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Palladium
Pallas Athene, in Latin Pallas Minerva, was a ancient goddess, called
Pallas on account of the spear she brandished. According to classical
legend, the wooden statue of Pallas, kept in the Palladium, a citadel of
Troy, fell directly from heaven. Pallas preserved the safety of the city
of Troy, until the Greeks stole the statue and Troy fell. The London
Palladium derived its name from the idea that the ancient Palladium, like
the Roman Coliseum, was a place for pleasure and circuses.
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A modern statue of
Pallas Athene. |
pamphlet
In the Middle Ages, there was a popular love poem, written in Latin,
Pamphilus seu de Amore, or briefly known as Pamphilus, which in
Greek, means ‘loved by all’. When the printing press arrived, the
three-page poem often appeared on its own in booklet form, and the title
became known as Pamphlet.
panacea
The Roman god of medicine, Aesculapius, had seven daughters, including
Panacea and Hygeia. Panaceas' name means ‘all-healing’. She could cure
anything. In the Middle Ages, alchemists, as well as trying to change base
metals into gold, conducted experiments to find a potion to cure all.
Several dubious panaceas were invented including balsam of Fierabras,
Aladdin's Ring and Prince Ahmed's Apple, not of which lived up to its
pompous name. The preamble of the ancient Hippocratic Oath used to say “I
swear by Apollo, the healer Aesculapius and Hygeia and Panacea and all the
gods and goddesses..”
pander
The verb pander means to take advantage of the vices of others. It
originally meant to act as an intermediary in clandestine love affairs.
Pandarus was a character in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, who acted
as a go-between between the lovers. His name came to be used for an
arranger of sexual liaisons. In Shakespeare's play, Pandarus ends up with
the pox and in his finale says ‘let all pitiful goers-between be called to
the world's end after my name; call them all Pandars.’
Pandora's box
Pandora's box was what we now might call ‘a can of worms.’ In Greek
mythology, Pandora was the first woman, created by Zeus. Her name means
‘all gifts’. She was fashioned out of clay, given clothes by Athena,
granted beauty by Aphrodite, and taught cunning and treachery by Hermes.
The gods also gave her a sealed box containing all the evils in the world.
There was only one good thing in the box, Hope, ant that was right at the
bottom. Pandora was told not to open the box but she was a woman and could
not contain her curiosity and so she opened it and all the evils in the
world flew out.
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Pandora thinking outside
the box |
panic
In Greek mythology, Pan was
a god of field and forest and of flocks and shepherds. He had the torso of
a man and the legs, horns, and ears of a goat. He lived in the woodlands,
where any weird sound was attributed to him. He was a mischievous creature
and would scurry around the woods shouting at people in order to startle
them. So panic is an overwhelming fear without any rational cause. A panic
is caused by overpowering fear. In its theatrical sense, however, panic
has an opposite connotation—to amuse to the point that the audience is
hysterical with laughter.
pants Pants is an abbreviation
of pantaloons. Before they were invented, men wore of high rank wore
breeches and silken hose. expected of a member of royalty or another
person of high rank. The original Pantaleone was one of the patron saints
of Venice, St Pantaleone, meaning is ‘all lion’. A character called
Pantaleone began to appear in Italian comedies. He was a buffoon consumed
by lechery and was always outwitted by the women he chased. He appeared in
a ridiculous costume of spectacles, skin-tight breeches, and stockings
that ballooned out above the knees. The name pantaloon became the name for
a clown and also for the type of trousers that he wore. As fashions
changed, pants became popular and breeches became obsolete, so men today
wear clowns’ clothes.
pariah
A Paraiyar was a member of a middle order social group or ‘caste’ in
India. Paraiyars were musicians and were assigned to play drums at Hindu
festivals. When the British came to India, they employed these people as
domestic servants. Mistakenly thinking them to be of the lowest caste, the
British adopted their name to mean outcast and corrupted the word to
‘pariah’.
Parkinson's disease
James Parkinson (1755–1824) was a British surgeon who first described this
condition in a paper published in 1817, An Essay on the Shaking Palsy. The
disease is known as shaking palsy or paralysis agitans. Parkinson
conducted much medical research and was one of the first doctors to
describe appendicitis and to state that the puncture of the appendix can
cause death. Parkinson was elected to the House of Commons and fought for
advanced health care and the care of the insane. He was suspected of
participating in a plot to assassinate George III by means of a poisoned
dart, and was examined before the Privy Council but he was found not
guilty of complicity.
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Dr James Parkinson of
Parkinson's disease |
Parthian shot, parting shot
Thee men of Parthia were expert soldiers. They rode their horses fully
armed and defeated the Roman army in many battles, beginning with the
defeat of Crassus in 53 B.C. The Parthians were known for their aggressive
strategy. One of their manoeuvres was to flee the battleground, and as the
enemy began to rejoice, they turned and discharged their bows. This
stratagem has come to be known as the Parthian shot or the parting shot.
pasteurize
Louis Pasteur (1822–1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist who
became a professor of physics at Dijon in 1848, and later professor of
chemistry at Strasbourg. Pasteur's chief interest was in lactic and
alcoholic fermentation. He discovered that beverages be raised to high
temperatures and then rapidly cooled, a treatment that rids them of
disease-ridden bacteria. The idea revolutionized the wine and beer
industries and saved countless lives. Pasteur also saved the French silk
industry by isolating the bacilli of a disease, which killed silkworms. He
developed a vaccine to immunize dogs against anthrax but he could not be
sure that the treatment would work for people. On one occasion, he came
across a young boy who had been bitten by a wild dog. Pasteur decided to
inoculate the boy and proved that the vaccine worked for humans.
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Louis Pasteur who
invented pasteurisation. |
Peeping Tom The expression comes
through Lady Godiva’s ride through Coventry. According to legend, Lady
Godiva was vexed with her husband, Lord Leofric of Coventry, for imposing
exorbitant taxes on the people. She threatened that if he did not reduce
the taxes, she would ride naked through Coventry. When her husband
scoffed, she was true to he word and mounted her horse naked to parade
through the streets. The householders in respect all closed their windows,
except one citizen, Tom the tailor, who feasted his eyes on her Ladyship’s
nakedness and was miraculously struck blind. After this, Leofric was
persuaded to reduce the taxes and anyone who looks where he should not
became known as ‘a peeping tom’.
Pernod
This concoction was invented by a
French doctor, Pierre Ordinaire, who fled to Switzerland during the French
Revolution. There he practiced medicine and made up herbal remedies, some
of which worked better if suffused in alcohol. His housekeeper used to
sell these preparations in a shop. One customer, Henri Dubied, set great
store by one particular medicine and asked for the recipe so that he could
set up production. He opened a factory with his son-in-law, Henri-Louis
Pernod, and produced on a large scale. When Dubied died, Pernod took over
the business, which he named Pernod.
petrel, stormy petrel
Petrels are small dark sea birds that, when in flight, appear to be
touching the water alternately with each foot, as if they were walking on
it. This habit is particularly noticeable during a storm. To older
mariners, this appearance was reminiscent of St. Peter, who walked on the
Sea of Galilee (Matthew 14:22-33). The birds are sometimes called stormy
petrels as they are most often seen in stormy weather. It used to be
thought that they were the souls of drowned and shipwrecked sailors come
to warn of the approaching storm.
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A petrel apparently
walking on the water like St Peter. |
Pipsqueak
refers to a person or group of no power or influence. The word was coined
by Sir Eric Geddes (1875–1937) a Government Minister during World War I.
Geddes was one of those politicians who demanded full war reparations from
Germany after the war. He is famous for saying “We will squeeze Germany
like a lemon until the pips squeak”. He policy was not favoured by the
government in the 1920’s as Britain tried to bring in Germany as a
potential ally against Bolshevik Russia. Geddes fell out of favour and
soon became known as ‘Old Pipsqueak’.
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