Greek Proverbs

Here are today's Greek proverbs with LOLCats! These are repeats of previous proverbs, but now with illustrations... and with a quiz too! See how you do on the questions up top, and then try them again down below after you've read through the proverbs (the quiz results display only at the blog, not in the email):

______ ψυχὴ πράγματος.

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Καιρὸς ψυχὴ πράγματος.

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Ὁ Καρπάθιος τὸν ______.

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Ὁ Καρπάθιος τὸν λαγών.

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Μὴ νεκρῶν θήκας ______.

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Μὴ νεκρῶν θήκας κίνει.

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Ὄνος ______ μιμούμενος.

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Ὄνος ἵππον μιμούμενος.

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______ Πεγάσῳ κρίνεις.

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Χελώην Πεγάσῳ κρίνεις.

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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.

Ὁ Καρπάθιος τὸν λαγών.

The Carpathian (brought) the rabbit.

This is mentioned as a proverb in Aristotle's Rhetoric, and it was already known to Archilochus. The story goes that a Carpathian unwittingly imported a pair of rabbits onto the island (Κάρπαθος), and the rabbits multiplied, devastating the crops. Compare the rabbits in Australia.

Μὴ νεκρῶν θήκας κίνει.

Do not disturb the graves of the dead.

This is a saying found in Theophrastus, and it can be applied metaphorically to anything that is "dead and buried" and is best left undisturbed. Don't go digging it up again! Note the accentuation on κίνει, which alerts you that it is the imperative, along with μὴ as a clue that you are not dealing with an indicative verb (κινεῖ would be the 3rd-person indicative).

Ὄνος ἵππον μιμούμενος.

A donkey imitating a horse.

This saying refers to someone unworthy who claims honors that do not belong to them. Aesop has his own take on this comparison: he tells a fable about a donkey who envied a noble horse... until he saw the horse badly wounded in war. The donkey then decided that being a donkey is maybe not so bad! Here's that fable: The Donkey who Envied the Horse.

Χελώην Πεγάσῳ κρίνεις.

You're comparing a tortoise to Pegasus.

Of course, the tortoise is slow and crawls on the ground, while Pegasus, the winged horse, is fast and flies through the air. Erasmus gives the form Χελώνην Πηγάσῳ συγκρίνεις (= συν-κρίνεις). For more about the famous flying horse, see Wikipedia: Pegasus. For another proverb about Pegasus, see this earlier post: Πηγάσου ταχύτερος.

______ ψυχὴ πράγματος.

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Καιρὸς ψυχὴ πράγματος.

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Ὁ Καρπάθιος τὸν ______.

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Ὁ Καρπάθιος τὸν λαγών.

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Μὴ νεκρῶν θήκας ______.

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Μὴ νεκρῶν θήκας κίνει.

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Ὄνος ______ μιμούμενος.

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Ὄνος ἵππον μιμούμενος.

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______ Πεγάσῳ κρίνεις.

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Χελώην Πεγάσῳ κρίνεις.

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

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Greek Proverbs: July 16

Here are today's Greek proverbs with LOLCats! These are repeats of previous proverbs, but now with illustrations... and with a quiz too! See how you do on the questions up top, and then try them again down below after you've read through the proverbs (the quiz results display only at the blog, not in the email):|

Δὶς καὶ ______ τὸ καλόν.

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Δὶς καὶ τρὶς τὸ καλόν.

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Πάντα γὰρ ______ καλά.

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Πάντα γὰρ καιρῷ καλά.

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Αὐτοὶ ______ ἐσθίετε.

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Αὐτοὶ χελώνας ἐσθίετε.

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Κοσκίνῳ ______ ἀντλεῖς.

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Κοσκίνῳ ὕδωρ ἀντλεῖς.

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______ ἀνὴρ μακρόβιος.

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Κακὸς ἀνὴρ μακρόβιος.

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Δὶς καὶ τρὶς τὸ καλόν.

Two times and three times (repeat what is) good.

The idea is that if something is good, once is not enough: repeat it again, and then again — two times and three. You can find this proverbial saying in Plato. Here's a rhyming version in English: That which seemeth well, 'tis well twice and also thrice to tell. The saying is often applied to things that are well said, but I like to think of having second and third helpings of food that is good to eat!

Πάντα γὰρ καιρῷ καλά.

All things (are) good at the right moment.

These words come from Sophocles's Oedipus the King, in a dialogue between Oedipus and Creon near the end of the play. Here and elsewhere I have not tried to translate the Greek particle γὰρ, although it shows up often in proverbs and sayings, providing a link between the saying and the context to which it is to be applied.

Αὐτοὶ χελώνας ἐσθίετε.

Eat the turtles yourselves!

A fuller form of the saying is Αὐτοὶ χελώνας ἐσθίεθ᾿ οἵπερ εἵλετε, "Eat the turtles yourselves, you who caught them." This is from a story about Hermes and some fishermen, as Erasmus explains: the fishermen had caught more turtles than they could eat, so when Hermes came by, they offered him some turtles to eat, but he realized their hospitality was not sincere, just convenient, so he told them to eat the turtles themselves. 

Κοσκίνῳ ὕδωρ ἀντλεῖς.

You're drawing water with a sieve.

This is a fool's errand: you can scoop all you want, but the sieve is not going to hold the water. Compare a similar saying you saw earlier: Κοσκίνῳ ὕδωρ φέρει, "He's carrying water in a sieve." The original meaning of the verb ἀντλέω is to bale bilgewater; the noun ἄντλος means bilgewater.

Κακὸς ἀνὴρ μακρόβιος.

The wicked man lives a long time.

Compare the English saying, "Only the good die young." (Or the less well-known English saying, "A creaking door hangs long on its hinges.") You can see the Greek root κακ- in the English word "cacophony," and English "macrobiotic" is from μακρό-βιος.

Δὶς καὶ ______ τὸ καλόν.

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Δὶς καὶ τρὶς τὸ καλόν.

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Πάντα γὰρ ______ καλά.

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Πάντα γὰρ καιρῷ καλά.

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Αὐτοὶ ______ ἐσθίετε.

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Αὐτοὶ χελώνας ἐσθίετε.

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Κοσκίνῳ ______ ἀντλεῖς.

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Κοσκίνῳ ὕδωρ ἀντλεῖς.

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______ ἀνὴρ μακρόβιος.

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Κακὸς ἀνὴρ μακρόβιος.

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

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Greek Proverbs: July 14

Here are today's Greek proverbs with LOLCats! These are repeats of previous proverbs, but now with illustrations... and with a quiz too! See how you do on the questions up top, and then try them again down below after you've read through the proverbs (the quiz results display only at the blog, not in the email):

_______ ἄνδρα δείκνυσιν.

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Ἀρχὴ ἄνδρα δείκνυσιν.

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Φέρει καὶ _______ γάλα.

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Φέρει καὶ ὄρνις γάλα.

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Ἅμαξα τὸν _______ ἕλκει.

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Ἅμαξα τὸν βοῦν ἕλκει.

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Ὃ ἂν μὴ ἴδῃς μὴ _______.

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Ὃ ἂν μὴ ἴδῃς μὴ λέγε.

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Ἐὶ καὶ _______ ἐμνήσθης.

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Ἐὶ καὶ λύκου ἐμνήσθης.

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Ἀρχὴ ἄνδρα δείκνυσιν. 

Rule reveals the man.

In other words, when you put someone in charge of something (ἀρχή is the notion of being "first" and then, by extension, it means the power that comes from being at the head of something, being in charge; see next saying), you see what kind of man he is. This is one of the sayings attributed to Pittacus, who was one of the Seven Sages; you can find out more at Wikipedia: Pittacus of Mytilene.

Ἐὶ καὶ λύκου ἐμνήσθης.

If you even mention the wolf.

This is the Greek equivalent of the English saying, "speak of the devil," i.e. "speak of the devil, and he will appear," but with the wolf instead of the devil: "if you even mention the wolf (he will come)." About the καὶ: this is an adverbial καὶ, "even," which implies the idea of summoning the wolf. In other words, "if you summon the wolf, of course he will come; but if you even mention the wolf... he will come!" As Erasmus explains, the saying is used when someone turns up or something happens unexpectedly after being mentioned in conversation, just as we use "speak of the devil" in English today. The Latin equivalent was lupus in fabula or lupus in sermone, which both mean "the wolf in conversation."

Φέρει καὶ ὄρνις γάλα.

Even a chicken gives milk.

This refers to a land of supernatural abundance: in that magical land, even a chicken gives milk, not just eggs. Compare the English saying, "Rare as hens' teeth." You can also find this idea expressed simply as ὀρνίθων γάλα, "hens' milk," referring to something implausible or even absurd.

Ἅμαξα τὸν βοῦν ἕλκει.

The cart is pulling the ox.

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

Ὃ ἂν μὴ ἴδῃς μὴ λέγε.

If you didn't see it, don't say it.

The words are attributed to Solon, one of the Seven Sages; find out more at Wikipedia: Solon. The particle ἂν with the subjunctive ἴδῃς conveys a hypothetical sense.  The verb ἴδῃς (aorist subjunctive) is used with the verb ὁράω, and this aorist stem is from the Indo-European root weyd- which you can see also in Latin video, and the same root also gives English "wise" and "wit" etc. You can read about the Indo-European stem at the wiktionary.

_______ ἄνδρα δείκνυσιν.

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Ἀρχὴ ἄνδρα δείκνυσιν.

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Φέρει καὶ _______ γάλα.

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Φέρει καὶ ὄρνις γάλα.

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Ἅμαξα τὸν _______ ἕλκει.

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Ἅμαξα τὸν βοῦν ἕλκει.

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Ὃ ἂν μὴ ἴδῃς μὴ _______.

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Ὃ ἂν μὴ ἴδῃς μὴ λέγε.

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Ἐὶ καὶ _______ ἐμνήσθης.

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Ἐὶ καὶ λύκου ἐμνήσθης.

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

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Greek Proverbs: July 9

Here are today's Greek proverbs with LOLCats! These are repeats of previous proverbs, but now with illustrations... and with a quiz too! See how you do on the questions up top, and then try them again down below after you've read through the proverbs (the quiz results display only at the blog, not in the email):

Πλέον ______ παντός.

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Πλέον ἥμισυ παντός.

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Ἔργου ______ οἱ λόγοι.

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Ἔργου σκιὰ οἱ λόγοι.

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Ταντάλειοι ______.

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Ταντάλειοι τιμωρίαι.

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______ πόκους ζητεῖς.

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Ὄνου πόκους ζητεῖς.

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Πυθίων ______ ἧκες.

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Πυθίων ὕστερον ἧκες.

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Πλέον ἥμισυ παντός.

The half is greater than the whole.

The Greek saying was used to refer to someone who would risk losing what they have in order to gain something more; compare the English saying, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." The adjective πλέον is comparative, so it takes a genitive complement: παντός. From the root in Greek ἥμισυ we get the hemi- words in English like hemisphere.

Ἔργου σκιὰ οἱ λόγοι.

Words (are) the shadow of the deed.

You can see the Greek root εργ- in English words like energy and ergonomic. Meanwhile, the word σκιὰ is lurking in the English word "squirrel," as the squirrel was called σκίουρος in Greek: σκιά-οὐρά, shadow-tail, thanks to the way its big busy tail is like an umbrella! (Meanwhile, "umbrella" is from the Latin word for shadow: umbra.)

Ταντάλειοι τιμωρίαι.

Tantalean punishments.

This proverbial phrase refers to the punishments that Tantalus suffered for the various crimes he committed against the gods, including an attempt to feed them the flesh of his son, Pelops. You can find out more at Wikipedia: Tantalus' Savage Banquet. Tantalus was then punished in the underworld by seeing fruit that he could never eat and water that he could never drink, which is the origin of the English word "tantalize."

Ὄνου πόκους ζητεῖς.

You're looking for wool from a donkey.

This is another proverbial fool's errand: you get wool from a sheep, not from a donkey. Compare the proverbial English "hen's teeth." The saying appears in Aristophanes' The Frogs, where Charon, the boatman, asks: τίς εἰς τοῦ Λήθης πεδίον, τίς εἰς ὄνου πόκας; "Who's for the plain of Lethe? Who's for the donkey's wool?" In this context, the "donkey's wool" is not just a fool's errand, but instead is an ultimate "nowhere," the annihilation that awaits all Charon's passengers. 

Πυθίων ὕστερον ἧκες.

You came late for the Pythian Games.

This is a proverbial saying for being late to an event. The Pythian Games were held every four years, as were the other Panhellenic Games, including the Olympics. So, if you showed up late for the Pythian Games, you would have four years to wait! You can read more at Wikipedia: Pythian Games. Erasmus provides some other similar expressions: Κατόπιν τῆς ἑορτῆς, "late to the party," and Παναθηναίων κατόπιν, "late for the Panathenaea festival."

Πλέον ______ παντός.

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Πλέον ἥμισυ παντός.

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Ἔργου ______ οἱ λόγοι.

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Ἔργου σκιὰ οἱ λόγοι.

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Ταντάλειοι ______.

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Ταντάλειοι τιμωρίαι.

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______ πόκους ζητεῖς.

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Ὄνου πόκους ζητεῖς.

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Πυθίων ______ ἧκες.

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Πυθίων ὕστερον ἧκες.

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

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