Friday, September 13, 2013

How do you spell that?

I expect many of you know the story that Cinderella's "glass slipper" is down to a confusion as the story was passed down over the years between the old French word vair (fur) and the modern French verre (glass).  More recently there have been doubts expressed about this theory, but I rather like it and hope it's true.  But did you know that a similar confusion between two ancient Greek words has given us Pandora's Box, which should by rights be Pandora's Jar?

No comments: