Middlesex: Book One

The Greek "leito" means "public" and "ergon" means "work"--the original meaning of "liturgy" focuses on the minister's duty to the people. But for the narrator, attendance at a liturgy is a religious duty that he would choose to avoid.

The Greek "hybris" originally meant "presumption toward the gods." It is related to "hybrid" which originally meant "mongrel" but now means "the offspring of genetically dissimilar parents." The connection between the two words alludes to many Greek myths (particularly the Minotaur); it also describes the narrator's origins: his parents' hubris, which can be traced to their marriage despite being first cousins, created a hybrid child who is both male and female.

The Greek "khroma" means "color" and "soma" means "body"--scientists discovered that staining chromosomes with basic dyes allows for identification and study. But the example sentence does not have a scientific tone. It describes chromosome number 5 as a hideout for miscreants ("a person without moral scruples") or revolutionaries ("a radical supporter of political or social change"). This shows the narrator's conflicted attitude towards his genes.

The Greek "hormon" means "that which sets in motion." The ancient Greek father of medicine Hippocrates believed that hormones were vital principles (the connection to glands took another two thousand years). The example sentence suggests that the "certain hormone" (dihydrotestosterone) is not entirely vital, because the narrator can live, in a complicated way, without it.

A body part that is vestigial, such as the appendix, was fully developed in our ancestors but has since lost most of its necessity, so it's no longer fully developed in us.

The definition shows how the word is used ironically in the example sentence. The beads might be considered a legacy passed down through the generations, but the worrying attached to them is not a gift of personal property that descendants would want to inherit.

The word is used literally and figuratively throughout the novel. It refers to actual silkworms and to characters whose appearances and circumstances undergo change. There is also an allusion to Ovid's Metamorphoses, which includes many Greek myths where characters are transformed into plants and animals. The irony here is that the silkworms Desdemona works with would not get a chance to metamorphose because coming out of the cocoons would break the silk.

The example sentence refers to the actual shape of the wedding dance (a circle, not a line). But it also connects to lineage. The Greek "patriarkhes" means "chief or head of a family" and this can be broken down into "pater" which means "father" and "arkhein" which means "to rule." Many Greek myths emphasize the heroes' patriarchal lineage. In his focus on his modern Greek-American family, the narrator gives equal space to mothers and fathers.