The longest word ever to appear in literature comes from Aristophanes, the comedy playwright. The word surpasses by far Shakespeare’s 27 letter long “honorificabilitydinitatibus” (book Love’s Labour’s lost).
World’s longest word is mentioned in Aristophanes’ book “Ecclesseazousae” – Assemblywomen – line 1169-1174 and consists of 173 letters!!!
Actors pronounced the whole word in stage at one time(!!) and describes a fictional food dish that combined 17 sweet and sour ingredients including shark, dogfish, crayfish, pigeon, chicken, hare, cheese, honey, herbs and more. The word does not only include the ingredients but the cooking procedure too.
Want to know how the word looks like in Greek? Enjoy…
Λοπαδοτεμαχοσελαχογαλεοκρανιολειψανοδριμυποτριμματοσιλφιολιπαρομελιτοκατακεχυμενοκιχλεπικοσσυφοφαττοπεριστεραλεκτρυονοπτοπιφαλλιδοκιγκλοπελειολαγωοσιραιοβαφητραγανοπτερυγών
For the bold ones who would like to give it a try and pronounce this word – well, I cannot pronounce the Greek version although I speak both modern and ancient Greek - the English version would probably look like…
Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimypotrimmatosilfioparomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyfofattoperisteralektryonoptopifallidokigklopeleiolagoosiraiovafitraganopterigon
This ancient Greek word apart from being the longest one, helps us realize that cooking was a form of art just like painting and sculpting.
Gastronomy is an Ancient Greek word dedicated to the art of enjoying food.
In ancient Greece the word gastronomy was dedicated to the imagination, inventiveness and love to experimenting new procedures of cooking, seeking perfection and enjoying life via good food.
In ancient Greece, one could hire a “cook” at a special department of the food market called “eis mageireion”. The cooks were working as “freelancers” and would be responsible not only for cooking but were supervising the dinner’s setup and decoration… They needed specifications beforehand (therefore taking a brief as we would call it today) about the exact time that the symposium would take place, the number of invited guests, how many women were available to help them on the day of the event, if there was a waiter available in the house or if they needed one or two, even if there was enough “cooking and serving utensils”.
If you wish to find out more about the amazing world of Ancient Greek Gastronomy and work with us on a delicious food & wine group tour to Greece or if you wish to design an original Ancient Greek Symposium, then contact us via email at anastasia@enviableevents.com
This service is available by Enviable Events www.enviableevents.com on a B2B basis (specialist tour operators, travel agents and event management companies).
I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Cheers,
Anastasia xxx