Today’s word of the day, courtesy of Words Coach (https://www.wordscoach.com/dictionary), is myrmidon. Pronounced / ˈmɜr mɪˌdɒn / or / ˈmɜr mɪˌdn /, myrmidon is a noun that means “a person who executes without question or scruple a master’s commands” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/myrmidon).

The etymology, according to Etymonline.com, begins with the fact that a myrmidon was “one of a warlike people of ancient Thessaly, legendarily ruled by Achilles and accompanying him to Troy, c. 1400, from Latin Myrmidones (plural), from Greek Myrmidones, Thessalian tribe led by Achilles to the Trojan War, fabled to have been ants changed into men, and often derived from Greek myrmex ‘ant’ (from PIE *morwi- (see Formica (2)), but Watkins does not connect them and Klein’s sources suggest a connection to Greek mormos ‘dread, terror.’ Transferred sense of ‘faithful unquestioning follower,’ often with a suggestion of unscrupulousness, is from c. 1600” (https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=myrmidon). This is not the only example of broadening from a proper name. Such broadening happens so frequently that there’s a word for such words: eponym. Example of eponym’s from Greek mythology include atlas, echo, fury, mentor, and nemesis. There are also nouns and adjectives that are derived from Greek names but with changes, like psychology.

Merriam-Webster provides a more casual explanation: “The Myrmidons, legendary inhabitants of Thessaly in Greece, were known for their fierce devotion to Achilles, the king who led them in the Trojan War. Myrmex means ant” in Greek, an image that evokes small and insignificant workers mindlessly fulfilling their duties. Whether the original Myrmidons were given their name for that reason is open to question. The ‘ant’ association is strong, however. Some say the name is from a legendary ancestor who once had the form of an ant; others say the Myrmidons were actually transformed from ants. In any case, since the 1400s, we’ve employed myrmidon in its not-always-complimentary, ant-evoking, figurative sense” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/myrmidon).

On this date in 1988, according to On This Day, “’Die Hard’ directed by John McTiernan and starring Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman is released in the US” (https://www.onthisday.com/events/july/15).

The movie was based on Roderick Thorp’s 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever, and was directed by John McTiernan for 20^th Century Fox. Although the hero’s part was offered to a variety of big-name Hollywood action figures, including Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who turned it down, the main character was played by Bruce Willis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Hard). Willis, who was an overnight success after years of hard work in the TV series Moonlighting, a part he won against 3000 other auditioners, was surprising choice since he had not yet had success in a big-budget Hollywood film (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Willis). The bad guy role was given to Alan Rickman, who would later gain renown as Snape in the Harry Potter movies, though I remember his playing Tybalt in a BBC production of Romeo and Juliet way back in 1978.

The plot of the movie centers on a New York City cop who has gone to L.A. for Christmas to see his estranged wife, who is attending a company party in an L.A. high rise. But a criminal acting like a terrorist takes the people hostage and tries to extort a large sum of money, leading to a hostage situation. Willis, playing John McClane, takes on the task of rescuing his wife and the other people. I won’t tell you the ending, though you can probably figure it out.

The wiki says, “Die Hard has been critically re-evaluated and is now considered one of the greatest action films of all time. It is considered to have revitalized the action genre, largely due to its depiction of McClane as a vulnerable and fallible protagonist, in contrast to the muscle-bound and invincible heroes of other films of the period. Retrospective commentators also identified and analyzed its themes of vengeance, masculinity, gender roles, and American anxieties over foreign influences. Due to its Christmas setting, Die Hard is often named one of the best Christmas films of all time, although its status as a Christmas film is disputed” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Hard).

Personally, the best Christmas film of all time is It’s a Wonderful Life, followed closely by All Mine to Give and White Christmas. But Die Hard is right up there with the best of the Christmas movies, and anyone who disputes its status as a Christmas movie is probably just a myrmidon.

Today’s image is of Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber (https://www.mujibo.com/p/2514/the-most-memorable-movie-character-deaths/) in one of the most memorable movie character deaths.