Cassandra
/kəˈsændrə/noun
Someone whose accurate warnings are ignored.
The Greek roots
Literally: “perhaps she who excels among men”
The story of the word
Apollo gave the Trojan princess the gift of prophecy to win her, and when she turned him down he left the gift in place and added that nobody would believe her. She saw the fall of Troy coming and was dismissed as mad. What the name itself means is unsettled, though it is often read as containing a root for excelling and anḗr, man. English has used a Cassandra for an unheeded warner since the seventeenth century, usually with a contempt the original story does not support.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
In a sentence
The risk officer was treated as a Cassandra right up until the audit.
Nobody wants the Cassandra role, because being right afterwards wins nothing.