world”), pandemonium (from Milton; means “all demons”), panacea, panorama, Pandora (“all gifts”), Pangaea (“all Earth”); atheist, theocracy, theology, apotheosis, polytheism, Theodore
DID YOU KNOW? - The Pantheon has a rotunda covered by a dome, much like the U.S. Capitol building does. The Pantheon, however, also has an oculus (“eye” or circular opening in the center of the dome); the U.S. Capitol building does not.