Old English Grēca via Latin Graecus from Greek Graikos; (sense 3) translation of Latin Graecum in the medieval phrase Graecum est; non potest legi it is Greek; it cannot be read. Numerous English words and word-elements derive from the ancient Greek language, but few of them have been borrowed directly (amnesty, idiosyncrasy, myth, and pathos are exceptions). Many came by way of Latin during the revival of classical learning in the 16th and 17th cents (chaos, climax, crisis, dilemma, drama, energy, enigma, epoch, irony, system, theory, zone). Even more have entered English as part of the Latin- and Greek-based international scientific vocabulary of modern times. A few words from modern Greek (New Greek) have also entered English, mostly terms relating to food and drink (moussaka, ouzo, pitta, retsina, taramasalata)