Greek Mythology Research Paper Essay

Do you know any historical background on the word giant? Greek and Roman mythology is present all around us. Many new and interesting words were created from the Greeks. There are many types of myths that we hear about including; gods, goddesses, mythical heroes, other heroes, monsters, and villains. When looking up these myths, research will show that many of the words we say today come from these gods and goddesses. An example of this is the words gigantic and gigantism comes from giant. The word giant has a long, unique, and mysterious background. According to dictionary. com, â€Å"Giant is very large; abnormally great development in size. †(dictionary. com) Prior to my search, I predicted that a giant was a very large man that lived in the forest and had no connection with either gigantic nor gigantism. I inferred this because of movies and books. When I saw the word gigantic I remember hearing it and I thought it meant a large person, but I had no idea it was related to Greek or Roman mythology. Gigantism puzzled me because I’ve never heard it before. As I came across the definition of gigantic, I found out that it meant very large which connects to giant and gigantism. (dictionary. com) upon conducting research, I learned more about the root word giant, coming across information about its etymology and actual story behind it. Perrizo 2 Giant’s roots go all the way back before gods or even humans existed. The etymology relates back to Greek mythology the giants were the children of Uranus and Gaea. They were involved in a conflict with the Olympian gods called the Gigantomachy, which was eventually settled when the hero Heracles decided to help the Olympians. The Greeks believed some giants lay buried from that time under the earth and that they resulted in earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Many stories have been written about giants in lots of cultures. In Norse mythology, the giants are the origin of most of various monsters, and in the eventual battle of Ragnarok the giants will storm Asgard and defeat them in war. The gods themselves were related to the giants by many marriages, and there are giants such as ? gir, Loki, Mimir and Ska? i, who have little difference in status to them. In Bulgarian mythology, giants called ispolini inhabited the Earth before modern humans. They lived in the mountains, fed on raw meat and often fought against dragons. Ispolini were afraid of blackberries which posed a danger of tripping and dying, so they offered sacrifices to that plant. Giants stand for the Basque people not willing to convert to Christianity who decides to stick to the old life style and customs in the forest. Sometimes they hold the secret of ancient techniques and wisdom unknown to the Christians, like in the legend of San Martin Txiki, while their most outstanding feature is their strength. It follows that in many legends all over the Basque territory the giants are held accountable for the creation of many stone formations, hills and old structures, with similar explanations provided in different spots. There are many similarities and differences in the words giant, gigantic, and gigantism. Gigantic is big: very large, tall, or bulky. Giant is a very tall imaginary creature: in fairy tales and legends, an imaginary being who resembles a human but is much taller, larger, and stronger. Perrizo 3 Gigantism is the quality of being giant: the quality or condition of being much taller, larger, or stronger than is usual. These three definitions are similar to each other because all of them have to do with being large. Today these words are all used to describe how tall, strong, or big someone is. All of these words also share the same Greek, Roman, and other origins. These he creatures. This particular word has a very long and precise background, whereas gigantic and gigantism have a short and not informational background. Not only is the word giant relevant in today’s world, famous playwright William Shakespeare alludes to the word in one of his plays. In Shakespeare’s play much ado about nothing, Claudio uses the word giant in act 1 scene 3. â€Å"He is then a giant to an ape; but then is an ape a doctor to such a man. †(line 2276) Shakespeare uses the monsters name as an illusion to illustrate the comparison between a giant, an ape, and man. Perhaps Shakespeare wanted to show the difference between stupid and so-called smart. Giant is being used to illustrate that a giant and an ape are two unintelligent creatures. Aside from Shakespeare’s use of the word, giant is used in the following quote from measure for measure. â€Å"O, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake, lest thou a fevorous life shouldest entertain, and six or seven winters more respect than a perpetual honor. Darest thou die? The sense of death is most apprehension; and the poor beetle that we tread upon, in corpual sufferance finds a pang as great as when a giant dies. † (isabell). The word giant is used in reference to emphasize the greatness of a giant dieing with Claudio dying. perrizo 4 Whether giant is used in Shakespeare or other forms of literature, the words etymology seems to be prevalent in today’s world. The word Is regularly used today, ranging from a gas company, to a disability center. The general meaning of giant hasn’t changed over time, but only people who are educated about the word know its true mythical meaning. For example gigantism organization is an organization for the tallest people in the world. I did not find a relevant industry on website on giant or gigantic. When writing this paper, I learned a plethora of information about the word giant, and its ethnic background. Not only did I learn about this interesting monster, I gained experience on learning how to evaluate reliable sources and search the web cautiously. This essay taught me that the majority of the words we use today have an origins that dates back to Roman and Greek times. Giant originated the words gigantic and gigantism, and I found a great deal of information that connected giant to both of the other words. Furthermore, locating the information necessary to complete the project was easy and fast, but then I began to write my report, I had to think about where to start and how to organize the information I had into a cohesive essay. Finally,, I learned that people can misconstrue the meanings of words easily if they do not understand or use the words correctly. All people need to develop their communication skills and look up unfamiliar words or inquire about the origin of words so they learn about the amazing history of our amazing language. Perrizo 5 Works cited et, al. http://dictionary. reference. com/browse/giant. N. p. , 6 2012. Web. 6 Nov 2012. burton, robert. http://www. bartleby. com/100/151. 5. html. N. p.. Web. 11/6/2012. encyclopedia britannica online . † http://www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/232937/giant. encyclopedia Britannihjca, 24 2012. Web. 7 Nov 2012. Lindemans, Micha F.. â€Å"giant. † http://www. pantheon. org/articles/g/giant. html. N. p. , 03 1997. Web. feb 24 2004. shakespeare. â€Å"merchant of venice. † http://www. opensourceshakespeare. org/concordance/o/? i=768422&pleasewait=1&msg=sr. university 2012. Web. 2007-2012.