The source of all disasters-Pandora

We often hear about Pandora's Box, but we don't quite understand its profound connotation. Let's talk about it today In English, Pandora's box is often borrowed to mean "the source of disaster", and opening Pandora's box means "causing all kinds of disasters". In fact, the word Pandora can be divided into prefix disk-"all" (as we know, the essential meaning of the word disk is "disk", and its word form is exactly the same as the Chinese phonetic alphabet of "disk", and its specific meaning is "disk, disk, disk". The prefix pan-(all) comes from this word, and in Chinese we often say "full plate, whole plate" means all) and the root-dor-"gei". The literal meaning of this word has two interpretations, one of which is "a gift from everyone". Pandora, the first woman of mankind, is a plot of Zeus, with the characteristics of the gods, the fragrance and beauty of Aphrodite, the god of love and beauty, and Hermes' language talent, so she is a gift from God. The second is "a gift to all mankind". Zeus nominally gave Pandora to all mankind as the first woman of mankind. Both statements make sense. Personally, I prefer the second statement.

(For more questions about word memory, please refer to the "Word House" of WeChat official account) Pandora (Greek: π α ν δ also translated as Pandora), the Greek fire god Zeus made of clay, as the first woman to give to mankind as a punishment for Prometheus' creation and theft of kindling.

The story goes like this: Prometheus (the prophet) saw flowers blooming, weeds scattered, fish fragrant and birds nesting on the ground. Everything is thriving, but there is no human being who rules the earth. Prometheus came to the river. He grabbed a mass of mud, poured water on it, rubbed it a few times, and the mud became soft and hard. He made many small clay figurines out of mud. After kneading, he looked at these lifeless forms and lost in thought. How can we bring them back to life?

Prometheus has only seen those running animals, so he absorbed the lion's bravery, dog's loyalty, horse's diligence, eagle's foresight, bear's strength, pigeon's meekness, fox's cunning, rabbit's timidity and wolf's greed, and mixed them into the clay figurine's chest. So clay figurines can move like animals. His good friend Athena helped him breathe out a long breath in the mouths of these clay figurines, and these clay figurines gained senses and became real people (this is the story of Prometheus creating man recorded in Greek mythology. We had an article before introducing the story of God creating man in the Bible, not the story of the same place, so don't confuse it. Just like the story of Nu Wa clay figurine in China).

Man is made, but he knows nothing. The great Prometheus became their teacher, teaching them to count, write, observe the stars, build houses and cultivate the land. In short, he taught them everything that is useful to human beings and can make them satisfied and happy. Under the education of Prometheus, human beings became smart and attracted the attention of Zeus, the god of Olympus. He asked human beings to worship and obey the gods: in exchange, he could protect and bless human beings.

But Zeus is very cunning, and he has reservations while blessing mankind. The reason why he did this was simple: he was dissatisfied with Prometheus and suspected that he made man to be against himself. At the same time, he is afraid that human beings will become powerful and uncontrollable. What Zeus refused to give to mankind was what they needed most-fire. There is no fire to barbecue food, so human beings have to eat raw things; Without the illumination of fire, human beings spent one long night after another in the boundless darkness.

Prometheus was very sad to see that his life was so painful. He decided to steal skyfire for human use. Obviously, Zeus also realized this and sent people to watch the skyfire. Prometheus could do nothing about it and was very anxious. When his younger brother, Epmetheus, knew this situation, he smiled gently and said, "Brother, it's hard to steal some skyfire. Come, I'll tell you what to do. " Prometheus could not help patting his brother's head and praising him. He broke off a long fennel branch and lifted it into the sky. When the sun god drove a burning solar car through the air, Prometheus put fennel branches into the flame and guided them, and then quickly landed on the earth with this burning flame. There, he lit the first pile of wood with kindling, and the fire suddenly burst into flames.

Zeus was furious and took Prometheus to Caucasus Mountain, and tied him firmly to a steep cliff with a chain that never stopped making money. He also sent vultures to peck at Prometheus' liver every day. These eaten livers will grow back immediately. Day after day, year after year, Prometheus hung on the cliff, unable to sleep and bend his knees, enduring hunger, heat, cold and pecking at the liver.

Prometheus suffered a lot, but he didn't give up, which made Zeus even angrier. His depression needs venting. Tracing back to the source, isn't the whole thing caused by that daredevil Epimetheus? Therefore, the supreme ruler on Olympus was very angry with him and decided to use him to punish mankind. He told his decision to the gods. The gods held a meeting on Mount Olympus and created a charming girl named Pandora. Then, they forced her to marry Epimetheus.

Epimetheus is a fool who has no opinion (as can be seen from his name). He asks his brother who is chained for advice. "Don't accept any gifts from Zeus," Prometheus told him. However, at the sight of the beautiful Pandora, Epimetheus was ecstatic. My brother's warning has long been put aside. He fell in love with Pandora at first sight and couldn't wait to marry her.

Before getting married, Zeus gave Pandora a box inlaid with pearls. "You shouldn't open it." Zeus said to her, "If you don't listen, you will regret it."

While the gods gave Episius' wife all kinds of talents, they also gave her a fatal flaw: curiosity. The more he persuades, the more likely Pandora is to open it.

The beautiful and charming Pandora impulsively tried to open it again and again, but she resisted according to Zeus' instructions. However, she always thinks about this box, and she can't eat well or sleep well. She misses it all the time and dreams about it at night. She was thin and gaunt. Curiosity tormented her.

One day, she couldn't bear it any longer. She opened the lid of the box, so all kinds of disasters such as famine, plague and war in the box flew out at once and spread quickly all over the world. Prometheus, the rescuer and doctor of mankind, saw that his creation was attacked by disaster and tortured by disease, and suddenly died for no reason. He was so sad that he almost fainted.

This is the story outline of Pandora and Pandora's Box. Our purpose today is to understand root-dor-"give "with the help of this myth and legend, and to expand related vocabulary. Some students said, I don't know the root. How can I remember? Don't memorize unless you have to. Don't have to memorize, remember this root and expand your vocabulary. How nice! The root is really not memorized. I have never advocated memorizing roots. Understanding is the key. As long as you have been exposed to simple sound change rules (please refer to our official WeChat account "Word House"), the roots really don't need to be memorized.

Let's look at the cognate simple word "date" of the root -dor-"give to". Yes, they are definitely the same source. Well, there is a wool relationship between "date" and "give". In fact, the word "date" originally refers to the date when both parties sign the letter at the end. When the ancient Romans marked the date at the end of letters or official documents, they usually wrote a phrase-Date Rome, which means "given in Rome". Over time, this behavior has gradually become a habit. /kloc-in the 6th century, the first word of the phrase "date" began as a key word to indicate "when and where letters or official documents were written" and gradually used to indicate "the date of writing or sending". In modern times, people simply use the word "date" (even the theme of doing things is removed), and the word "date" just comes from the change of the root -dor- sound:

Let's look at its cognates:

Traditional [tr? di？ [n] n] n. tradition, practice; One legend is that ...

Tra- (simplified form of prefix trans-: from one place to another) +root -dit- (giving) = tradition: "things passed down from generation to generation"-tradition and convention; Legend.

Edit ['edit] n.arrange, edit, publish, distribute and modify.

Word formation: e- (prefix ex-: out, variant of out)+root-dit-(to give) = edit: "give out, show, publish"-sorted out, edited and published.

Edition [i'di? Version, version, version

Word formation: edit (V V. collation, editing) +-ion (abstract noun suffix: something related to ...) =edition: "something related to editing, collation, and editing", edition, edition is related to publications.

Editor? ] Edit

Word formation: the word edit (V V. sorting and editing) +-or (noun suffix: meaning "…" = editor-editor.

Editorial [,edi't? :ri？ Editorial; Editorial; compilatory

Word formation: editor (n. editor)+-ial (noun or adjective suffix) =editorial: "related to editing"-editorial; Editorial; Editorial.

Anecdote ['? nikd？ Secret history, anecdote, anecdote

Word formation: an- (prefix un-: non-negative phonetic variant)+infix -ec- (same prefix ex-:out)+ root-dot-(give)+letter -e = anecdote: "not given, not published"-secret history.

Forgiveness ['forgiveness] n.forgive, forgive; would you please say that again. Forgive, forgive, forgive

Word composition: par- (prefix per-: complete) +root -don- (give) = pardon: "give it to you completely, leave everything to you" at your disposal. Isn't this the meaning of asking for forgiveness-forgive, forgive; Please say wait again.

The logic of the word pardon is exactly the same as that of the word pardon:

Forgive [f? Forgive, forgive.

Word composition: for- (with the same prefix per-: complete) +word give (v. Give) = give: "Give it all to you"-forgive, forgive.

Donate [d? Don't you know? Give away (money, etc.); agree

Word formation: root -don- (give, give) +-ate (verb suffix) = donation; Here.

Let's call it a day. Please refer to my personal introduction for a more detailed explanation of cognates and prefixes and suffixes.