Oh, I'll tell you what's in a name. I will.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 at 8:54AM With everything going on in Greece at the moment, I thought it was important to stop and ask: "What's the Papandreou thing? Do you have to be named 'Papandreou' to be elected Prime Minister?"
Turns out, no, you don't. But it may help. The current PM, Giorgos Papandreou, is the son of former PM Andreas Papandreou and grandson of former PM Georgios Papandreou. The next most common surname I found was Karamanlis. Also somewhat of a dynasty, as the most recent, Kostas Karamanlis, was the nephew of former PM and President Constantine Karamanlis. Kostas (or Costas) is a nickname for Constantine. I think that's way cool.
Favorite name on the list of former Greek PMs? Konstantinos Logothetopoulos. Wow! Talk about a name with status. Konstantinos, from Emperor Konstantin, of Byzantium/"New Rome," of course. And then Logothetis, the origin of Logothetopoulos, also Byzantine, for a high-ranking ecclesiastical dignitary or the keeper of the emperor's seal or the person who wrote his speeches and issued his decrees. Etymologically speaking, the "word putter." Logos + thetes.
Sure, I could talk about the alarming state of the Greek economy, and the chilling parallels with our own, but why? Really, why? Plenty of other people have already drawn these connections and, frankly, I'm kind of sleepy. I'd much rather ponder the lineage and etymology of leadership. Especially the etymology. Words! I love 'em. And if that's wrong...well, I don't want to be right.
I do have a powerful hankering to watch HBO's John Adams, again, though.
Reader Comments (2)
Awesome post.
If I ever become a speech writer, do you think it's okay if I put "Logothetis" as the title on my business card? Because, you know how I am about business cards. They make me a little cranky. And I would love for people to ask what it means. Not so I can sound all smart, but just so we can have a good conversation about my business card.