Latin & Greek Product and Corporate Names   Many companies and people who name products look to Greek and Latin words for "ideas". Most people don't know Greek or Latin and probably don't realize where the product name comes from; but they may get a subtle, almost subconscious reaction to the name, because of English words they do know that are similar. Take, for instance, a particular car, the Acura Integra. Most buyers won't realize that Integra is actually a Latin word. But they probably will mentally compare it to words that they do know, such as integrated or integral. They feel that the name means something good, even before they are aware that Integra is a Latin adjective meaning whole, untouched, or unharmed. However, the people who came up with this name surely knew the meaning. Greek and Latin words have long been favorites of product namers because of the fact that they aren't regular English words, and therefore sound unique and original to most people, but can still give people a subtle, good meaning, due to the words' similarity to English. Learning Latin or Greek gives people additional insight into product names they would not otherwise have, however. People who name many of today's products seem to usually have a pretty good knowledge of the Latin/Greek vocabulary, simply because of the number of things they name after Latin or Greek words. An example is a computer microprocessor manufacturer, Intel's, recent low cost processor, named Celeron. Clearly the product namer on this one was aware that celer means swift, since speed or quickness are some of the most important things to look for in a computer's processor. There are literally hundreds of product or company names that come directly from Latin or Greek words (or English versions of Latin words). But instead of listing examples, I'll provide a chart of a few of them.   Product or company name   What type of company or product it is   Greek/Latin word its name comes from   Meaning of the root word   Oracle Microsystems   Computer network & database company   Oracle (oraculum)   Something that sees into or tells you the future.   Olympus camera   Camera company   Olympus   Mountain where most of the immortal Gods lived   Nike   Shoe & athletic apparel company   Nike   God of victory   Aetna insurance   Insurance company   aetas   Age; lifetime   Ambroisia Software   Macintosh computer game software company   Ambroisia   The sweet food of the gods   Mercury Auto.   American automobile maker; a division of Ford.   Mercury ( also Hermes)   Messenger of Zeus and guide for travellers   Quadra   Early 1990’s line of Apple Macintosh computers   Quadraginta   Fourty. (It was the first line to use the ‘040 processor.)   Saturn Auto.   American automobile maker; a division of GM.   Saturn (also Cronus)   Father of the original six gods. (Also, the planet…)   Vivitar camera   Camera company   vivus   Alive, living   Supra communications   Computer modem corp.   supra   Above   Ford Taurus   Family sedan automobile   Taurus   Bull This is really just a few of the names which come from Latin or Greek. Obviously, besides product and company names, we have thousands of everyday words which come from the classical languages. It's just one example of fields where knowledge of Latin or Greek is beneficial.