From Dictionary.com:
palingenesis \pal-in-JEN-uh-sis\ , noun;
1. Rebirth; regeneration.
2. In biology, embryonic development that reproduces the ancestral features of the species.
3. Baptism in the Christian faith.
4. The doctrine of transmigration of souls.
Origin:
Palingenesis is the combination of two Greek roots: palin, "again," and genesis, "source."
From the Concise English Dictionary:
Palingenesis: a new birth; reincarnation, a second creation, regeneration, unmodified inheritance of ancestral character, the new formation of a rock by re-fusion.
Is Sarah Palin of Greek extraction, then?
For years, I wrongly assumed that the Latin word pagus = “rural area; country” was related to the Greek word pagos = “rocky hill.”
Also there was a discussion on Free Republic some time ago about “gopher wood” in the Bible. It is unrelated to the gopher animal — that’s just how the Hebrew letters transliterate.