Xeen Zeen Xen Xenophon Anthony: Phony Tony

Comments from Kivi Ketalimaki, from an exchange on Black Box Online Radio:

1. “Just saying: X is pronounced Ks- in greek, though written as three short horizontal lines one on the top of another. Greek X itself is pronounced Kh-. Anyhow, in classic homeric so called attican greek ‘ksenon’ had a meaning ‘strange, foreign’ but also ‘one with no name’. ‘Phonos’ had only one meaning, ‘killer, murderer, slaughterer’. ‘Ksenophon[os]’ meant therefore ‘a (foreign) mercenary’, yet literally ‘a nameless murderer’. How convenient. The other greek twist is that the ‘zodiac’ is a latin version for the ‘circle of animals’ (like a bull, a cancer, a lion, etc.), however, it comes from greek ‘zoidiakos kuklos’, where ‘kuklos’ means ‘circle’. ‘Zoidiak/os, -e, -on’ alone is the greek adjective for ‘animal’, so ‘animal -ish’ which comes from ‘zoion’, ‘animal, beast’. ‘Zoion’ was also ‘form’ (usually ‘morphe’) and ‘image’ in artistic meaning. So, I wouldn’t be that convinced about any astrological theories. Wasn’t he an animal kind of beast in his own eyes too, that “nameless killer”? More in the classic Liddell & Scott Intermediary Greek-English Lexicon or any of the New Testament Greek-English Dictionaries. Greetings from Finland”

2. “Carl Karas I am sorry, my purpose was not to downplay the X – Z connection, X is indeed pronounced as Z in english. Nevertheless, if one is searching greek ‘khenos’ (> for example: xenophobia, the ‘fear of foreign’) from the Liddell & Scott, the most authorative classic greek dictionary ever since 1800’s, the word is not to be found under the letter X as ‘xenos’, but under the letter Khi. (As Херсон > Kherson). The pronunciation of greek alphabets has stayed similar since the attika of Homer and Plato to koiné of the New Testament to the modern greek. Greek and latin were still taught generally in the lyceums (high school level) and universities of Finland in the 1950’s, and I studied both these myself in 1990’s as a part of my philosophy studies in the University of Helsinki. (Finland is btw the only place in the world transmitting a radio newsreel in the Julius Caesar era high latin, though not even a roman catholic country). The translations I gave may sound wild, but they aren’t, they are all the basic translations for the etymologies of the words if we stay loyal to the ancient greek. I don’t know what we should implicate from all this, but I am quite convinced a person so “obsessed” to language and has such a rare and unique name has had s need to figure out the meaning of it at some point, and “nomen est omen” as the romans said, if one is superstitious enough. Athens, btw, though a democracy, had a slavery and ‘paradise’ comes also from a greek ‘paradeisos’ which means simply ‘a park’, an enclosed area for aristocracy. I am delighted I can tell you the whole Finland has been univocally on the side of Ukraine and there’s no sign we weren’t in the future years as well. All the good for you. Slava Ukraini heroiam slava! Kunnia Ukrainalle, kauan eläköön sen sankarillinen kansa!”

3. “Carl Karas Even more strange is that greek (if C = K as in latin, greek has no C) “par adikes laves zo diak” [paradice/slaves/zodiac] would mean in english “despite unfair deals I live” or “paradi kes lave es zo diak” is “God bless you, I live” or quite conveniently: “par a dikes laves zo diak” would be “I live by my own means”.“

From his obit:

“Xenophon Lusby Anthony

Xen Anthony died on January 17, 2016. He is survived by his wife Valerie, son Marc Anthony and spouse Chien-Ming Chen, grandson Jason Anthony, sister Harriet Botelho, brother James Anthony, and many loving relatives. He was preceded in death by his son Peter Anthony and parents Dr. Marc and Ruth Anthony. Xen was born in Spokane on January 28, 1931. He graduated from Lakeside School in Seattle in 1949 and from Harvard in 1953. He and Valerie were married in 1956 and lived in San Marino, California for ten years before moving to San Francisco which became their long-time home. They also had a second home in Inverness located in the Point Reyes National Seashore area where Xen enjoyed doing many landscaping and remodeling projects. The family cherishes the many happy years spent there. Xen worked in retail and wholesale businesses until 1976 when Valerie founded Sterne School, a school for children….”