/lit/ - Literature

I kinda wonder if there was more nuance when talking about ancient Greek or even non-Greek philosophers that considered "water" ὕδωρ as the principle of things, considering the trajectory that instead the word ὕλη took into our "matter" through Latin 'materia' which also had a more down to earth meaning as well, like ὕλη.
Like, if we say "matter is the foundation of things" this sounds far less primitive and more profound than saying "water is the foundation of things", albeit we ultimately drive both from ancient Greek/Latin "primitive" words relating to wood and water.
So when Thales for examples is said to have considered "water"/ὕδωρ the principle of things, was there maybe some deeper nuance to it, e.g motion/change as opposed to ὕλη indicating the substrate universal "goo" from which things are formed