All in a Name
Here is the email that got it all started at GotMethos@egroups.com:
--- kim wrote:
does Methos have a meaning??
Its an old name one that isnt heard of nowadays but the writers must have
got it from somewhere. it isn't just made up is it? it must stand for something
like, to die for, or gods gift to women. or something. i am sure you can
all think of something that methos can stand for.
myth \ n, 1 : a legend often describing the adventures of superhuman beings that is uually part of a people's religion and that attempts to describe the origin of their customs or beliefs or to explain mysterious events 2 : a person or thing that exists only in the imagination 3 : a popular belief that is false or unsupported
Duncan: Oh come on, Joe. Methos doesn't exist. The oldest Immortal; he's a legend. He's like,
well, Adam and Eve.
Duncan: I just didn't think you existed.
Methos: Ah, it's good to be a myth.
Duncan: Yeah, no one hunts for a myth.
Which leads into my next theory on the name Methos.
Myth --> Mythos --> Methos.
Liz, joining in for once....
"yeah, i myself always thought Methos came from Mythos.
Greek for...story, I believe. ::frantically racking
brain for something latin teach said this semester::
(he spoke Greek too)"
meth· od \ n, 1 : a way, plan, or procedure for doing something 2 : orderly arrangement
Caspian: You have a plan?
Kronos: I have a few thoughts. I have a few dollars, enough for a start. Now we have Methos; now we have a plan.
Methos: What did you have in mind?
Silas: Methos, you look troubled.
Methos: Just thinking.
Silas: Ah, you were always good at that, eh? Well, after all these years, you still are.
Methos means "thought" or "thoughts" in many people's minds (including mine).
Prometheus, in Greek mythology, one of the Titans, known as the friend and benefactor of humanity , the son of the Titan Iapetus by the sea nymph Clymene or the Titaness Themis. Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus were given the task of creating humanity and providing humans and all the animals on earth with the endowments they would need to survive. Epimetheus (whose name means afterthought) accordingly proceeded to bestow on the various animals gifts of courage, strength, swiftness, and feathers, fur, and other protective coverings. When it came time to create a being who was to be superior to all other living creatures, Epimetheus found he had been so reckless with his resources that he had nothing left to bestow. He was forced to ask his brother's help, and Prometheus (whose name means forethought) took over the task of creation. To make humans superior to the animals, he fashioned them in nobler form and enabled them to walk upright. He then went up to heaven and lit a torch with fire from the sun. The gift of fire that Prometheus bestowed upon humanity was more valuable than any of the gifts the animals had received.
Because of his actions Prometheus incurred the wrath of the god Zeus. Not only did he steal the fire he gave to humans, but he also tricked the gods so that they should get the worst parts of any animal sacrificed to them, and human beings the best. In one pile, Prometheus arranged the edible parts of an ox in a hide and disguised them with a covering of entrails. In the other, he placed the bones, which he covered with fat. Zeus, asked to choose between the two, took the fat and was very angry when he discovered that it covered a pile of bones. Thereafter, only fat and bones were sacrificed to the gods; the good meat was kept for mortals. For Prometheus's transgressions, Zeus had him chained to a rock in the Caucasus, where he was constantly preyed upon by an eagle. Finally he was freed by the hero Hercules, who slew the eagle.
"Prometheus," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2000
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Methos: What will you call your story, Mary Shelley?
Mary: Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus.
As an extra note, Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote Prometheus Unbound.
Methos, the man, most likely originated as part of a now extinct and forgotten IndoEuropean tribe. His name, if it is also traceable back that far, could mean something in that language. If that is true, we'll never know. Because to the best of his recollection, the ROG does not remember anything before he took his first head 5000 years ago give or take.
Myth? Story? Method? Thought? God's Gift To Women?
My stab at it. Nicking the throat only to prove a point, but
then gloating about it and getting myself thrown to the dojo floor once again!
Rain Pierson
