Greek Crossword 58-59-60

Here is the review for proverbs in group 58-59-60 with the crossword puzzle! You can click on those group links to review those posts and/or click on the linked sayings below for the post with that specific saying:

• Ἄγουσιν ἑορτὴν οἱ κλέπται.
  
• Ἄνευ πτερῶν ζητεῖς ἵπτασθαι.
  
• Ἀπὸ ὄνων ἐφ᾽ ἵππους.
  
• Βάλλ᾽ ἐς ὕδωρ.
  
• Γλώσσῃ ματαίᾳ ζημία προστρίβεται.
  
• Εἶπεν ἡ γυνή ὁ ὄφις ἠπάτησέν με καὶ ἔφαγον.
  
• Ἐκ λύκου στόματος.
  
• Ἡ κακὴ κρίσις παντὸς κακοῦ αἰτίον.
  
• Καλῶς ποιεῖτε τοῖς μισοῦσιν ὑμᾶς.
  
• Λαγὼς καθεύδων.
  
• Οὐδὲν κακὸν ῥᾴδιως ἀπόλλυται.
  
• Τὰ καίσαρος ἀπόδοτε καίσαρι καὶ τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τῷ θεῷ.
  
• Τῷ θεῷ ἕπου.
  
• Ὑγίεια καὶ νοῦς ἀγαθὰ τῷ βίῳ δύο.
  
• Φωνὴ αἵματος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου βοᾷ πρός με ἐκ τῆς γῆς.
  

Here are some of the sayings without spaces: see if you can find the word breaks! (I'm just doing the shorter ones because the long ones just keep running over longer than the line.)

τ ῳ θ ε ῳ ε π ο υ.

β α λ λ ε ς υ δ ω ρ.

λ α γ ω ς κ α θ ε υ δ ω ν.

ε κ λ υ κ ο υ σ τ ο μ α τ ο ς.

α π ο ο ν ω ν ε φ ι π π ο υ ς.

α γ ο υ σ ι ν ε ο ρ τ η ν ο ι κ λ ε π τ α ι.

α ν ε υ π τ ε ρ ω ν ζ η τ ε ι ς ι π τ α σ θ α ι.

ο υ δ ε ν κ α κ ο ν ρ ᾳ δ ι ω ς α π ο λ λ υ τ α ι.

υ γ ι ε ι α κ α ι ν ο υ ς α γ α θ α τ ῳ β ι ῳ δ υ ο.

κ α λ ω ς π ο ι ε ι τ ε τ ο ι ς μ ι σ ο υ σ ι ν υ μ α ς.

η κ α κ η κ ρ ι σ ι ς π α ν τ ο ς κ α κ ο υ α ι τ ι ο ν.

γ λ ω σ σ ῃ μ α τ α ι ᾳ ζ η μ ι α π ρ ο σ τ ρ ι β ε τ α ι.

And here's the crossword puzzle based on a missing word from each proverb: printable Crossword PDF. I've pasted in screenshots below so you can see what the crossword looks like:

And here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too:

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Greek Proverbs: Oct. 30

Here are today's Greek proverbs; it's Group 203. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

γιγνώσκω ~ γνώσομαι ~ ἔγνων (verb): know 

ὗς ὑός (noun c.): pig 

κύων ~ κυνός (noun c.): dog 

μήτηρ ~ μητρός (noun f.): mother 

κλαίω ~ κλαιήσω ~ ἔκλαυσα (verb): weep, lament 

These are the proverbs (and there are always more proverbs at the blog):

Γνοὺς πρᾶττε.

Ἀφροδίτῃ ὗν τέθυκεν.

Οἵαπερ ἡ δέσποινα τοῖα ἡ κύων.

Ἡ γῆ τῶν μὲν μήτηρ ἐστί, τῶν δὲ μητρυιά.

Οὐαί, οἱ γελῶντες νῦν, ὅτι πενθήσετε καὶ κλαύσετε.

And now, some commentary:

Γνοὺς πρᾶττε.

Act on your knowledge.

I haven't translated the aorist participle literally, replacing it instead with a prepositional phrase. It's hard to know what to do those aorist participles in English! There's also a case to be made for rendering it as a verb in the same mood as the main verb: Learn, and act! This is one of the Delphic maxims recorded by Stobaeus. You can find out more at Wikipedia.

Ἀφροδίτῃ ὗν τέθυκεν.

He's offered a pig to Aphrodite.

Offering a pig to Aphrodite would be a very foolish thing to do because Aphrodite has no fondness for pigs or any members of the pig family, especially after her lover Adonis was slain by a wild boar. Pigs could be offered to other gods, but usually not to Aphrodite; when pigs were offered to the goddess, it was to expiate their crime in having killed Adonis. Metaphorically, then, this saying refers to someone acting inappropriately.

Οἵαπερ ἡ δέσποινα τοῖα ἡ κύων.

As the mistress, so is her dog.

You've seen a similar saying in a previous post: Τὰς δεσποίνας αἱ κύνες μιμούμεναι. And it turns out there may be something to it; here's an article in National Geographic: Dogs and their owners really do look alike—here’s why.

Ἡ γῆ τῶν μὲν μήτηρ ἐστί, τῶν δὲ μητρυιά.

The earth is a mother to some, a stepmother to others.

This saying comes from the Aesopic tradition: a gardener wants to know why weeds grow so quickly, while the herbs he has planted grow slowly or don't grow at all. Aesop explains that the earth is mother to the weeds, while only a stepmother (sometimes cruel) to herbs that the gardener planted.

Οὐαί, οἱ γελῶντες νῦν, ὅτι πενθήσετε καὶ κλαύσετε.

Alas, you who are now laughing: because you will mourn and weep.

This comes from the so-called "Sermon on the Plain" from the Gospel of Luke. The King James version reads: "Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep."

Aesop, Xanthus, and the gardener

And here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too:

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Aesopic Proverbs: Oct. 25

Here are today's Aesopic proverbs; it's Group 202. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

ἵστημι ~ στήσω ~ ἔστην (verb): stand 

ἄνθρωπος ~ ἀνθρώπου (noun m.): person, human being

καλέω ~ καλέσω ~ ἐκάλεσα (verb): call 

φοβέω ~ φοβήσω ~ ἐφόβησα (verb): frighten, terrify 

ἐσθίω ~ φάγομαι ~ ἔφαγον (verb): eat, devour 

These are the proverbs (and there are always more proverbs at the blog):

Ὕδωρ ἱστάμενον ὄζει.

Πάντα ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ οὐδὲν ὁ ἄνθρωπος.

βέλτιον ὁψιμαθῆ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀμαθῆ σε καλεῖσθαι.

Ὁ δηχθεὶς ὑπὸ ὄφεως καὶ τὸ σχοινίον φοβεῖται.

Κύων ἀναπεσὼν εἰς φάτνην αὐτός τε οὐκ ἐσθίει τῷ τε ὄνῳ ἐμποδίζει.

And now, some commentary:

Ὕδωρ ἱστάμενον ὄζει.

Standing water stinks.

This is literally true, and metaphorically it refers to something "stagnant" (a person, a situation) that gets worse and worse as time goes by. The English word "stagnant" can be used in the same way, literally or metaphorically.

Πάντα ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ οὐδὲν ὁ ἄνθρωπος.

A person is everything and a person is nothing.

This is a typically paradoxical Aesopic proverb: the statements contradict one another, but they are nevertheless both true, depending on the context. For example, consider the way that people live as if they were going to live forever, but in fact at any moment they might die, bringing their life to a sudden nothing.

βέλτιον ὁψιμαθῆ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀμαθῆ σε καλεῖσθαι.

It is better for you to be called a late-learner than to be called ignorant.

I like this "better late than never" saying that is specifically about learning, especially in the Greek with the parallel words: being a late learner, ὀψι-μαθής, as opposed to ἀ-μαθής, without learning.

Ὁ δηχθεὶς ὑπὸ ὄφεως καὶ τὸ σχοινίον φοβεῖται.

Someone bitten by a snake fears even a rope.

This type of saying is found in many different cultures with many different dangerous/harmless items. An English version is "Scalded cats fear even cold water." I recently learned a Japanese one too: 呉牛月に喘ぐ, gogyū tsuki-ni aegu, "The water buffalo pants at the moon" i.e. as if it were hot as the sun. (I've been learning Japanese via haiku and proverbs; there are many fabulous Japanese proverbs of course!)

Κύων ἀναπεσὼν εἰς φάτνην αὐτός τε οὐκ ἐσθίει τῷ τε ὄνῳ ἐμποδίζει.

The dog, having settled into the manger, does not eat but blocks the donkey.

This is the famous "dog in the manger" which entered into many European languages via the Latin Aesopic tradition, so it was fun to find it attested here in this Aesopic proverb, which is itself a kind of story in miniature. I don't think I've seen a version with a donkey before; I expect cattle, as in this illustration by Barlow:

And here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too:

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Aesopic Proverbs: Oct. 23

Here are today's Aesopic proverbs; it's Group 201. (And please keep thinking more good thoughts for Hector Tapia; he has PhD comp exams, including Aesopic proverbs, all this week!)

Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

δῶρον ~ δώρου (noun n.): gift 

χρυσός ~ χρυσοῦ (noun m.): gold 

ἀνάγω ~ ἀνάξω ~ ἀνήγαγον (verb): lead up, raise 

εὐδαίμων ~ εὐδαίμονος (adj.): masc. happy, wealthy 

ἰδιώτης ~ ἰδιώτου (noun m.): private person, layman 

These are the proverbs (and there are always more proverbs at the blog):

Δῶρα καὶ θεὸυς ἔπεισεν.

Χρυσὸς Δανάην ἔπεισεν ἐθέλουσαν.

Καιρὸς ἀνάγει καὶ καιρὸς αὖ κατάγει.

Ἢ Ζεὺς ἢ Χάρων· ἢ εὐδαίμονος Βίος ἢ τέλος. 

Τῷ τράγῳ ὁ ἔριφος ἔλεγεν· ὦ πατέρ μου, οἱ μάγειροι ἀπέθανον. κἀκεῖνος εἶπεν· οὐαί σοι τέκνον· ὅτι εἰς ἰδιώτου χεῖρας μέλλεις ἐμπίπτειν.

And now, some commentary:

Δῶρα καὶ θεὸυς ἔπεισεν.

Gifts have persuaded even the gods.

This use of the aorist like this is common in Greek sayings; it is sometimes called the "gnomic" aorist. A variation of this saying appears in Euripides' Medea, where it is marked as a saying, λόγος. The words are actually duplicitous when spoken by Medea, who is persuading Jason to take gifts to his new bride, Glauce, insisting that Glauce receive the (deadly) gifts with her own hands.

Χρυσὸς Δανάην ἔπεισεν ἐθέλουσαν.

Gold persuaded a willing Danae.

This saying alludes to the story of Zeus seducing Danae in the form of a stream of gold. The idea is that gold is a great persuader, although in this case, Danae hardly needed persuading, imprisoned all alone as she was, and thus ἐθέλουσα. You can read more about the story of Danae at Wikipedia.

Καιρὸς ἀνάγει καὶ καιρὸς αὖ κατάγει.

Time leads up and time leads down again.

This up-and-down saying is like the visible up-and-down of the famous "Wheel of Fortune." In the interpretation attached to the proverb in the Aesopic collection, the "up" side of καιρός is said to be wealth and other material possessions, while the "down" side is identified with poverty and illness.

Ἢ Ζεὺς ἢ Χάρων· ἢ εὐδαίμονος Βίος ἢ τέλος. 

Either Zeus or Charon: either a fortunate life or its ending.

I've never seen the mythological figures of Zeus and Charon paired up in this way. Zeus stands for the fortunate ("well-daimoned") life, while Charon stands for death as the famous ferryman of the underworld; you can read more about Charon at Wikipedia.

Τῷ τράγῳ ὁ ἔριφος ἔλεγεν· ὦ πατέρ μου, οἱ μάγειροι ἀπέθανον. κἀκεῖνος εἶπεν· οὐαί σοι τέκνον· ὅτι εἰς ἰδιώτου χεῖρας μέλλεις ἐμπίπτειν.

The kid said to the goat, "O my father, the butchers have died." And the goat said, "Woe betide you, child, for you are going to fall into the hands of amateurs."

This is really more like an Aesop's fable than a proverb, and there is indeed an Aesop's fable (preserved in Babrius) that tells a similar sort of story, although about cattle rather than goats: The Oxen and the Butchers.

Golden Zeus and Danae

And here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too:

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