Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origins 35. Th word origin today is
clue. Okay. Let's take a look at the note. First well , let's say what a clue is. A
clue is something that helps one to solve a problem. Of course you know, like
a lot of detectives use clues or mystery or find an answer to something. Okay.
Let's continue. The origin of the word clue comes directly from Greek mythology.
Some Greek mythology story. In Greek mythology there was a half man and half
bull creature called a minotaur. Yeah. you've probably seen pictures of this
before. The creature was kept and limited to a labyrinth. A labyrinth is like a maze.
I think King Minos had the maze , so that he would actually stay in there. In Crete
the island of Crete , you know, of course in Greece, the Minotaur was fed right an
annual tribute of seven female virgins and seven young men. So I guess 14 people
every year had to be sacrificed for this minotaur. Basically. Okay Good.
Theseus , well Theseus this ended up being like the lover of Ariadne or Ariadne
I don't know, if I'm pronouncing that right. It's the daughter of King
Minos. Thesis was determined to ... he was determined to kill the Minotaur with the
help of Ariadne. King Minos , King Minos' daughter. He entered the labyrinth or you
know the type of maze you know, a maze like what we always see in these
laboratories that you know the mice try to figure out how to find the cheese. You
know, like a maze. So like a labyrinth to kill Minotaur, but in order to find
his way out, he used a clew. Okay. A ball of yarn. So at that time a clue. CLE W.
Not the way we spell it today , was actually a ball of yarn
in which he unraveled . In order to find his way out. Because of course, a
maze even if he kills ,,, even if he finds the minotaur and killed him, his way out he might
get trapped in there. He might get lost in there.
He may never find his way out. So this was the clue he used he used the yarn.
He just unrolled it the whole way, until he got in to where he could find the
minotaur and then kill him. But of course after he killed him then he could
just follow his path out. He could just follow the yarn that he unrolled. So
hopefully he took a lot of yarn with him of course,
so the minotaur, but in order to find his way out, he took a clew, a ball
of yarn in which he unraveled in order to find his way out . Clue , CLEW
eventually formed into our modern word for clue. CLUE. Okay. So anyway, I hope
you got it. I hope it was informative. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for your time.
Bye bye.