Sitting in Artistico, in her designer-label vest, did she realise the etymological significance of wearing an item of clothing with the ‘Emporio Armani’ logo?Historically, the Kalymnian village of Emporios was once a port: a place where merchants came to buy and sell and so took its name from the Greek word ‘emporos’, meaning ‘traveller’ or ‘merchant’.
The Romans lifted another word from the same root - ‘emporion’ - and, as ‘emporium’, gave it to the world as alternative (and slightly grandiose) name for a shop or store.
So, an item of clothing from Italy’s Emporio Armani is certainly a perfectly appropriate garment to wear on a visit to Emporios!Indeed, it's a reminder that - even if we do not always understand each other's languages - we should never forget the extent to which we are indebted to one another for words which we daily use with scarcely a thought to their origin and derivation.
Vocabulary is both the bond that unites and the barrier that divides...
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