Simply put, it is about time that somehow words relate to current affairs. Everyone is talking about the economy, and throwing words around with financial implications. As much as it seems to make sense to us and feeds a growing feeling of panic, it seems appropriate to wonder where this nightmarish word has come from.
The word economy originates from the Greeks, as with so many of our systems of management.The meaning in direct translation is "house management" (from oeconomia). This is derived from the idea of a physical marketplace in Greece, with the buying, selling, and trading of goods to support one's own family. As nation-states were seen to be families of a sort under a single ruling house, it is no surprise that this word eventually evolved to take on its national/political affiliation in the mid-1600s.After uncovering an obvious link between Greek national organization and our own world's application of their terms, a question of language appropriation comes to mind. Why choose the Greeks, of all other ancient classical societies? Why not Egyptians, a culture that occupies a certainly exotic and yet equally elegant construction in modern society? So many of our terms come from ancient Greece, both in the political and economic sphere as well as in academic schools of thought. My conclusion is their proximity to the European mainland in relation to other ancient civilizations; the Renaissance in Europe was still conducted under the constrains of limited technology, and thus what was re-discovered in the arts was re-discovered in Greece. Even the Enlightenment, which at some points overlaps with the discoveries of the Renaissance, continues to draw from Greek ideas.
