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land labourers?

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2004 11:31 am
by alejandro
Dear allI read a few days ago about ancient Hellenic/Roman economic organization, and was surprised when I found that land labourers were called GÇ£georgiGÇ¥. I can recognize the root GÇ£geGÇ¥ as land/earth/soil, but have no idea what GÇ£orgiGÇ¥ means (ie, it should mean, allegedly, GÇ£labourerGÇ¥, but is is so?).Also, I noticed the striking similarity between GÇ£georgiGÇ¥ and the name GÇ£GeorgeGÇ¥. Is there a connection there?Kind regardsAlejandro

Re: land labourers?

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2004 9:54 pm
by ruthaki
I tried to find something similar in my modern Greek dictionary. "organon" means "implement, tool"
So perhaps that's the connection (as in "working the land")But the word for "land" (ground") in modern Greek is different from a "Geo" rooted word.

Re: land labourers?

Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2004 4:48 am
by marcus
My Greek isn't good enough to get into the linguistic details... but yes, 'George' comes straight from Georgios and means 'farmer'.
All the bestMarcus

Re: land labourers?

Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2004 8:26 am
by agesilaos
Ergein or similar means to work, hence ergonomics, morphology makes the ee become eo. But dont quote me my former girlfriend was the linguist (now she's my speciality - ancient history!).

Re: land labourers?

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2004 12:20 pm
by alejandro
Thanks guys!It's really handy to have such a knowable set of forumers available 24/7!BestAlejandro

Re: land labourers?

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2004 7:59 am
by yiannis
GEORGE m English
Pronounced: JORJ
From the Greek name Georgios which was derived from the Greek word georgos meaning "farmer, earthworker", itself derived from the elements ge "earth" and ergon "work". Saint George was a legendary dragon slayer who was supposedly martyred in Palestine. He is the patron saint of England, Portugal and Catalonia. This name has been borne by six kings of England, two kings of Greece, and the first president of the United States, George Washington. Other famous bearers include authors George Eliot and George Orwell (both pen names; real names Mary Anne Evans and Eric Arthur Blair respectively), composer George Frideric Handel, and Pacific explorer George Vancouver.

Re: land labourers?

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2004 8:02 am
by yiannis
Lang in modern Greek is "Gi" and the farmer is called "Georgos", the name George sounds like "Giorgos"