I am a believer in the power of words, particularly in the importance and impact of etymology and linguistic evolution (more on the naming of characters later!). I am particularly drawn to Greek and Latin, both the language, the culture and the impact of each on the world.
In writing Black Poplar, I have struggled to borrow appropriately from each tradition...without becoming embarrassingly inconsistent in moving from root to root (failed!).
Today, at Strange Maps, I stumbled across the Jirecek Line. The line was first drawn and named in 1911 by Czech historian Konstantin Jirecek. It crosses the Balkan peninsula, east-west, and describes the linguistic tradition of archaeologically significant sites. North of the line, Latin dominated inscriptions found on digs. South of the line, Greek.
The concept has been revisited in modern times, but is still pretty cool.
Wikipedia reference here.