2867: Cyprus and Cypress pt. 2 Oct 26, 2024

The Greek word kύπρος (kúpros) is not by itself a confusing term, but it pops up in lots of interesting places. Κύπρος is the Greek name for the island of Cyprus, which is the same name as its had since antiquity. Famous for its being the largest copper producer in the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age, this is the source of the metal’s name in Greek and eventually in English. Of course, it is also the name for the cypress tree, differentiated in spelling in English from the Island for clarity, but pronounced the same. 

Over the years, some have tried to connect the name to different religious practices of the Phoenicians or others, but even if this is true, this is not the source of the name of the island.

2539: Cypro-Minoan Syllabary: Linear C Nov 25, 2021

Early forms of Greek used their own early forms of writing known as Linear A and Linear B. At one point the term "Linear C" was in use, though that has now basically been usurped by "Cypro-Minoan syllabary". This was, too, used for what has been deduced as an early variety of Greek, with most inscriptions in this writing system found on the island of Cyprus with others found one location of the Syrian coast. This was brought by Minoan settlers from Crete. Although this early writing had existed in its evolved forms for at least 14 centuries from the creation of Linear A to the decline of its final descendants, these characters did not survive.

2538: Cypriot Syllabary Nov 24, 2021

The Republic of Cyprus is the only other country to officially use the Greek alphabet, but in the ancient world it had its own writing system for its particular dialect of Greek. Developed from the Cypro-Minoan syllabary, the Cypriot syllabary is a unique system, unrelated to the later Greek alphabet or its predecessors. The oldest known inscriptions were found from about 1500BC and other fragments indicate it was in use nearly a millennium later. Eventually, this would be replaced by foreign systems and end that particular chain of writing systems descended from Linear A.

2179: cyprian plague Dec 2, 2020

It is very common to name diseases after the places associated therewith, like Lyme disease, West Nile virus, and Ebola. This is not the case with the Cyprian plague per se, a plague which affected the eastern and especially southeastern part of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century AD. One might it think started in or around the island of Cyprus, but actually the plague is named after St. Cyprian, the Bishop of Carthage; it is thought to have actually originated in Ethiopia. He documented the disease at the time, and so it is associated with his name. Be careful also, because ‘cyprian’ on its own means ‘prostitute’, and so the adjective now used is ‘cypriot’.