A drop of history…

Since the beginning of the year we are facing a new life, obliged to follow new rules, change habits, avoid friends and use some specific words in our everyday vocabulary. Among our most used words are epidemic, pandemic, coronavirus etc.

Let’s have a look at the meaning of these words as well as their differences. Epidemic means that a disease is spreading rapidly in a community or district. Endemic means that a disease is spreading regularly (coming and going) in a community. Last, Pandemic means that a disease is spreading rapidly in one or many countries. All of them include the word “demic”. It originates from the Greek “demos”, which means public, as in democracy (public criticism/opinion).

Now we are facing this terrible Pandemic, which is affecting the whole planet. The word “pan” means everywhere. Pan is a God in Greek Mythology and he is able to suddenly appear anywhere he wants, a power he used to scare and terrify people. The common word “panic” comes from the god Pan!

Historically, the first mention of an epidemic/pandemic phenomenon can be found in Homer’s epic poem Ilias, which dates back 2,700 years. Homer was unable to explain so many deaths in the Greek army, so he assumes that the god Apollo was angry and fired invisible poisoned arrows at the Greeks.

Finally, “corona” means crown and “virus” comes from the Latin word “vita”, which comes from the Greek word “vios” or “bios” and means life (as in biology, etc.). Fortunately, life (vios!) in Saanenland and Gstaad is safe despite the spread of the pandemic all over Europe, so we are lucky to enjoy nature and the dreamy landscapes of our area. Finally, let’s put all of our new life rules and the new vocabulary under a newly coined term: covidnomics!

YANNIS SIATOPOULOS