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.

Ἀλώπηξ οὐ δωροδοκεῖται.

• ἀλώπηξ.
• οὐ.
• δωροδοκεῖται, from δωροδοκέω.

Ἀλώπηξ οὐ δωροδοκεῖται.

A fox cannot be bribed.

The idea here is that foxes are sneaky. They would no doubt gladly accept your gifts, but that does not mean they will change their behavior. If you offer the fox a chicken to stay away from the henhouse, the fox will take the chicken... and still raid the henhouse! So, be careful if you are going to bribe someone: you don't want to bribe someone who is like the fox.

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

Δικτύῳ ______ θηρᾶς.

reveal/hide answer

Δικτύῳ ἄνεμον θηρᾶς.

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Διώκει ______ ποτανὸν ὄρνιν.

reveal/hide answer

Διώκει παῖς ποτανὸν ὄρνιν.

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Παντὶ αἰτοῦντί σε ______.

reveal/hide answer

Παντὶ αἰτοῦντί σε δίδου.

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Ἐς πόδας ἐκ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Ἐς πόδας ἐκ κεφαλῆς.

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_______ οὐ δωροδοκεῖται.

reveal/hide answer

Ἀλώπηξ οὐ δωροδοκεῖται.

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

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Greek Proverb of the Day: November 10

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.

Παντὶ αἰτοῦντί σε δίδου.

• παντὶ, from πᾶς.
• αἰτοῦντί, from αἰτέω.
• σε, from σύ.
• δίδου, from δίδωμι.

Παντὶ αἰτοῦντί σε δίδου.

Give to each person who asks you.

The words come from the Gospel of Luke, and you can find out more at Wikipedia: Sermon on the Plain (not the same as Sermon on the Mount in Matthew).

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

Γλυκὺ τὸ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Γλυκὺ τὸ φῶς.

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Δικτύῳ ______ θηρᾶς.

reveal/hide answer

Δικτύῳ ἄνεμον θηρᾶς.

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Διώκει ______ ποτανὸν ὄρνιν.

reveal/hide answer

Διώκει παῖς ποτανὸν ὄρνιν.

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Ἐς πόδας ἐκ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Ἐς πόδας ἐκ κεφαλῆς.

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Παντὶ αἰτοῦντί σε ______.

reveal/hide answer

Παντὶ αἰτοῦντί σε δίδου.

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

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Greek Proverb of the Day: November 9

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.

Δικτύῳ ἄνεμον θηρᾶς.

• δικτύῳ, from δίκτυον.
• ἄνεμον, from ἄνεμος.
• θηρᾶς, from θηράω.

Δικτύῳ ἄνεμον θηρᾶς.

You're hunting the wind with a net.
This is a proverbial fool's errand, because you cannot catch the wind in a net!

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

Ἐς πόδας ἐκ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Ἐς πόδας ἐκ κεφαλῆς.

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Ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ φίλον.

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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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Δικτύῳ ______ θηρᾶς.

reveal/hide answer

Δικτύῳ ἄνεμον θηρᾶς.

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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 8

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.

Ἐς πόδας ἐκ κεφαλῆς.

• ἐς.
• πόδας, from πούς.
• ἐκ.
• κεφαλῆς, from κεφαλή.

Ἐς πόδας ἐκ κεφαλῆς.

To the feet from the head.

Or, as we might say in English: "from head to foot" or "from head to toe" — although the Greek makes more sense than the English, referring to feet in the plural. The phrase is found already in Homer's Iliad, referring to Patroclus' body being prepared for his funeral. From the Greek κεφαλ- we get all the -cephal- words in English like encephalitis and cephalopod.

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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Ἄρτι _______ πίττης γεύεται.

reveal/hide answer

Ἄρτι μῦς πίττης γεύεται.

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Διώκει ______ ποτανὸν ὄρνιν.

reveal/hide answer

Διώκει παῖς ποτανὸν ὄρνιν.

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Ἐς πόδας ἐκ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Ἐς πόδας ἐκ κεφαλῆς.

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Γλυκὺ τὸ ______.

reveal/hide answer

Γλυκὺ τὸ φῶς.

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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 7

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.

---

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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Click here to subscribe/unsubscribe to the email list.

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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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Click here to subscribe/unsubscribe to the email list.

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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.

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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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