The Greeks had a word for it

The Greeks had a word for it ("rei nomen iam dederunt Graeci") est locutio Anglica quo exprimitur impossibilitas rei alicuius Anglice nominandi eodemque tempore locupletatio vocabularii Graeci. Inventam esse dicitur a scriptrice scaenica Americana Zoa Akins. Illa anno 1930 comoediam The Greeks Had a Word for It docuit, protagonistis femininis tribus, olim saltatrices, speciem liberalitatis fingentes ut maritos divites sibi arrogarent. Qui ludus in pelliculam anno 1932 accommodatus est, titulo paulo mutato The Greeks Had a Word for Them^(en) ("eis nomen iam dederunt Graeci"). Id quod monstratur tam Anglice quam Graece exprimi potest; suggeritur autem verba Anglica nefanda vel inurbana esse.

David Manners, Margarita Evans, Ioanna Blondell, Ina Claire pelliculae 1932 The Greeks Had a Word for Them^(en) actores

Contextu sexuali interdum oblito, eadem locutio recentius in titulos commentationum nonnumquam usurpata est:

• Ben Ames Williams, "The Greeks Had a Word for It" in New England Journal of Medicine vol. 233 (1945) pp. 427-432 Situs venalis
• A. A. Diamandopoulos, P. C. Goudas, "Cloning's not a new idea: the Greeks had a word for it centuries ago" in Nature vol. 408 (21 December 2000) p. 905
• Jack O’Brien, "The Greeks Had a Word for It" in Tico Times (27 Iulii 2007)

Nexus externi

• "What is the “It” the Greeks had a word for? And what does that saying come from?" (25 Septembris 2014) apud This Day in Quotes