Greek Mythology and English Words

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SIREN
An electronic device producing a sound as a warning: a police car siren.

Sirens lived on an island off southern Italy. They were mythical monsters, half woman and half bird, who, by their sweet singing, lured mariners to destruction on the rocks surrounding their island. And if they were not shipwrecked, the sweetness of the singing was such that the listeners forgot everything and died of hunger.

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PANIC

In the Greek religion, Pan, a god of forests and fields, of flocks and shepherds dwelt in the woodlands, so any weird sound or eerie sigh emanating at night from the mountains or valleys was attributed to him. Pan was a mischievous creature and loved to dart out of underbrush and shout at people just to startle them. A panic is caused by overpowering fear.

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TANTALIZE
To tantalize is to tease or disappoint by promising something desirable and then withholding it or, as Dr. Johnson put it, "to torment by the show of pleasures that cannot be reached."

The legendary King Tantalus divulged to mortals the secrets of the gods, which had been entrusted to him by Zeus. He was thereupon condemned to an eternal and peculiar punishment. Forced to stand in the underworld in a pool of clear water, Tantalus was forbidden to drink or to eat. Every time he bent down to slake his thirst, the waters of Hades receded from him. A tree with clusters of luscious fruit hung just above his head. But every time he extended his hand, he found that the fruit was just out of reach. Tantalus suffered agony from thirst, hunger,
and unfulfilled anticipation.

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For further reading on the stories of English words you can refer back to

Morton S. Freeman “A New Dictionary of Eponyms"
Oxford University Press, USA | 1997 | 304 pages | PDF | 13,3 MB

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