>> And yet, “Mycenaean” translates roughly to the mushroom people…
We don't know where the name comes from. The association with mushrooms is the popular etymology but that's not to say it's right. Wikipedia has this to say:
Legend has it that the name was connected to the Greek word mykēs (μύκης, "mushroom"). Thus, Pausanias ascribes the name to the legendary founder Perseus, who was said to have named it either after the cap (mykēs) of the sheath of his sword, or after a mushroom he had plucked on the site.[11]
So even this apocryphal explanation for the name doesn't imply any close association of the Myceneans with mushrooms. Certainly not for the use you suggest, that really didn't feature much in the tales of ancient Mediterranneans.
We don't know where the name comes from. The association with mushrooms is the popular etymology but that's not to say it's right. Wikipedia has this to say:
Legend has it that the name was connected to the Greek word mykēs (μύκης, "mushroom"). Thus, Pausanias ascribes the name to the legendary founder Perseus, who was said to have named it either after the cap (mykēs) of the sheath of his sword, or after a mushroom he had plucked on the site.[11]
So even this apocryphal explanation for the name doesn't imply any close association of the Myceneans with mushrooms. Certainly not for the use you suggest, that really didn't feature much in the tales of ancient Mediterranneans.