A lot of people have been asking me about the name of the blog and how I came up with it. Since the topic of this post is consistent with the theme and the purpose of my blog, I am delighted to share the word by word breakdown of the term Eudaimonic Polyglot.
The Greek language, an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is often used along with Latin to forge new words for other languages. It has intrigued me for a while now and will continue to do so for as long as I live. After taking up a course on Greek and Roman Mythology on Coursera, I was inspired to use a Greek expression as my blog name.
eu (greek) —> good
daimon (greek) —> spirit
Eudaimonia, a central concept in Aristotelian philosophy and often anglicized as eudaemonia or eudemonia, is a Greek translation for “happiness” – the highest human good. Aristotle, however, argues that if life is to be worth living, it must surely be for something that is an end in itself i.e. desirable for its own sake. Happiness or contentment is a state of mind that stems from or is accompanied by the accomplishment of one or more actions – actions compatible with our virtues. Although the true definition of the term is debatable depending on whom you ask, what Aristotle means by the aforementioned term is “human flourishing” – as opposed to growth or nourishment; something that distinguishes humans from other organisms, thanks to our unique aptitude for reason.
As for the term polyglot:
A polyglot is a person who is known to speak several languages. Apart from English, I speak Gujarati (my mother tongue), Hindi, Marathi, French, Spanish and a teensy bit of Brazilian Portuguese. I fell in love with this word, pompous as it may be, the first time I learnt it and have wanted to use it since. 😀
Pic source: http://www.google.com
I want to evolve as a language learner, a teacher and a linguistics enthusiast over time in order to gain a better perspective of the world we live in and to help promote cultural understanding within the society ! 😀 Hence the name.
Eudaimonic Polyglot 