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did the craftsman Daedalus get his name from the existing Greek/Latin roots, or was it the other way around?
When looking at the etymology of a term, the linguist would look to see how the term was moved from one language to another. Whether the Greeks called expert craftsmen daidalos (in honor of the mythical guy) or if the actual craftsman was called Daidalos in honor of the existing term for craftsman is an unknown. How the culture treated the coining of words/names like that is a little irrelevant to the study of the word's etymology.
Case in point: bandaid. In America, this is the generic term for the medical bandage one puts over cuts. Bandaid is actually a trademarked name for a product. To most Americans, a bandaid is a bandaid even if it is made by Cuts-R-Us. To the Greeks, an expert craftsman may have been called Daidalos or daidalos because they may have been synonomous.
I think the word came into our language because of its mythical aura.
From the site http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/1664/preface.html, I took:
Also meaning "creative," as well as "artistic and skillful," is the term daedal [L daedalus], after Daedalus, the legendary builder of the fantastic Cretan labyrinth.
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted daedal Anonymous 06/21/01 04:34 PM Re: daedal maverick 06/21/01 04:48 PM Re: daedal tsuwm 06/21/01 05:08 PM Re: daedal Fiberbabe 06/21/01 05:15 PM Re: daedal tsuwm 06/21/01 05:18 PM Re: daedal Brandon 06/21/01 05:00 PM Re: daedal NicholasW 06/22/01 08:40 AM
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