Myth & LegendGreek → English
Myrmidon
/ˈmɜrmɪˌdɑn/noun
A follower who carries out orders without question, often a hired enforcer.
The Greek roots
Μυρμιδόνες
Myrmidónes
the Myrmidons, Achilles' troops
Literally: “the ant-people”
Follow a root:Μυρμιδόνες1 word
The story of the word
The Myrmidons were Achilles' own contingent from Phthia, and they sit out most of the Iliad because he does. Greeks connected the name to μύρμηξ, ant, and told a story of Zeus repopulating plague-emptied Aegina by turning its ants into men, which is folk etymology but a good one for troops who move as a mass and never argue. English kept the obedience and dropped the heroism, so a myrmidon today is somebody else's muscle.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
Same family
myrmecologyAchilles
In a sentence
He never came himself; he sent two myrmidons from the legal department.