Athênêthen = from
Athens (a -de ending would mean 'to')
tôn...athlôn, I was taught, means "of the games", and thus expressed the words scan well.
Pat L.
P.S., yes, the felt need to create a pure language for a newly freed nation, above all avoiding Turkish words such as phraoules (strawberries) and louloudia (
flowers), was the aim. In many cases they have kept both words, using e.g. louloudia for common and generic
flowers and anthê for "blossoms". Modern demotic has settled down to common sense, accepting soutien, gantes, papoutsia, and thousands more, alongside both surviving words and katharevousa creations. One of the most successful of the latter is en taxi, literally in order, not only taken from ancient Greek to avoid OK, but using en + the dative case, which in strict demotic is not allowed to exist. But en taxi is so OK that
Greeks alone in the world seldom say OK. Leophoreio for omnibus was a
success, but trolleÿ prevailed for the electric ones. Can you guess for whom the Odos Satovriandou in
Athens was named?