Daily Greek Vocabulary Challenge: Nov. 20

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 108. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

βιόω ~ βιώσομαι ~ ἐβίων: live, pass one's life 

φείδομαι ~ φείσομαι ~ ἐφεισάμην: spare, use sparingly 

ἐλεέω ~ ἐλεήσω ~ ἠλέησα: feel pity, show mercy 

πείθω ~ πείσω ~ ἔπεισα: persuade; trust, obey 

κρίνω ~ κρινέω ~ ἔκρινα: decide, judge 

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

Ἀλύπως βίου.

Χρόνου φείδου.

Κύριε, ἐλέησον.

Μὴ κρίνετε, καὶ οὐ μὴ κριθῆτε.

Δῶρα πείθειν καὶ θεοὺς λόγος.

And now, some commentary:

Ἀλύπως βίου.

Live without grieving.

The word βίου is a verb here, a middle imperative of the contract verb βιόω. Yes, βίου is also the genitive singular of the noun βίος; the two words are from the same root, but they are not the same word. Just like in English, which abounds in homonyms (both homographs and homophones), there are some Greek words which can have the same spelling and pronunciation but which are different words, and you have to figure it out from context. In this context, βίου as noun does not make sense, but βίου as verb does. More about the many different types of homonyms at Wikipedia.

Χρόνου φείδου.

Be sparing of time.

The verb φείδου is another middle imperative; the verb φείδομαι has only middle forms, and it takes a genitive complement: χρόνου. This and the previous saying are from the maxims that Stobaeus attributed to the Seven Sages; see Wikipedia: Delphic maxims for more.

Κύριε, ἐλέησον.

Lord, have mercy.

The word ἐλέησον is a different kind of imperative; this is an aorist imperative from the verb ἐλεέω. The sigma is a clue that you are dealing with an aorist imperative; like most contract verbs, ἐλεέω has a sigmatic aorist: ἠλέησα (stem: ἐλέησ-). This phrase from Christian Greek is also found in Christian Latin: Kyrie eleison, or simply Kyrie. You can find out more at Wikipedia: Kyrie.

Μὴ κρίνετε, καὶ οὐ μὴ κριθῆτε.

Do not judge, and you will not be judged.

The words are from the Gospel of Luke. The full verse reads: καὶ μὴ κρίνετε, καὶ οὐ μὴ κριθῆτε· καὶ μὴ καταδικάζετε, καὶ οὐ μὴ καταδικασθῆτε. ἀπολύετε, καὶ ἀπολυθήσεσθε· — translated in the King James version as: "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven." Note the emphatic use of οὐ μή for the negative prediction; more about Greek οὐ μή.

Δῶρα πείθειν καὶ θεοὺς λόγος.

The story goes that gifts persuade even the gods.

Note the adverbial use of καί here: even the gods, i.e. [mortals] and gods. The noun λόγος here means something like saying or story, or even simply "it is said," and it introduces indirect statement, with the infinitive πείθειν and an accusative subject, δῶρα. The line comes from Euripides' Medea, when Medea is handing over to Jason the deadly dowry for his new wife, so Medea is actually using this λόγος to lead him into her trap.

Kyrie (Gregorian Chant)

And here's a random proverb too:

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Daily Greek Vocabulary Challenge: Nov. 19

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 107. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

κακία ~ κακίας (noun f.): vice, dishonor 

πέτρα ~ πέτρας (noun f.): rock 

ψυχή ~ ψυχῆς (noun f.): soul, life 

πατρίς ~ πατρίδος (noun f.): fatherland, homeland 

κοινωνία ~ κοινωνίας (noun f.): association, partnership 

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

Κακίαν μίσει.

Ἀγέλαστος πέτρα.

Καιρὸς ψυχὴ πράγματος.

Οὐδὲν γλύκιον ἧς πατρίδος.

Τίς γὰρ κατόπτρῳ καὶ τυφλῷ κοινωνία;

And now, some commentary:

Κακίαν μίσει.

Hate badness.

This is another one of the maxims that Stobaeus attributes to the Seven Sages; see Wikipedia: Delphic maxims. From the root of the noun κακία (and the adjective κακός), we get English words like cacophony. There is an enormous number of Greek words which are built from this root; see the list at Wiktionary.

Ἀγέλαστος πέτρα.

The un-laughing stone.

This refers to the stone at Eleusis on which the grieving Demeter rested while she searched for her daughter Persephone; see Wikipedia: Abduction of Persephone for that story. Note that the alpha-privative adjective ἀ-γέλαστος does not have a distinct feminine form; instead, the feminine and masculine forms are the same. This is true not just for alpha-privatives but for many other compound adjectives as well.

Καιρὸς ψυχὴ πράγματος.

The right moment is the soul of the matter.

In English, we might say "the heart" of the matter, rather than "the soul." For the wide range of meanings of Greek ψυχή, see the LSJ dictionary entry: soul, spirit, life, self, consciousness. The word gives us all the psych- words in English, like psychology, and Psyche is the lover of Eros / Cupid; see Wikipedia: Cupid and Psyche.

Οὐδὲν γλύκιον ἧς πατρίδος.

Nothing is sweeter than one's fatherland.

The word γλύκιον is comparative ("sweeter"), so it takes a genitive complement: πατρίδος. The words appear in Homer's Odyssey, and so echo on throughout Greek literature, quoted by later authors.

For example, here is a line from the Greek Anthology, with "said Odysseus" at the end: ὡς οὐδὲν γλύκιον ἧς πατρίδος, εἶπεν Ὀδυσσεύς. The complete line in the Odyssey includes parents also:

ὣς οὐδὲν γλύκιον ἧς πατρίδος οὐδὲ τοκήων

Here is the meter:

ὣς οὐ~δὲν γλύκι~ον ἧς ~ πατρίδος ~ οὐδὲ το~κήων

Τίς γὰρ κατόπτρῳ καὶ τυφλῷ κοινωνία;

What partnership can there be for a mirror and a blind man?

You will find this saying included in the dictionary entry for κάτοπτρον. Compare the English saying: "A blind man will not thank you for a looking-glass." For more positive proverbs, though, compare this Hausa proverb from Nigeria: "A blind man does not worry over the loss of a looking glass." Plus this one from Sierra Leone: "Don't ask a blind man why he would buy a mirror; he probably has a use for it."

Psyche in a 14th-century Apuleius ms.

And here's a random proverb too:

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Daily Greek Vocabulary Challenge: Nov. 18

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 106. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

γλυκύ ~ γλυκέος (adj. neut.): sweet, pleasant 

δίκαιον ~ δικαίου (adj. neut.): just, righteous, lawful 

μακρός ~ μακροῦ (adj. masc.): long 

ἄριστος ~ ἀρίστου (adj. masc.): best, finest 

ὀρθή ~ ὀρθῆς (adj. neut.): straight, (up)right, correct

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

Κρῖνε δίκαια.

Γλυκὺ τὸ φῶς.

Τέλος ὅρα μακροῦ βίου.

Οἶκος φίλος, οἶκος ἄριστος.

Βουλῆς γὰρ ὀρθῆς οὐδὲν ἀσφαλέστερον.

And now, some commentary:

Κρῖνε δίκαια.

Discern what is right.

Notice that the Greek uses the plural adjective as a noun: (the things that are) right. You can also render this as an adverb in English: Judge justly. This is one of the maxims that Stobaeus attributes to the Seven Sages; find out more at Wikipedia: Delphic maxims. You can also find out more about the goddess of justice, Wikipedia: Dike.

Γλυκὺ τὸ φῶς.

Sweet is the light.

The words come from the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes. The full verse reads: γλυκὺ τὸ φῶς καὶ ἀγαθὸν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς βλέπειν σὺν τὸν ἥλιον, "and it is good for the eyes together to behold the sun." From the root of Greek γλυκ- we get the glyc- words in English like glycerine, and also gluc- words like glucose.

Οἶκος φίλος, οἶκος ἄριστος.

Home is dear, home is best.

Compare the English saying, "East or west, home is best" or "There's no place like home." These words are spoken by the tortoise in the Aesop's fable of Zeus and the tortoise: the tortoise is explaining why she didn't come to Zeus's wedding, and Zeus gets so angry that he condemns the tortoise to carrying her house with her wherever she goes... although for the tortoise, that is more like a reward than a punishment! The fable has its own Wikipedia article: Zeus and the Tortoise.

Τέλος ὅρα μακροῦ βίου.

Look at the end of a long life.

The saying is found in Epicurus, who marks it as a proverbial saying (φωνή ἡ λέγουσα...). The idea is that you cannot pronounce someone happy until the end of their life. Solon discusses this idea with Croesus in their famous dialogue, and Arrian also appropriates the idea in discussing the short life of Alexander the Great: “Perhaps it was also a better fate for him to die at the height of his reputation and when he would be missed by men before he could suffer that common human fate, which is the very thing Solon warned Croesus about: that it is best to look to the end of even a long life (τέλος ὁρᾶν μακροῦ βίου) and never to say openly that some man is fortunate before he is dead.”

Βουλῆς γὰρ ὀρθῆς οὐδὲν ἀσφαλέστερον.

Nothing is more reliable than good advice.

This is one of the monostichs (one-liners) of Menander. Here is the meter marked:

Βουλῆς γὰρ ὀρ || θῆς οὐ | δὲν ἀσ || φαλέ | στερον.

From the root in Greek ὀρθή we get all the orth- words in English like orthodox, orthopedics, etc. The adjective ἀσφαλέστερον, superlative of ἀσφαλές, is an alpha-privative: ἀ-σφαλές, un-falling or un-failing (verb: σφάλλω); compare English "asphalt."

Zeus and the Tortoise

And here's a random proverb too:

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Week 32: Proverb and Vocabulary review

Review Padlet. Here's the Proverb Padlet that contains the contents of the week's posts... and it displays at random each time you load the Padlet! That way you can use it as a randomizing-reviewer for the week. Here's a screenshot of this week's Padlet: Greek Proverbs Week 32. Here's the Padlet embedded, but the  embedded version may not appear in the email.

And remember: you can put a Padlet on your phone so you can pop up a proverb at random whenever. There's a free Padlet app you can download if you want, but you don't need the app; you can just save the URL to your phone home screen (that's what I do). It's a fun and easy way to review at random! There's also a randomizing Padlet-of-Padlets.

Alphabetical Index. Finally, here is the list of all of this week's proverbs, alphabetized and linked back to the blog post so that you can access the English translation and commentary as needed. I've also updated the complete list of proverbs (there are now 525 total).

• Ἀεργοῖς αἲὲν ἑορτά.
  
• Ἄρχε σεαυτοῦ.
  
• Γονεῖς αἰδοῦ.
  
• Ἕνα ἀλλὰ λέοντα.
  
• Ἐπὶ δυοῖν ἀγκυραῖν ὁρμεῖ.
  
• Ἔχθρας διάλυε.
  
• Ζεὺς πάντων ἐφορᾷ τέλος.
  
• Ἡ γὰρ τυραννὶς ἀδικίας μήτηρ ἔφυ.
  
• Θυμοῦ κράτει.
  
• Κακὸν δῶρον, ἴσον ζημίᾳ.
  
• Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται.
  
• Μανθάνων μὴ κάμνε.
  
• Μὴ εἰς τὴν αὔριον ἀναβάλλου.
  
• Νοῦν ἡγεμόνα ποιοῦ.
  
• Ὁ ἄδικος οὐ λανθάνει τοὺς θεούς.
  
• Πᾶν ἐστὶ ἄνθρωπος συμφορή.
  
• Πᾶν τὸ ἐρχόμενον ματαιότης.
  
• Πλέον ἥμισυ παντός.
  
• Προτέρα πάντων ἔκτισται σοφία.
  
• Σαοὺλ Σαούλ, τί με διώκεις;
  
• Σεαυτὸν αἰδοῦ.
  
• Στιγμὴ χρόνου πᾶς ἐστιν ὁ βίος.
  
• Φίλος πιστὸς σκέπη κραταιά.
  
• Φίλος πιστὸς φάρμακον ζωῆς.
  
• Χρυσὸς ὁ ἀφανὴς τύραννος.
  

Audio. If you would like to do some listening, there is audio for Proverbs 1-500.

And here's a random proverb too:

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