Greek Proverb of the Day

Here is today's proverb from the blog with a LOLcat and vocabulary too! This is a repeat of a proverb you've seen before, but the vocabulary list is new. The vocabulary links go to Logeion.

Διώκει παῖς ποτανὸν ὄρνιν.

• διώκει, from διώκω.
• παῖς.
• ποτανὸν, from ποτανός.
• ὄρνιν, from ὄρνις.

Διώκει παῖς ποτανὸν ὄρνιν.

The child is chasing a winged bird.

The saying is invoked by the chorus of Aeschylus's Agamemnon. It refers to something like what we call a "wild goose chase" in English, a futile endeavor or something even more sinister, leading to disaster. The chorus goes on to invoke Paris's theft of Helen a few lines later, so the proverb appears to be associated with a presumed fable, otherwise lost to us, about a child who, in pursuit of a bird, somehow brings destruction on a city as Paris brought destruction on Troy.

And here's a quiz covering the past five cats (answers at the blog only, not in the email):

Διώκει ______ ποτανὸν ὄρνιν.

reveal/hide answer

Διώκει παῖς ποτανὸν ὄρνιν.

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Γλυκὺ τὸ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Γλυκὺ τὸ φῶς.

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Ἅμαξα τὸν _______ ἕλκει.

reveal/hide answer

Ἅμαξα τὸν βοῦν ἕλκει.

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Ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ φίλον.

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Ἄρτι _______ πίττης γεύεται.

reveal/hide answer

Ἄρτι μῦς πίττης γεύεται.

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And to finish up, here's a random LOLCat too:

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Greek Proverb of the Day: November 6

Here is today's proverb from the blog with a LOLcat and vocabulary too! This is a repeat of a proverb you've seen before, but the vocabulary list is new. The vocabulary links go to Logeion.

Γλυκὺ τὸ φῶς.

• γλυκὺ, from γλυκύς.
• τὸ, from ὁ.
• φῶς.

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.

And here's a quiz covering the past five cats (answers at the blog only, not in the email):

Ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ φίλον.

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Γλυκὺς ἀπείρῳ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Γλυκὺς ἀπείρῳ πόλεμος.

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Γλυκὺ τὸ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Γλυκὺ τὸ φῶς.

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Ἅμαξα τὸν _______ ἕλκει.

reveal/hide answer

Ἅμαξα τὸν βοῦν ἕλκει.

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Ἄρτι _______ πίττης γεύεται.

reveal/hide answer

Ἄρτι μῦς πίττης γεύεται.

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And to finish up, here's a random LOLCat too:

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Greek Proverb of the Day: November 5

Here is today's proverb from the blog with a LOLcat and vocabulary too! This is a repeat of a proverb you've seen before, but the vocabulary list is new. The vocabulary links go to Logeion.

Ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ φίλον.

• ὅμοιον and ὁμοίῳ, from ὅμοιος.
• φίλον, from φίλος.

Ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ φίλον.

Like likes like.

In Greek, it is literally "a (similar) thing is friendly to a similar thing." The saying appears in Plato's Lysis (τὸ ὅμοιον τῷ ὁμοίῳ φίλον εἶναι) in a debate about whether friendship is more likely among people who are similar or whether people who are similar are prone to envy and resentment, with friendship more naturally occurring between people who are dissimilar. From the Greek root ὁμο- we get the homo- words in English like homogeneous and homonym.

And here's a quiz covering the past five cats (answers at the blog only, not in the email):

Ἡφαίστειος ______.

reveal/hide answer

Ἡφαίστειος δεσμός.

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Ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ φίλον.

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Ἅμαξα τὸν _______ ἕλκει.

reveal/hide answer

Ἅμαξα τὸν βοῦν ἕλκει.

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Γλυκὺς ἀπείρῳ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Γλυκὺς ἀπείρῳ πόλεμος.

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Ἄρτι _______ πίττης γεύεται.

reveal/hide answer

Ἄρτι μῦς πίττης γεύεται.

---

And to finish up, here's a random LOLCat too:

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Click here to subscribe/unsubscribe to the email list.

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Greek Proverb of the Day: November 4

Here is today's proverb from the blog with a LOLcat and vocabulary too! This is a repeat of a proverb you've seen before, but the vocabulary list is new. The vocabulary links go to Logeion.

Ἄρτι μῦς πίττης γεύεται.

• ἄρτι.
• μῦς.
• πίττης, from πίσσα.
• γεύεται, from γεύω.

Ἄρτι μῦς πίττης γεύεται.

The mouse is now tasting the pitch.

The verb γεύεται takes a genitive complement (have a taste "of"): πίττης. The saying is used by Demosthenes, and it alludes to a mousetrap in which the mouse is lured and trapped in sticky pitch. In other words: someone has just made a fatal mistake, one from which they cannot escape. The proverb appears in the LSJ entry for μῦς.

And here's a quiz covering the past five cats (answers at the blog only, not in the email):

Ἅμαξα τὸν _______ ἕλκει.

reveal/hide answer

Ἅμαξα τὸν βοῦν ἕλκει.

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Γλυκὺς ἀπείρῳ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Γλυκὺς ἀπείρῳ πόλεμος.

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Ἄρτι _______ πίττης γεύεται.

reveal/hide answer

Ἄρτι μῦς πίττης γεύεται.

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Ἡφαίστειος ______.

reveal/hide answer

Ἡφαίστειος δεσμός.

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______ αἰδοῦ.

reveal/hide answer

Πρεσβύτερον αἰδοῦ.

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And to finish up, here's a random LOLCat too:

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Greek Proverb of the Day: November 3

Here is today's proverb from the blog with a LOLcat and vocabulary too! This is a repeat of a proverb you've seen before, but the vocabulary list is new. The vocabulary links go to Logeion.

Ἅμαξα τὸν βοῦν ἕλκει.

• ἅμαξα
• τὸν, from ὁ.
• βοῦν, from βοῦς.
• ἕλκει, from ἕλκω.

Ἅμαξα τὸν βοῦν ἕλκει.

The cart is pulling the ox.

Compare the English saying: "Don't put the cart before the horse."

And here's a quiz covering the past five cats (answers at the blog only, not in the email):

Ἡφαίστειος ______.

reveal/hide answer

Ἡφαίστειος δεσμός.

---

Ἅμαξα τὸν _______ ἕλκει.

reveal/hide answer

Ἅμαξα τὸν βοῦν ἕλκει.

---

Γλυκὺς ἀπείρῳ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Γλυκὺς ἀπείρῳ πόλεμος.

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______ αἰδοῦ.

reveal/hide answer

Πρεσβύτερον αἰδοῦ.

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Ἀεργοῖς ______ ἑορτά.

reveal/hide answer

Ἀεργοῖς αἰὲν ἑορτά.

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And to finish up, here's a random LOLCat too:

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Greek Proverb of the Day: November 2

Here is today's proverb from the blog with a LOLcat and vocabulary too! This is a repeat of a proverb you've seen before, but the vocabulary list is new. The vocabulary links go to Logeion.

Γλυκὺς ἀπείρῳ πόλεμος.

• γλυκύς
• ἀπείρῳ, from ἄπειρος.
• πόλεμος

Γλυκὺς ἀπείρῳ πόλεμος.

War (is) sweet to the inexperienced (person).

By implication, the person with experience of war knows that it is anything but sweet. The adjective ἄπειρος is an alpha-privative: ἄ-πειρος, and you can see the root πειρ- in English "empirical." From the root of γλυκύς, we get medical terms like hypoglycemia, "low blood sugar," in English.

And here's a quiz covering the past five cats (answers at the blog only, not in the email):

Γλυκὺς ἀπείρῳ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Γλυκὺς ἀπείρῳ πόλεμος.

---

Ἡφαίστειος ______.

reveal/hide answer

Ἡφαίστειος δεσμός.

---

______ αἰδοῦ.

reveal/hide answer

Πρεσβύτερον αἰδοῦ.

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Ἄγουσιν ἑορτὴν οἱ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Ἄγουσιν ἑορτὴν οἱ κλέπται.

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Ἀεργοῖς ______ ἑορτά.

reveal/hide answer

Ἀεργοῖς αἰὲν ἑορτά.

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And to finish up, here's a random LOLCat too:

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Click here to subscribe/unsubscribe to the email list.

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Greek Proverb of the Day: November 1

Here is today's proverb from the blog with a LOLcat and vocabulary too! This is a repeat of a proverb you've seen before, but the vocabulary list is new. The vocabulary links go to Logeion.

Ἡφαίστειος δεσμός.

• Ἡφαίστειος
• δεσμός

Ἡφαίστειος δεσμός.

The Hephaestean bond.

Erasmus provides a very cool-sounding Latin version of the Greek: Vulcanium vinculum (Vulcan was the Roman name for the god Hephaestus). The saying alludes to the famous incident in the Iliad when Hephaestus forged a chain-link net to bind his wife Aphrodite in bed with her lover Ares; you can read about this story at Wikipedia: Hephaestus and Aphrodite.

And here's a quiz covering the past five cats (answers at the blog only, not in the email):

Καὶ ______ ποιῶν πρόσεχε.

reveal/hide answer

Καὶ καλὸν ποιῶν πρόσεχε.

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Ἡφαίστειος ______.

reveal/hide answer

Ἡφαίστειος δεσμός.

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Ἀεργοῖς ______ ἑορτά.

reveal/hide answer

Ἀεργοῖς αἰὲν ἑορτά.

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______ αἰδοῦ.

reveal/hide answer

Πρεσβύτερον αἰδοῦ.

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Ἄγουσιν ἑορτὴν οἱ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Ἄγουσιν ἑορτὴν οἱ κλέπται.

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And to finish up, here's a random LOLCat too:

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Click here to subscribe/unsubscribe to the email list.

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