Study On Influence Of Greco-Roman Mythology Upon British And American Culture From An Angle Of Etymology

Language and culture depend on each other mutually. Language carries culture, and in the meantime receives the influence from cultural background. The ancient Greco- Roman mythology is a bright pearl in the Western culture treasure as well as a source of its cultural development. British and American culture, as a part of Western culture, is inevitably influenced by it. By a deep study of Greco- Roman mythology and the modern English words derived from it, we can find out the close relationship between the myths and the British and American culture and understand them better. Therefore, this thesis is written to explore its influence on British and American culture from an angle of etymology. This thesis goes on from four aspects:Firstly, the thesis probes into the way and reason for the words from Greco-Roman mythology into the English language, focuses the analysis on their types and distribution, reveals their background cultures and analyzes the significance of the background cultures to the extended meanings of the words. The study has proved that these words basically enter into English from Greek via Latin, or from Latin directly. A majority of words from Greco-Roman mythology are able to derive new words or idioms.Secondly, this thesis describes the cultural intension and national characteristic of the vocabulary. After a careful analysis and study, it is found that words from Greco-Roman mythology not only bear rich cultural connotation, but also reveal the national features peculiar to ancient Greek and Roman civilization, which has evoluted into the common characteristic of Western culture. That is, the words from Greco-Roman mythology reveal the ancient Greek people's frantic worship for heroes, their compliments for virtue, and moreover the idea of enjoying this life and the realization of self-value.Finally, this thesis stated the close relation between ancient Greco-Roman mythology and British-American culture. The ancient culture of Rome and Greece is regarded as one of the source of American-European literature and art, and it has played an important role in their development for a long time. The poets, the writers, the sculptors, the painters, and the musicians in Great Britain and America who always obtain inspiration from the mythology, or pick the thought and subject from it, have created out a lot of immortal famous works. The cultural images in the mythology are still often used in news reports, so as to make them lively and meaningful. Trademarks and advertisements often utilize the association meaning of the mythical allusion in Greek and Roman mythology to satisfy the cultural mentality of advocating the heroes and gods in the mythology. Greco-Roman mythology still has much influence upon the people' outlook on life and value in the western countries. It is simple and natural and has rich artistic appeal, which has reflected that kind of optimistic personality of pursuing freedom for the westerners. That spirit of freedom and leniency has gradually formed the modern Europeans' characteristics and self-confidence. In Greco-Roman mythology, man's individual rights are emphasized. For example, in order to obtain position and wealth, or uphold personal dignity, gods and heroes can do everything. The outlook on value that the Greco-Roman mythology precipitates are the individualism that we know very well, which is also the core of British and American people's outlook on value and life.This thesis tries to apply theories such as etymology, deriving, metaphor, etc. to the study of the way in which ancient Greco-Roman mythology influences British and American language and culture. I hope that will bring about thought and study of English teaching and research.