Fans of the Netflix show Kaos will by now know a few things about the fictional world of the series – namely that it’s got a banging soundtrack, it’s filled with edge-of-your-seat cliffhangers and its characters cannot stop saying “vero”.
The word, which characters say when they’re doing something in service to the Greek gods, gets thrown around left, right, and centre over the course of Kaos’ eight episodes.
But if you were wondering whether the word was just a bit of in-world lingo ― like the Dothraki language in Game Of Thrones ― it’s not.
Instead, it’s more like the Old English nuggets in The Lord Of The Rings, it appears to draw from a real-world language.
“Vero” or “veros” is Latin for “truthfully”, “indeed”, or “certainly.”
That’s fitting, given they’re using it to show the sincerity of their praise or sacrifice.
The word has worked its way into various parts of the show, including the Latin chant “Celestis, Divinitus, Insania, Vero” (“God-like, Divine, Madness, Honesty/Truth”) which often plays in the show’s background.
The word is usually accompanied by the placing of the heel of the characters’ hands to their head as a sign of worship.
A TV presenter announces Olympia Day celebrations, which involves an “annual human sacrifice,” before completing the gesture, for example.
The word “vero” is still used in modern-day Italian to mean “to tell the truth”, “actually”, or “as a matter of fact” in phrases like “a dire il vero”.
Perhaps that’s why some characters also use the phrase to reinforce how deeply they mean what they’re saying (a little bit like “swear to God”).
Of course, even inattentive viewers will know the show is set in “Krete” and has been praised for its accuracy to the Greek myths it’s based on ― so why include a Latin term?
All we can say so far is that, like the Disney version of Hercules (which mixes the Latin name Hercules with the Greek myth of Herakles), the pair are both just... there.
Only time (and, hopefully, a season two) will reveal if showrunner Charlie Covell’s assertion ― that “every single thing put in the script has been crafted perfectly to make sense to people that know Greek myths” ― is true.