Today’s shout out goes to Rio De Janeiro! Welcome Rio! Thank you for listening! I would definitely like to visit one day given how much I enjoy Brazilian food and music. Did you know that the stars on Brazil's flag represent the sky over Rio on November 15, 1889, when the Republic was proclaimed?. You do now! And that fact takes us straight to today’s episode.

(Piano music)Hello, and welcome to Your Greek Word On A Sunday, a weekly, bite-size podcast for anyone curious on language, etymology and connections. I am your host, Emmanuela Lia and wherever you are in the world, if you want to entertain your brain for a few minutes, this is the podcast for you. Let's Go!

Κοσμείν (kosmin) is an Ancient Greek infinitive meaning ‘to adorn’ but also ‘to place things in order/ to arrange/ to tidy up’. Greeks still use all meanings although they barely use infinitives anymore in every day speech. The Ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras was in awe of how complex but structured nature is. He saw a connection between numbers and order. Measurable structure. Looking up in the sky he saw an ‘adorned structure’ and was convinced it could be studied and measured too despite its vastness. He was the first to use that double meaning noun to describe the universe. In English the word came around 1200 but it didn’t become popular until 1848 when Alexander Von Humboldt’s book about the universe was translated from German. The book was entitled ΚΟΣΜΟΣ/COSMOS

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