Why do so many boat have Greek names?

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

I have noticed that there are so many boas that have Greek names. I would expect to see Greek names from Mythology but there are also many names used from everyday Greek language. Is it because it sounds exotic? or the boats are purchased in Greece with Greek names already on. Do people know what the actual names mean in English?

 

[Sans Bateau]

Not mine.

 

[Seajet]

I know of at least one boat given a Greek name after the owners enjoyed a charter holiday there.

 

[gulinga]

mines russian.

 

[interloper]

It's because Greek sounds sophisticated.

I grew up hearing the Divine Liturgy in Greek. Though I understood very little of it, it sounded very profound. Now when I hear it in English, it sounds like a bunch of barely coherent rambling.

 

[Nerissa]

Cos so many of us got into sailing through flotilla holidays in the Med?

 

[Jonas]

Where there are waves, there are always bubbles.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Ours is called Eos, goddess of the dawn. Had the name when we bought her, but we like it.

 

[Evadne]

I have noticed that there are so many boas that have Greek names. I would expect to see Greek names from Mythology but there are also many names used from everyday Greek language. Is it because it sounds exotic? or the boats are purchased in Greece with Greek names already on. Do people know what the actual names mean in English?

Evadne, a nymph in the Greek pantheon, daughter of Poseiden and Pitane and the mother of a child by Apollo. Her name also begins with "e" for Elizabethan.

 

[FWB]

AEOLUS the ruler of the winds.

 

[Uricanejack]

I think it has something to do with the public school obsesion with greek, latin and clasical studies.
though I can sugest a few good modern ones.

kebab.
Donair.
Spanikopita.
Kleftico.
Bougasta
Baclava

I think I am getting hungry.

 

[gjbentley]

The Greeks had Gods with different powers, strengths and weaknesses. Can you see the similarity with yachts ?

Greek boats recognise the spritual relationship with the sea by having an "evil eye" painted on the bow to ward of bad karma. Not sure I would want one on my bow - but having a yacht with the name ATHENA is a good substitute !

 

[Blueboatman]

Quote''Why do so many boat have Greek names?''

Because they got there first?
The Greek lexicon of brevity encapsulates, in one 21st C word, that which sounds a bit tedious to write longhand along the hull perhaps..?

''Solent coastguard, Solent coastguard, this is The spirit of the wind that blows to power a mighty adventure....Over''

I quite like Kebab(s) tho

 

[cmedsailor]

I think it has something to do with the public school obsesion with greek, latin and clasical studies.
though I can sugest a few good modern ones.

kebab. - souvlaki
Donair. - gyros
Spanikopita. - spanakopita
Kleftico. - correct!
Bougasta - correct!
Baclava - correct!

I think I am getting hungry.

You got me hungry as well!!!

 

[aquaplane]

Mine is a Greek mythological creature so whoever named it chose the name of one of them.

From Wiki,
Centaurs, a race of half-man, half-horse beings.
Asbolus
Chariclo, wife of the centaur Chiron
Chiron, the eldest and wisest of the Centaurs. The ancient Trainer of Heroes.
Eurytion

Not sure about the eldest and wisest bit but I'm glad it's not Asbolus, that sounds rude.

This sounded quite fitting:
Like the satyrs, centaurs were notorious for being wild and lusty, overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, given to violence when intoxicated, and generally uncultured delinquents.
I didn't recognise this though:
Chiron, by contrast, was intelligent, civilized and kind, but he was not related directly to the other centaurs.[2] He was known for his knowledge and skill with medicine.

Anyway, we kept the name.

 

[Sybarite]

I have noticed that there are so many boas that have Greek names. I would expect to see Greek names from Mythology but there are also many names used from everyday Greek language. Is it because it sounds exotic? or the boats are purchased in Greece with Greek names already on. Do people know what the actual names mean in English?

I didn't change the name of mine when I bought it because administravely it's a pain in France.

From Wiki:

Sybaris (Ancient Greek: Σύβαρις; Italian: Sibari) was an ancient Greek city on the western shore of the Gulf of Taranto in Bruttium, an ancient region of Italy. The wealth of the city during the 6th century BC was so great that the Sybarites became synonymous with pleasure and luxury. The modern town of Sibari lies near the ruins of the Greek city.

By the sixth century BC, Sybaris had amassed great wealth and a huge population as a result of the rich farming land nearby and its policy of admitting settlers of other nations to its citizenry, a practice shunned by other Greek colonies. During this period the wealth and power of Sybaris was greatly envied and admired by the rest of the Hellenic world. It minted its own coinage and pioneered the concept of intellectual property. According to Athenaeus the latter notion was developed to ensure that cooks could exclusively profit from their signature dishes for a whole year.

Use as byword for luxury

In English, the words "sybarite" and "sybaritic" have become bywords for opulent luxury and outrageous pleasure seeking. One story, mentioned in Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), has a Sybarite sleeping on a bed of rose petals, but unable to get to sleep because one of the petals was folded over. The best known humorous anecdote of the Sybarites concerns their defeat in battle. Atheneaus relates that to amuse themselves the Sybarite cavalrymen trained their horses to dance to pipe music. Armed with pipes, an invading army from nearby Croton assailed the Sybarite cavalry with music. The attacking forces easily passed through the dancing horses and their helpless riders, and conquered the city.

The waters from the Sybaris River were believed to give men thick hair.

Alternative explanations for the fall

The destruction of Sybaris was seen by some ancient writers as divine vengeance upon the Sybarites for their pride, arrogance, and excessive luxury (oops...!). According to Atheneaus the oracle of Delphi foretold the Sybarites that war and internal conflict awaited them if they would honor man more than the gods. Later in his work he cites Phylarchus, who wrote that the Sybarites invoked the anger of Hera when they murdered thirty ambassadors from Croton and left them unburied. He also cites Herakleides who attributes the divine wraith to the murder of supporters of Telys on the altars of the gods. Herakleides also mentions that the Sybarites attempted to supplant the Olympic Games by attracting the athletes to their own public games with greater prizes. Claudius Aelianus attributes the fall of Sybaris to its luxury and the murder of a lutenist at the altar of Hera.

 

[interloper]

I think it has something to do with the public school obsesion with greek, latin and clasical studies.
though I can sugest a few good modern ones.

kebab.
Donair.
Spanikopita.
Kleftico.
Bougasta
Baclava

I think I am getting hungry.

I'm not sure about the others, but Baclava and Kebab are of Turkish or Middle Eastern origin.

 

[Bobc]

Anyone's boat called Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou

I think it's greek for "got out of my head on cocain and crashed my Rangey"

 

[KellysEye]

We know a boat called Io, a Greek priestess, when we cleared customs and immigration with them they were asked their boat name they said Io and were always asked 'how do you spell that'.

 

[jwilson]

Alcyone - ancient greek goddess, daughter of Aeolus, god of the wind, who threw herself into the sea and got turned into a kingfisher. Alcyone is the brightest star in the Pleiades constellation, and all kingfishers are of species name Halcyon.