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ArchivesDan Brown's etymological blunder
I won’t spoil it for you by revealing the Lost Symbol's plot, but I’d like to point out an etymological blunder as well as some other sloppiness I detected.
After escaping from prison, the book’s villain moves to Greece where he "...chose a Greek name— Andros Dareios—Andros meaning 'warrior'...”
On the one hand, Andros in not used as a first name in Greece. It *is* used in Cyprus as a nickname of Andreas, and Dan probably heard it from a Greek Cypriot friend of his ;-)
Furthermore Andros (Andreas) does *not* mean warrior - literally means "manly" and, figuratively, "brave".
Some more trivia:
* The masonic jargon-word "heredom" it is attributed to the Greek IEROS DOMOS (sacred building). Could be. However it is spelled in Greek as HEPOÄOMOÓ which is an utterly nonesense / pythonesque transliteration.
* Another tidbits that appears amusing to a native Greek speaker, which however do not qualify as an error: when in Greece, for Andros "...sucking moist arni (lamb) souvlakia right off the skewer became his new Ecstasy". This would be tantamount to saying that a munching on Double Wopper with cheese constitutes a sublime mystical gourmet experience. Go figure.
If Dan had taken the time to consult a fluent speaker of Greek, such sloppiness would have been avoided :-)
After escaping from prison, the book’s villain moves to Greece where he "...chose a Greek name— Andros Dareios—Andros meaning 'warrior'...”
On the one hand, Andros in not used as a first name in Greece. It *is* used in Cyprus as a nickname of Andreas, and Dan probably heard it from a Greek Cypriot friend of his ;-)
Furthermore Andros (Andreas) does *not* mean warrior - literally means "manly" and, figuratively, "brave".
Some more trivia:
* The masonic jargon-word "heredom" it is attributed to the Greek IEROS DOMOS (sacred building). Could be. However it is spelled in Greek as HEPOÄOMOÓ which is an utterly nonesense / pythonesque transliteration.
* Another tidbits that appears amusing to a native Greek speaker, which however do not qualify as an error: when in Greece, for Andros "...sucking moist arni (lamb) souvlakia right off the skewer became his new Ecstasy". This would be tantamount to saying that a munching on Double Wopper with cheese constitutes a sublime mystical gourmet experience. Go figure.
If Dan had taken the time to consult a fluent speaker of Greek, such sloppiness would have been avoided :-)
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