Week 37 Proverb and Vocabulary Review

Review Padlet. Here's a link to 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.

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. You can also access all the Padlets here: Padlet-of-Padlets.

Alphabetical Index. Plus 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 640 total).

• Ἄδακρυς πόλεμος.
  
• Ἀδελφὸς ἀνδρὶ παρείη.
  
• Ἀεὶ γὰρ εὖ πίπτουσιν οἱ Διὸς κύβοι.
  
• Ἀνδρῶν ἡρώων τέκνα πήματα.
  
• Ἄνευ ξύλου μὴ βάδιζε.
  
• Ἀνεῳγμέναι Μουσῶν θύραι.
  
• Ἄνω κάτω πάντα.
  
• Ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός.
  
• Ἀφ' Ἑστίας ἀρχόμενοι.
  
• Δικαίως κτῶ.
  
• Ἐπ' ἀμφότερα καθεύδεις τὰ ὦτα.
  
• Ἐπαίνει ἀρετήν.
  
• Θάλαττα, θάλαττα.
  
• Κακὰ πλεῖστα πόλει δυσνομία παρέχει.
  
• Μὴ ἴσθι ὡς λέων ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ σου.
  
• Ὅν οἱ θεοὶ φιλοῦσιν ἀποθνῄσκει νέος.
  
• Οὐδὲν γίγνεται ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος.
  
• Πενία δὲ τὴν σοφίαν ἔλαχε.
  
• Ῥήματα ἀντί ἀλφίτων.
  
• Σίδηρον πλεῖν διδάσκεις.
  
• Σύροι πρὸς Φοίνικας.
  
• Τὸ Ἱππάρχου τειχίον.
  
• Τύχην νόμιζε.
  
• Ὑφορῶ μηδένα.
  
• 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:

---

---

Click here to subscribe/unsubscribe to the email list.

---

Daily Greek Vocabulary Challenge: Dec. 20

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 130. These are proverbs you may have seen before (weeks ago), but this time I am featuring different vocabulary items. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

μηχανή ~ μηχανῆς (noun f.): device, machine 

σίδηρος ~ σιδήρου (noun m.): iron; sword 

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

θύρα ~ θύρας (noun f.): door 

τέκνον ~ τέκνου (noun n.): child 

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

Ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός.

Σίδηρον πλεῖν διδάσκεις. 

Χρυσὸς ὁ ἀφανὴς τύραννος.

Ἀνεῳγμέναι Μουσῶν θύραι.

Ἀνδρῶν ἡρώων τέκνα πήματα.

And now, some commentary:

Ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός.
God from the machine.
This is better known in its Latin form: Deus ex machina. The machine in question is the crane used in ancient Greek theater to lower a god onto the stage, and the phrase refers to some unexpected event; find out more at Wikipedia: Deus ex machina. From Greek μηχανή we get English mechanical, and also (via Latin) machine.

Σίδηρον πλεῖν διδάσκεις.
You're teaching iron to float.
This is a proverbial fool's errand: iron is never going to float. At least, that's what the Greeks thought about iron. Later on, of course, iron did learn to float! You can read about the history of iron-hulled sailing ships at Wikipedia.

Χρυσὸς ὁ ἀφανὴς τύραννος.
Gold is the invisible tyrant.
The adjective ἀφανὴς is an alpha-privative: ἀ-φανὴς, in-visible. From Greek τύραννος, we get English "tyrant." The etymology of the Greek word is obscure; here are some possible etymologies.

Ἀνεῳγμέναι Μουσῶν θύραι.
The doors of the Muses (are) open.
In other words: everyone has access to the arts; it is not a private privilege. The Greek θύρα is from the Indo-European root dʰwer, making it cognate with English "door." From Greek Μοῦσα we get English museum and music. You can find out more about the Μοῦσαι at Wikipedia: Muses.

Ἄνδρῶν ἡρώων τέκνα πήματα.
The children of heroes (are) calamities.
In other words, you cannot predict the quality of a person based on who their fathers are; heroes' children do not always turn out to be heroes — sometimes just the opposite. Erasmus includes this saying in his Adagia.

Muses

And here's a random proverb too:

---

---

Click here to subscribe/unsubscribe to the email list.

---

Daily Greek Vocabulary Challenge: Dec. 19

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 129. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

δικαίως (adverb): lawfully, justly 

κάτω (adverb): downards, below 

πρός (prep.+acc.): towards, beside 

τό ~ τοῦ (article): the 

ἀπό (prep.+gen.): from 

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

Δικαίως κτῶ.

Ἄνω κάτω πάντα.

Σύροι πρὸς Φοίνικας.

Τὸ Ἱππάρχου τειχίον.

Ἀφ' Ἑστίας ἀρχόμενοι.

And now, some commentary:

Δικαίως κτῶ.

Acquire possessions rightfully.

The word κτῶ is a middle imperative from the verb κτάομαι (it looks especially weird because the word has only one syllable; hence the circumflex). The adverb δικαίως is formed from the adjective δίκαιος which is in turn formed from the noun δίκη meaning order or justice. For the goddess of Justice, see Wikipedia: Dike.

Ἄνω κάτω πάντα.

Everything is topsy-turvy.

You have two adverbs here: ἄνω, meaning "upwards," and κάτω, meaning "downwards." Those words are already familiar to you from their prepositional forms, ἀνά and κατά. This was a popular phrase in ancient Greek; you can see it used here in Demosthenes's speech Against Aristogiton.

Σύροι πρὸς Φοίνικας.

Syrians versus Phoenicians.

As ethnic stereotypes in ancient Greece, both Syrians and Phoenicians had the reputation of being cheats and swindlers, so this saying referred to one gang of swindlers trying to cheat another gang. The preposition πρὸς plus the accusative can mean simply direction "towards" but it can also have the hostile sense of "against," which is the meaning here.

Τὸ Ἱππάρχου τειχίον.

The wall of Hipparchus.

Hipparchus, one of the tyrants of Athens (he was the son of Pisistratus), built a wall and a public gymnasium on the Academy grounds in Athens at great cost, and then forced the Athenians to reimburse him. This saying thus referred to any lavish or expensive project. For more about the tyrant Hipparchus, see Wikipedia: Hipparchus. (Note: this is not Hipparchus the mathematician.) Probably the most famous story about Hipparchus is his assassination by the lovers Harmodius and Aristogeiton.

Ἀφ' Ἑστίας ἀρχόμενοι.

Beginning with Hestia.

The preposition ἀπό drops its final vowel before the following vowel, and the aspiration of Ἑστία changes the pi to phi. This saying refers to the appropriate order in which to do things (compare English "begin at the beginning"), based on the fact that sacrifices to the gods began with a sacrifice to Hestia, the goddess of the hearth; honoring Hestia was honoring the fire of the sacrifice itself. You can find out more about Hestia at Wikipedia.

Hestia

And here's a random proverb too:

---

---

Click here to subscribe/unsubscribe to the email list.

---

Daily Greek Vocabulary Challenge: Dec. 18

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 128. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

μηδείς ~ μηδενός (adj. masc.): none, nothing (μη) 

ἀμφότερον ~ ἀμφοτέρου (adj. neut.): both of two; either 

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

νέος ~ νέου (adj. masc.): young, new 

πλεῖστον ~ πλείστου (adj. neut.): the most, very many 

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

Ὑφορῶ μηδένα.

Ἐπ' ἀμφότερα καθεύδεις τὰ ὦτα.

Οὐδὲν γίγνεται ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος.

Ὅν οἱ θεοὶ φιλοῦσιν ἀποθνῄσκει νέος.

Κακὰ πλεῖστα πόλει δυσνομία παρέχει.

And now, some commentary:

Ὑφορῶ μηδένα.

Do not regard anyone with suspicion.

The verb ὑφοράω is a compound of οράω: ὑπο+ὁράω (the vowel drops, and the aspiration changes the pi to phi). Literally, it means to look at from below, but metaphorically it means to look at someone with suspicion or jealousy, which is the meaning here. Because it is an imperative, it takes the form μηδένα rather than the form οὐδένα that is used with indicative verbs. This is another of the maxims attributed by Stobaeus to the Seven Sages.

Ἐπ' ἀμφότερα καθεύδεις τὰ ὦτα.

You're sleeping on both ears.

This means to be sleeping deeply; compare the English saying "to sleep like a log." The idea is that you are in such a comfortable and secure situation that you don't need to keep an ear open for danger while you sleep. The Greek determiner ἄμφω means "both," and the adjective ἀμφότερος means "each of two, both." You can see this root in amphitheater. 

Οὐδὲν γίγνεται ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος.

Nothing can come from that which is not.

This is a saying of the philosopher Epicurus, who maintained that for creation to take place, there must be pre-existing matter. You can also find the idea stated thus: οὐδὲν ἐξ οὐδενός. For a discussion of this topic, see the Wikipedia articles: Creatio ex materia and the opposing view: Creatio ex nihilo, which affirms that matter did not pre-exist God, who indeed created something from nothing.

Κακὰ πλεῖστα πόλει δυσνομία παρέχει.

Bad laws produce the most evils for a city.

The adjective πλεῖστον is the superlative form of πολύ. The noun δυσνομία is a compound, δυσ-νομία, meaning bad governance, bad laws, or lawlessness. This is one of the sayings attributed to Solon. This line comes from a long elegiac fragment which you can read here: Justice and the City.

Ὅν οἱ θεοὶ φιλοῦσιν ἀποθνῄσκει νέος.

Whom the gods love dies young.

The adjective νέος can mean new or fresh, and with regard to humans or other animals, as here, it means young. You can see this Greek root in many English words, such as neophyte and neolithic. This is one of the lines of the comic poet Menander; here is the meter marked:

Ὅν οἱ | θεοὶ || φιλοῦ|σιν ἀπο||θνῄσκει | νέος.

(You can often read a three-syllable element in an iambic line as syncopated: ἀπ'θνῄσκει.)

(the poet Menander)

And here's a random proverb too:

---

---

Click here to subscribe/unsubscribe to the email list.

---