Meaning of the name Achilles

In encyclopedias, the name Achilles (Akhilles) is a compound of achi (pain and sorrow) and los (people); but this meaning of people’s pain is not consistent with his qualities, namely warrior and fast, which were known in ancient Greek culture. However, in Indo-Iranian culture, the word achi is in the form of aji, meaning both of these qualities. Therefore, Achilles means a fast warrior. From this root comes the Greek ago and the Germanic aka, meaning to move and drive:

आजि m. Aji fighting-match

आजि m. Aji running-match

The Achilles and Tortoise paradox, proposed by Zeno of Elea, argues that a faster runner (Achilles) can never overtake a slower runner (tortoise) with a head start, due to the nature of infinite divisibility. While seemingly counterintuitive, the resolution lies in understanding that an infinite series can have a finite sum, and physical motion isn’t infinitely divisible.

The Setup:

Achilles, a legendary fast runner, races a tortoise that has a head start. Zeno argues that to catch the tortoise, Achilles must first reach the tortoise’s starting point. By the time Achilles reaches that point, the tortoise will have moved a small distance ahead. Achilles then needs to reach that new point, and the tortoise will have moved again, and so on, creating an infinite sequence of smaller and smaller distances to cover.