Greek Mythology: Aeolian
How many Garrett Railroaders (and GHS
teachers) have gone to their graves wondering but not knowing what Aeolian means? Worse yet, how many thought they knew, but were wrong?!
I have thought, for approximately fifty
years, that the word Aeolian must
mean a scholastic “year book,” but my research indicates that only Garrett High School calls its
yearbooks Aeolians. To the rest of
the world, Aeolian refers to things
related to Aeolus, the Greek God (or King) of the winds; or to an ancient Greek
tribe said to be descended from Aeolus, and which occupied Aeolis and Lesbos, in
central Greece, around 1100 BC.
This finding surprised me, so I asked per Facebook: Does anyone know, by whose fancy were Garrett’s high school yearbooks called Aeolians, and who, throughout the years, knew that the term was fanciful and not generic? And then what about the Aeolian volume numbers, printed as Roman numerals on the title page:
1970 LII (#52)
1969 LXI (#61)
1968 LXV (#65)
1967 XLIV (#44)
While possibly one of these four Roman numbers is correct, at least three of the four must be in error!
The most informative response was from a
Faye Myers, who directed me to the Class of 1956 50th Anniversary memorial Aeolian, which I found and scanned in
the Garrett Public Library:
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A very nice explanation
from the class of ‘56 –
Thank you so much!
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And what of the Roman numerals”? A few people on Facebook noted similar anomalies, but no one had any explanation
whatsoever. I like to imagine an amusing time/space/culture warp:
It’s just
what happens when 20th century high school kids from rural northeast Indiana
use Roman numerals to index the volumes of a publication named after Greeks who
lived more than three thousand years ago...
So now you know yet another
Lesson the Teacher Never Taught You!
The next GHS “Lessons the Teacher Never Taught You” will center on Greek
vocabulary (callipygian), but let’s save that for warmer weather...
