Greek Proverbs: Nov. 13

Here are today's Greek proverbs; it's Group 206. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

πιστεύω ~ πιστεύσω ~ ἐπίστευσα (verb): believe, trust 

ἀνάγκη ~ ἀνάγκης (noun f.): necessity 

εὑρίσκω ~ εὑρήσω ~ ηὗρον (verb): find, discover 

συνάπτω ~ συνάψω ~ σύνηψα (verb): join, engage in 

ῥῆμα  ~ ῥήματος (noun n.): word, subject matter 

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

Τύχῃ μὴ πίστευε.

Ὑπὸ τῆς ἀνάγκης πολλὰ γίγνεται κακά.

Οὐκ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν βίον ἄλυπον οὐδενός.

Πρὸς λέοντα δορκάδες συνάπτουσι μάχας.

Οὐκ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ πᾶν ῥῆμα.

And now, some commentary:

Τύχῃ μὴ πίστευε.

Don't trust in luck.

This is one of the so-called Delphic maxims recorded by Stobaeus; you can find out more at Wikipedia.

Ὑπὸ τῆς ἀνάγκης πολλὰ γίγνεται κακά.

Many bad things happen by necessity.

You can read about the divine personification of ἀνάγκη at Wikipedia: Ananke. The words come from the comic playwright Menander and are in iambic meter:

Ὑπὸ τῆς | ἀνάγ||κης πολ|λὰ γίγ||νεται | κακά.

Οὐκ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν βίον ἄλυπον οὐδενός.

Nobody's life can be found that is without grief.

This is another one of the fragments of Menander, again in iambic meter:

Οὐκ ἔσ|τιν εὑ||ρεῖν βίον | ἄλυ||πον οὐ|δενός.

Πρὸς λέοντα δορκάδες συνάπτουσι μάχας.

The deer are massing in battle against the lion.

The deer are in the plural, δορκάδες, but even in the plural, all those deer are no match for a lion of course!

Οὐκ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ πᾶν ῥῆμα.

No thing will be impossible with God.

The words come from the Annunciation scene in the Gospel of Luke, where the angel is announcing to Mary that her cousin Elizabeth, though old, is about to bear a child (who will be John the Baptist).

The Annunciation

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

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Greek Proverbs: Nov. 11

Here are today's Greek proverbs; it's Group 205. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

βίος ~ βίου (noun m.): life 

τύραννος ~ τυράννου (noun m.): tyrant, despot 

κακή ~ κακῆς (adj. fem.): bad, evil 

γιγνώσκω ~ γνώσομαι ~ ἔγνων (verb): know 

φέρω ~ οἴσω ~ ἤνεγκον (verb): carry, bring 

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

Ἅβρωνος βίος.

Τύραννος τυράννῳ συγκατεργάζεται.

Κακῆς ἀπ' ἀρχῆς γίγνεται τέλος κακόν.

Ἔγνω δὲ φώρ τε φῶρα, καὶ λύκος λύκον.

Λύκος ἐν αἰτίᾳ γίνεται, κἂν φέφῃ κἂν μὴ φέρῃ.

And now, some commentary:

Ἅβρωνος βίος.

The life of Abron.

Abron was an extremely wealthy citizen of Argos, so much so that he became a proverbial saying for wealth, especially excessive wealth. You can read about this Abron and other ancient Greeks named Abron at Wikipedia.

Τύραννος τυράννῳ συγκατεργάζεται.

One tyrant is coming to the aid of another.

The saying is found in Herodotus, put into the mouths of Spartan envoys who are disparaging Alexander I of Macedon, an ally of Xerxes, tyrant and tyrant.

Κακῆς ἀπ' ἀρχῆς γίγνεται τέλος κακόν.

A bad ending comes from a bad beginning.

Notice how the adjectives κακῆς and κακόν wrap around the saying. The saying is a fragment from Euripides' Aeolus, and it is thus iambic:

Κακῆς | ἀπ' ἀρ||χῆς γίγ|νεται || τέλος κακόν.

Ἔγνω δὲ φώρ τε φῶρα, καὶ λύκος λύκον.

A thief knows a thief, and a wolf knows a wolf.

This is another example of the so-called "gnomic" aroist, which I've rendered here in the English saying with present tense. Aristotle cites the saying in his discussion of friends in the Eudemian Ethics.

Λύκος ἐν αἰτίᾳ γίνεται, κἂν φέφῃ κἂν μὴ φέρῃ.

The wolf is to blame whether he takes (the sheep) or not.

Of course, the reason the wolf gets blamed is because he has, on many occasions, taken the sheep!

silver coin from the reign of Alexander I, circa 450 BCE

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

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Greek Proverbs: Nov. 6

Here are today's Greek proverbs; it's Group 204. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

θάνατος ~ θανάτου (noun m.): death 

πόλεμος ~ πολέμου (noun m.): war, battle 

Ἄρτεμις ~ Ἀρτέμιδος (noun f.): Artemis 

οὐδέν ~ οὐδενός (adj. neut.): none, nothing (οὐ) 

ὅπου (adverb): where, wherever 

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

Ὄνου θανάτους.

Πολλὰ καινὰ τοῦ πολέμου.

Ποῦ γὰρ ἡ Ἄρτεμις οὐκ ἐχόρευσεν;

Λιμῷ γὰρ οὐδέν ἐστιν ἀντειπεῖν ἔπος.

Ὅπου βία πάρεστιν, οὐδὲν ἰσχύει νόμος.

And now, some commentary:

Ὄνου θανάτους.

(To narrate) the deaths of a donkey.

This saying is recorded in Erasmus's Adagia, where he explains that the accusative plural θανάτους is the object of an implied verb: to tell or narrate. This a mocking proverb, making fun of someone who is telling a serious story about an unworthy hero, i.e. the story of some heroic death-defying donkey, as if a donkey were the equal of a hero like Odysseus. 

Πολλὰ καινὰ τοῦ πολέμου.

War brings many strange things.

Bentley includes this Greek saying in his Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris, applying the saying quite wittily to the strange anachronistic contradictions he discovers in the process of debunking the letters and attributing them not to the 6th century B.C.E. but to the 2nd century C.E.

Ποῦ γὰρ ἡ Ἄρτεμις οὐκ ἐχόρευσεν;

Where indeed has Artemis not danced?

This is one of the sayings from the collection of proverbs attributed to Aesop. It is a hyperbolic phrase that refers to anything that is ubiquitous: Artemis was so famed for her dancing and her worship was so widespread that Artemis had danced... everywhere. So the proverb is a byword for something can be found everywhere. For more about the Artemis cult, see Wikipedia: Cult of Artemis at Brauron.

Λιμῷ γὰρ οὐδέν ἐστιν ἀντειπεῖν ἔπος.

There is no word that can refute hunger.

In other words, mere words will never persuade something that their empty belly is really full; instead of making things better, words will be just make things worse — the hunger remains. No argument can dismiss it. This is one of Menander's monostichs, so it is in iambic meter:

Λιμῷ | γὰρ οὐ||δέν ἐσ|τιν ἀν||τειπεῖν | ἔπος.

Ὅπου βία πάρεστιν, οὐδὲν ἰσχύει νόμος.

Wherever there is violence, law has no power.

Note that οὐδὲν here has the force of an adverb; neuter nouns and adjectives often have adverbial force in Greek. And, sad to say, this is very much a saying for our times, especially here in the United States these days. Compare the English saying, "Might prevails over right."

girls dancing to honor Artemis

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

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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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