{"id":48252,"date":"2017-06-07T16:58:27","date_gmt":"2017-06-07T13:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/action-crete-homes.com\/the-greek-word-that-cant-be-translated-2\/"},"modified":"2023-06-06T02:54:43","modified_gmt":"2023-06-05T23:54:43","slug":"the-greek-word-that-cant-be-translated-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/action-crete-homes.com\/el\/the-greek-word-that-cant-be-translated-2\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0397 \u03b5\u03bb\u03bb\u03b7\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u03ae \u03bb\u03ad\u03be\u03b7 \u03c0\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b4\u03b5\u03bd \u03bc\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03c6\u03c1\u03ac\u03b6\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

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\u2018Love of honour\u2019, its official translation, is a utilitarian yet insufficient attempt to convey the constellation of virtues squeezed into the word\u2019s four syllables.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css=”.vc_custom_1495791117018{padding-top: 50px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]In his second summer in the lonesome Greek village of Tolo on the east coast of the Peloponnese, German senior civil servant and writer Andreas Deffner committed a cultural blunder that led him to the celebrated concept of Greek philotimo<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood morning, how are you?\u2019 Grandma Vangeli\u00f3, owner of the pension where he was staying, warmly greeted him one day.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, so,\u201d Deffner sleepily answered.<\/p>\n

Next thing the German tourist knew, he was sweating over a bowl of delicious, steaming-hot chicken soup, the watchful eyes of Grandma Vangeli\u00f3 and her daughter Irini glued on him. When Irini started wildly gesticulating at her brother Pericles, who had just arrived, Deffner broke out in cold sweat. \u201cWhat\u2019ve I done?\u201d he asked, warily.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”39712″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=”” css=”.vc_custom_1496858568542{padding-top: 50px !important;}” title=”The first reference to philotimo dates back to the dawn of Greek classical period “][\/vc_column][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

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“You said to Vangeli\u00f3 that you weren\u2019t feeling well?”\u00a0Pericles replied.<\/p>\n

“I beg your pardon? I just said I was so, so.\u201d<\/p>\n

“If you answer \u2018so, so\u2019, locals think you’re sick and their sense of philotimo urges them to heal you, thus the chicken soup,\u201d Pericles replied, roaring with laughter.<\/p>\n

The guest sighed with relief. \u201cThis was my first experience with philotimo, and certainly not the last,\u201d Deffner, who later wrote a book on the topic<\/a>, told me.<\/p>\n

The exact meaning of philotimo is hotly debated, given that the word belongs to the pantheon of Greek lexical items that defy easy explanation. \u2018Love of honour\u2019, its official translation, is a utilitarian yet insufficient attempt to convey the constellation of virtues squeezed into the word\u2019s four syllables. When I asked various Greeks about their own perception of philotimo, I received very different responses.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing the right thing,\u201d Pinelopi Kalafati, a doctor, told me. \u201cLoving and honouring God and your society,\u201d said priest Nikolas Papanikolaou. “Striving for perfection,\u201d answered actor Kostis Thomopoulos. \u201cStepping out from your comfort zone to help someone in need,\u201d suggested Tatiana Papadopoulou, a volunteer in Malakasa detention camp for refugees.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”39717″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=”” css=”.vc_custom_1496855808815{padding-top: 50px !important;}” title=”Philotimo was triggered by intense emotion and some degree of intimacy”][\/vc_column][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

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It seems that not only does the word remain untranslatable, but even Greeks themselves have trouble agreeing on a single definition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mythology that accompanies this elusive concept is without precedent. Indeed, the word cannot be translated precisely to any other language,\u201c said Vassilios P Vertoudakis, lecturer in Ancient Greek philology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. \u201cAll the same, philotimo has become one of the building blocks of the Greek disposition because of the unique standing of Greece in relation to what we call the West.\u201d<\/p>\n

He explained that philotimo comes from the Ancient Greek word philotimia (\u03c6\u03b9\u03bb\u03bf\u03c4\u03b9\u03bc\u03af\u03b1), of which the first attested written reference dates to the dawn of the Greek classical period (6th and 7th Centuries BC) in the writings of lyric poet Pindar. For Pindar and other early writers, the word meant love of honour or distinction, or ambition, but often in a negative way. In mythology, for example, Achilles’ philotimo was wounded when King Agamemnon took away Queen Briseis, his prize for bravery on the battlefield.<\/p>\n

It was only after the consolidation of democracy in classical Athens around the 4th and 5th Centuries BC, when competition was replaced by co-operation, that the word gained a more positive connotation. At that time, \u201ca man with philotimo signified someone who loves to receive the praises of his city, but first serves the community,\u201d Vertoudakis said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”39715″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=”” css=”.vc_custom_1496856437594{padding-top: 50px !important;}” title=”Greeks have trouble agreeing on a single definition of philotimo”][\/vc_column][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

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The concept really took off around the 15th Century in the High Middle Ages, when Ottoman rulers enslaved Greece, forced a large part of the population into subsistence farming through heavy taxation and limited education, and cut each region off from both the rest of the country and Western Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the West was experiencing Enlightenment and developing modern states that tied together individuals under the rule of law and an abstract sense of responsibility, the subjugated and inward-looking Greeks were bound by pride, localism and interpersonal relationships,\u201d Vertoudakis said. \u201cInstead of developing the kind of institutional consciousness seen in Western Europe, Greek communities were imbued with philotimo, which was triggered not by law and logic but intense emotion and some degree of intimacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

And this emotional side to the national character can be seen throughout modern Greek history. In May 1941, when the Axis powers launched an airborne attack<\/a> on the legendary Minoan island of Crete, locals not only grabbed kitchen knives or unsophisticated weapons to go out and fight the enemy, but also trudged through the towering, rugged mountains and steep gorges of Crete to find the best hideouts for the British and Australian soldiers. Neither the fact that they were half-starved due to the Nazi-induced Great Famine nor the death penalty for sheltering soldiers fazed them; their sense of duty, honour and courage took precedence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”39714″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=”” css=”.vc_custom_1496856620726{padding-top: 50px !important;}” title=”Residents of Kos help rescue refugees in the Eastern Aegean Sea”][\/vc_column][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Almost 76 years later, locals on the islands of Lesbos, Chios and Kos, places renowned for their beauty and touristic prowess \u2013 yet all in years of deep recession \u2013 have been jumping in boats to rescue refugees reaching the Eastern Aegean shores in droves. Some have even been witnessed plunging in icy waters as the rickety boats approach the islands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are you congratulating me, my children?\u201d asked 86-year-old Emilia Kamvisi<\/a> when journalists asked her why she and her friends, 90-year-old Efstratia Mavrapidou and 86-year-old Maritsa Mavrapidou \u2013 who were later nominated for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize<\/a> \u2013 go to the coast of Lesbos every day to help weary female refugees and their children. \u201cWhat special am I doing? Wouldn\u2019t you do the same?\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

Also nominated was 41-year-old fisherman, Stratis Valiamos, who often takes his tiny wooden boat<\/a> into the Aegean to rescue people off his own accord. \u201cI\u2019m out fishing, I can see people shouting for help. What can I do? Pretend I can\u2019t see? Pretend I can\u2019t hear? That\u2019s the right thing to do\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe may not return with our nets full of fish, but our hearts are warm,\u201d Diamantis Zannikos, a fisherman-rescuer from Chios told me. \u201cWe have philotimo.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”39713″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=”” css=”.vc_custom_1496856955910{padding-top: 50px !important;}” title=”Fisherman Stratis Valiamos (right) uses his boat to rescue refugees from the Aegean”][\/vc_column][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]I am sure Kamvisi, Valiamos and Zannikos are all uninterested in whether philotimo is an emotional crutch or an indefinable cultural trait. For the hundreds of fishermen, housewives, retirees, teachers, volunteers, artists and students who wait by the beach every day to offer dry clothes, water, food and shelter, and open their arms and homes to people fleeing war and terror, the emotional and moral satisfaction drawn from exhibiting philotimo far outweighs any attempt at conceptualising it. For them, philotimo is simply a way of being.<\/p>\n

Deffner, meanwhile, is packing his suitcases for one more summer holiday with Grandma Vangeli\u00f3 and family.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is your definition of philotimo?\u201d I asked him.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”39718″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=”” css=”.vc_custom_1496859507146{padding-top: 50px !important;}” title=”The harbour as a welcoming arm”][\/vc_column][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]\u201cTwo to three positive thoughts, one litre zest for life, 500 grams of hospitality, 10 drops of sympathy, an ounce of pride, dignity and your inner guide,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

Source:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/travel\/story\/20170605-the-greek-word-that-cant-be-translated[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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