Thursday, 14 August 2014

Typology of Tears and some Etymologies


Tears

The three types of tears are classified on how and why they are produced.

Reflex Tears: the eyes' response to an irritant, such as dust or an eyelash.

Basal Tears: the tiny tears constantly released to keep the cornea lubricated.

Psychic Tears: these tears are triggered when the individual is experiencing extreme emotions like sorrow, joy and anger. (Basically, this is why people cry when they're sad.)


Etymologies

The etymologies are of ‘zodiac’, ‘sphinx’ and ‘etymology’.

Zodiac: a literal interpretation is ‘circle of little animals’. It derives from the Greek ‘zodiakos’, which was formed from ‘kyklos’ (meaning cycle/circle) and ‘zodiaion’, the diminutive form of ‘zoion’ (animal).

Sphinx: there is debate among scholars as to whether ‘sphinx’ is from the Greek or Egyptian language. If it was from Greek, it would be from ‘sphing’ (to squeeze); if from Egyptian, it would be a corruption of ‘shesepankh’ (living image). A ram-headed sphinx is called an Eriosphinge, and a hawk-headed sphinx is a Hieracophinge. Tails can be ended in a snake head. Male sphinxes can be known as androphinxes.

Etymology: it is derived from the Greek ‘etymologia’, meaning the study of the true sense of the word. This is from ‘etymon’, the neuter term for ‘etymos’ (real/actual) that is related to ‘eteos’ (true).


No comments:

Post a Comment