Week 35: 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 600 total!).

• Αἰσώπειον αἷμα.
  
• Ἅπαντα τοῖς σοφοῖσιν εὔκολα.
  
• Ἅπας μὲν αἰθὴρ αἰετῷ περάσιμος.
  
• Ἀπώλεσας τὸν οἶνον ἐπιχέας ὕδωρ.
  
• Ἀρχὴ ἄνδρα δείκνυσιν.
  
• Ἀτρέως ὄμματα.
  
• Βοιώτιος νοῦς.
  
• Γλῶτταν ἴσχε.
  
• Δεύτερος πλοῦς.
  
• Διὸς ἐγκέφαλος.
  
• Δωδωναῖον χαλκεῖον.
  
• Εἰς ὕδωρ σπείρεις.
  
• Ἰσχύς μου ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ λαοῦ.
  
• Καὶ ἐγὼ αὐτὸς ἄνθρωπός εἰμι.
  
• Κινδύνευε φρονίμως.
  
• Νόμος ὁ πάντων βασιλεύς.
  
• Ὃ ποιεῖς ποίησον τάχιον.
  
• Οὐδεὶς φίλος ᾧ πολλοὶ φίλοι.
  
• Οὐκ ἔστιν εὖ ἄρξειν μὴ ἀρχθέντα.
  
• Παρ᾿ ὄνῳ λυρίζεις.
  
• Πρόνοιαν τίμα.
  
• Πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζεις.
  
• Τέχνῃ χρῶ.
  
• Τῷ μὲν κλέος, ἄμμι δὲ πένθος.
  
• Φρόνει θνητά.
  

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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Daily Greek Vocabulary Challenge: Dec. 6

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 120. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

πρόνοια ~ προνοίας (noun f.): foresight 

Ζεύς ~ Διὸς (noun m.): Zeus 

ὄμμα ~ ὄμματος (noun n.): eye; eyesight 

κέντρον ~ κέντρου (noun n.): goad, spur 

πένθος ~ πένθους (noun n.): grief, misery 

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

Πρόνοιαν τίμα.

Διὸς ἐγκέφαλος.

Ἀτρέως ὄμματα.

Πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζεις.

Τῷ μὲν κλέος, ἄμμι δὲ πένθος.

And now, some commentary:

Πρόνοιαν τίμα.

Honor foresight.

The Greek πρόνοια is from the verb προνοέω. You can see a wide range of νοέω derivatives at Wiktionary. This is another one of the maxims attributed by Stobaeus to the Seven Sages.

Διὸς ἐγκέφαλος.

Zeus's brains.

This Greek phrase was used to refer to rare and costly food; it appears in Athenaeus' Deipnosophistae, and it actually shows up in the LSJ entry for ἐγκέφαλος. From the Greek ἐγκέφαλος we get English encephalitis, inflammation of the brain.

Ἀτρέως ὄμματα.

The eyes of Atreus.

This refers to someone with a cruel look, like the wicked Atreus who tricked his twin brother, Thyestes, into eating his own sons in a stew. When Thyestes was done eating, Atreus then brought out the dead boys' hands and feet to reveal their identities (see medieval illustration below). Agamemnon and Thyestes are the sons of Atreus, i.e. Atreides. Find out more at Wikipedia: Atreus.

Πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζεις.

You are kicking against the goads.

This refers to recalcitrant animals, and metaphorically to recalcitrant humans. You can see the phrase in Euripides' Bacchae, when Dionysus is speaking to Pentheus, admonishing a mortal not to struggle against the power of a god. This classical Greek phrase also appears in the Biblical Book of Acts: "it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks."

Τῷ μὲν κλέος, ἄμμι δὲ πένθος.

For him, glory; for us, grief.

The words are from Homer's Iliad. Agamemnon is speaking about the wound his brother Menelaus has suffered in battle: that wound brought glory on the Trojan warrior Pandarus, but grief to the Greeks.

Atreus and Thyestes

And here's a random proverb too:

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Daily Greek Vocabulary Challenge: Dec. 5

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 119. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

παρά (prep.+dat.): beside, with, at 

φρονίμως (adverb): wisely, prudently 

τάχιον (adverb): more quickly, very quickly 

ὅς ~ οὗ (pronoun): who, which 

ἐγώ ~ ἐμοῦ (pronoun): I 

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

Παρ᾿ ὄνῳ λυρίζεις.

Κινδύνευε φρονίμως.

Ὃ ποιεῖς ποίησον τάχιον.

Οὐδεὶς φίλος ᾧ πολλοὶ φίλοι.

Καὶ ἐγὼ αὐτὸς ἄνθρωπός εἰμι.

And now, some commentary:

Παρ᾿ ὄνῳ λυρίζεις.

You're making music for a donkey.

This is yet another Greek proverb about the mismatch between donkeys and the music of the lyre. To have a donkey for your audience means, metaphorically, that you are wasting your time; the person you are speaking to cannot appreciate what you are saying. See this earlier post: Ὄνος λύρας ἀκούων κινεῖ τὰ ὦτα — and also this one: Τί γὰρ κοινὸν λύρᾳ καὶ ὄνῳ;

Κινδύνευε φρονίμως.

Take risks wisely.

This is one of those maxims attributed by Stobaeus to the Seven Sages. The adverb φρονίμως is from the adjective φρόνιμος, which is in turn from the noun φρήν, often found in the plural φρένες, which gives rise to a range of important words in Greek; you can see a list of derived words at the Wiktionary.

Ὃ ποιεῖς ποίησον τάχιον.

That which you do, do (very) quickly.

The adverb τάχιον is the comparative form of ταχύ; as often, the neuter adjective is being used as an adverb. The words come from the Gospel of John, when Jesus dismisses Judas from the Last Supper, knowing that Judas will betray him.

Οὐδεὶς φίλος ᾧ πολλοὶ φίλοι.

The one who has many friends has no friend.

The words are from Aristotle's Eudemian Ethics. He worried about the nature of real friendship long before the advent of "Facebook friends" who might be many in number but not in reality. In English we "have" friends, but in Greek, this kind of possession is expressed with the dative — ᾧ — literally: to whom there are many friends, ᾧ πολλοὶ φίλοι, there is no friend, οὐδεὶς φίλος.

Καὶ ἐγὼ αὐτὸς ἄνθρωπός εἰμι.

I too am human.

The words come from the Book of Acts when Cornelius has had a vision of an angel; then, when he meets Peter, he reacts as if Peter were an angel likewise, and Peter corrects his misunderstanding with these words. You can find out more at Wikipedia: Acts 10. The word καί is being used adverbially here: I too (like you) am a human (not an angel).

Cornelius worships Peter

And here's a random proverb too:

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Daily Greek Vocabulary Challenge: Dec. 4

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 118. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

ἴσχω (no other parts): restrain, hold back 

σπείρω ~ σπερῶ ~ ἔσπειρα: sow, scatter 

δείκνυμι ~ δείξω ~ ἔδειξα: show, point out 

ἀπόλλυμι ~ ἀπολέω ~ ἀπώλεσα: kill, destroy 

ἄρχω ~ ἄρξω ~ ἦρξα: begin; rule 

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

Γλῶτταν ἴσχε.

Εἰς ὕδωρ σπείρεις.

Ἀρχὴ ἄνδρα δείκνυσιν. 

Ἀπώλεσας τὸν οἶνον ἐπιχέας ὕδωρ.

Οὐκ ἔστιν εὖ ἄρξειν μὴ ἀρχθέντα.

And now, some commentary:

Γλῶτταν ἴσχε.

Control your tongue.

This is another one of the sayings Stobaeus attributes to the Seven Sages; see more at Wikipedia: Delphic maxims. The spelling γλῶτταν is Attic; you also see γλῶσσαν. We get English words from both Greek spellings, including glottal stops and glossary. (But beware: English gloss and glossy are from a Germanic root meaning "glow.")

Εἰς ὕδωρ σπείρεις.

You're sowing in water.

This is a fool's errand: seed should be planted in the earth, not water. In particular, this refers to someone doing favors for a person who is not going to ever return the favor. Compare a version in Theognis where someone is foolishly sowing seed in the hoar-salt sea: σπείρειν πόντον ἁλὸς πολιῆς.

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.

Οὐκ ἔστιν εὖ ἄρξειν μὴ ἀρχθέντα.

Someone who has not been ruled will not be able to rule well.

This saying depends on the contrast between the act of ruling (ἄρξειν is a future active infinitive) and the act of being ruled (ἀρχθέντα is an an aorist passive participle; in the accusative, it provides the subject of the infinitive). For a discussion, see Erasmus, who cites this and similar sayings from a variety of Greek and Romans sources. The root ἀρχ- gives us roots relating to the basic meaning of "beginning, original" as in English archaic and also the meaning of "rule" as in English monarchy.

Ἀπώλεσας τὸν οἶνον ἐπιχέας ὕδωρ.

By adding water, you've wrecked the wine.

This refers to a situation that was going well until something went wrong; in particular, it refers to someone who does something deceptive or furtive, hoping no one would notice... but they do! The wine doesn't taste right after it's been watered down. This is a fragment from Aristias, a writer of satyr plays; you can find out more about this tradition at Wikipedia: Satyr plays.

bust of Pittacus

And here's a random proverb too:

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