Podium n. comes from the Greek pod-, pous (= “foot”). The Olympic skiers at left have their feet on the podium.
The same Greek root gives us some other familiar terms, including:
podiatrist n. – a doctor who specializes in the treatment of feet.
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arthropod n. – an animal of the phylum that includes insects, crustaceans (e.g. lobsters), and arachnids (e.g. spiders). Arthron is Greek for a joint (such as an elbow); the animals at left are arthropods because their feet (or legs, really) have joints. When someone with pain in her joints complains of arthritis, she is using the same Greek root.
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antipodes n. – a place at the opposite end of the Earth. Originally the term antipodes referred to a person who dwelt on the opposite end of the Earth. Anti- is a Greek root meaning “opposite,” and the picture at left illustrates the sense in which antipodean people have feet in a position opposite to ours. The root anti- also shows up in the Antarctic, which is the antipodes of the Arctic. Relative to England, New Zealand is approximately at the antipodes, so the term antipodes is often used for Australia and New Zealand.
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This etymology of podium suggests that the term is often misused. In the pictures below, only Barack Obama is standing on a podium. Sarah Palin is standing next to a lectern. Lectern comes from the Latin legere (= “to read”), the same root that gives us lecture and legible. Strictly speaking, a lectern is something that you read from and a podium is something that you put your feet on, although the habit of calling a lectern a “podium” is now widely accepted.
