28: garment, dream, sword, excellence, bird

Here are today's vocabulary words; they are nouns with the nominative and genitive plus gender, along with a brief definition. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion, and there's also a study tips post.

1. χιτών ~ χιτῶνος (m.): garment 

2. ὄνειρος ~ ὀνείρου (m.): dream 

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

4. ἀρετή ~ ἀρετής (f.): excellence, virtue 

5. ὄρνις ~ ὄρνιθος (c.): bird 

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Γαλῇ χιτών.  

Τυφλὸν ὄνειρον.

Πῦρ σιδήρῳ μὴ σκαλεύειν.

Ἀρετὴν εἰ μὲν ἔχοις πάνθ᾽ ἕξεις.

Ὄρνιθας ζητεῖς, ἀνέμους θηρεύσεις.

Listen at SoundCloud.

Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 028

Plus some commentary:

Γαλῇ χιτών.

A gown for a weasel.

More specifically, this means a wedding gown, and the proverb thus refers to something that is useless or absurdly inappropriate: the weasel was supposed to be an old maid in ancient Greece, a spinster who never married, and so she had no need for a wedding gown.

Τυφλὸν ὄνειρον.

A dream (is) blind.

This saying urges people to ignore ill-omened dreams: a dream cannot see into the future, so any messages it conveys are meaningless. Such a proverb indicates that people were normally inclined to put great stock in dreams. We even have a dreambook from ancient Greece, the Ονειροκριτικά of Artemidorus; you can find out more at Wikipedia: Oneirocritica.

Πῦρ σιδήρῳ μὴ σκαλεύειν.

Do not poke the fire with a sword.

Metaphorically, this means that when someone is angry (fire), you should speak to them kindly instead of provoking them with sharp words (sword). This is one of the so-called "symbols" of Pythagoras, which you can read in English here: The Golden Verses of Pythagoras and Other Fragments.

Ἀρετὴν εἰ μὲν ἔχοις πάνθ᾽ ἕξεις.

If you have excellence, you will have everything.

Note the two different forms of the verb ἐχω: the optative in a hypothetical statement, ἔχοις, and the future completing the hypothetical: ἕξεις (rough breathing). The word πάντα loses its alpha before the following vowel, πάντ', and then the final tau aspirates and becomes theta: πάνθ᾽. For more about Greek ἀρετή, see Wikipedia: Arete.

Ὄρνιθας ζητεῖς, ἀνέμους θηρεύσεις.

You are chasing birds; you will catch the wind.

The idea is that you will catch only the wind, and not any birds at all. The proverb thus refers to a fool's errand, like a "wild goose chase" in English. You can also find this proverb with ὄρνις as an alternative accusative plural meaning: Ὄρνις ζητεῖς, ἀνέμους θηρεύσεις. From this Greek word we get English ornithology.

One of the labors of Heracles involved chasing birds, but not just any ordinary birds; these were the notorious birds of Stymphalia: "man-eating birds with beaks of bronze, sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victims, and poisonous dung" — Wikipedia: Stymphalian birds. Here's a Roman mosaic from Morocco:

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27: into, upon, about, under, between

Here are today's vocabulary words; they are all prepositions today! Click on the word to learn more at Logeion, and there's also a study tips post. 

Plus, I've also added something new today: a little audio, which you'll find at the bottom of the post. I'll try to keep up with audio daily, although I may end up just adding the audio at the end of each week if I fall behind. Each proverb is repeated 3 times, so I hope everybody will listen once and then read along with me, repeating twice. I'm not sure that the audio will appear in the email, but I've included a link that takes you to the SoundCloud playlist, and that link will work even in the email.

1. εἰς + acc.: to, into 

2. ἐπὶ + dat.: on, upon 

3. περί + gen.: about, concerning 

4. ὑπό + dat.: under, beneath 
5. μεταξὺ + gen.: between 

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Εἰς κόρακας.

Κακὸν ἐπὶ κακῷ.

Περὶ ὄνου σκιᾶς.

Ὑπὸ παντὶ λίθῳ σκορπίος.

Μεταξὺ τοῦ ἄκμονος καὶ σφύρας.

 

Listen at SoundCloud.

Laura Gibbs · 027 Greek Proverbs

Plus some commentary:

Εἰς κόρακας.

To the crows.

Compare the English saying, "Go hang yourself" or just "Go hang." Why crows? The idea is that you want the person to die and for their corpse to be left unburied, a feast for crows. Unlike other prepositions which take different cases with different meanings, εἰς takes only the accusative case. Even so, the preposition still covers a huge range of meaning, as you can see at Logeion.

Κακὸν ἐπὶ κακῷ.

Bad thing upon bad thing.

Compare the English phrase, "one disaster after another." You saw another proverb in an earlier post which is similar to this one: Μὴ πῦρ ἐπὶ πῦρ.  Note the difference in the cases with the preposition: Κακὸν ἐπὶ κακῷ (dative) is about one bad thing (already) on top of another, while Μὴ πῦρ ἐπὶ πῦρ (accusative) is about not adding fire onto the fire, expressing the idea of motion.

Περὶ ὄνου σκιᾶς.

Concerning the shadow of a donkey.

This saying is used to describe something worthless, a trifle of no value whatsoever, and certainly nothing worth arguing about. It was a popular ancient Greek saying as the many citations in Erasmus attest. I especially like the citation from Lucian: Πάντες ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν περὶ ὄνου σκιᾶς μάχονται οἱ φιλοσοφοῦντες, "All the philosophers are fighting, as the saying goes, about the shadow of a donkey." Erasmus also reports Demosthenes telling the fable about the donkey's shadow, which you can read here: The Ass's Shadow.

Ὑπὸ παντὶ λίθῳ σκορπίος.

Under every stone (there is) a scorpion.

So, you may want to "leave no stone unturned" (as the English saying advises), but this Greek proverb warns you to be careful when turning over stones: watch out for the scorpion underneath! As you can see, we get the word scorpion in English from the Greek σκορπίος.

Μεταξὺ τοῦ ἄκμονος καὶ σφύρας.

Between the anvil and the hammer.

Compare the English saying, "Between a rock and a hard place" — although I think the hammer-and-anvil of the Greek saying is more intense! Wham! The word μεταξὺ serves a preposition here, but it can also function as an adverb meaning "between-whiles, meanwhile."

Here is Tenniel's illustration for the Aesop's fable about the donkey's shadow

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26: be about to, learn, stay, appear, call upon

Here are today's vocabulary words; they are verbs with the present, future, and aorist stems, plus a brief definition. (If you are just beginning Greek and have not studied the future or aorist stems yet, you can just focus on the present stem.) Click on the word to learn more at Logeion, and there's also a study tips post.

1. μέλλω ~ μελλήσω ~ ἐμέλλησα: be about to, be fated 

2. μανθάνω ~ μαθήσομαι ~ ἔμαθον: learn, understand 

3. μένω ~ μενέω ~ ἔμεινα: stay, remain 

4. φαίνω ~ φανέω ~ ἔφηνα: appear, become 

5. ἐπικαλέω ~ ἐπικαλέσω ~ ἐπεκάλεσα: call upon 

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Τὸ μέλλον οὐδεὶς ἐκφύγοι.

Ἐὰν μὴ πάθῃς, οὐ μὴ μάθῃς.

Τὰ πάντα ῥεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει.

Ἄνθρακες ὁ θησαυρὸς πέφηνεν.

Ἐν ψύλλας δήξει θεὸν ἐπικαλεῖται. 

Listen at SoundCloud.

Laura Gibbs · 26 Greek Proverbs

Plus some commentary:

Τὸ μέλλον οὐδεὶς ἐκφύγοι.

No one can escape what is coming.

The verb ἐκφύγοι is in the optative mood, expressing potential: people might wish to escape what is coming, but nobody can escape, οὐδεὶς ἐκφύγοι. The participial phrase τὸ μέλλον means "that which is coming," i.e. the future, fate, destiny, etc.

Ἐὰν μὴ πάθῃς, οὐ μὴ μάθῃς.

If you don't suffer, you won't learn.

Compare a similar saying from an earlier blog post: Τα παθήματα μαθήματα. Both πάθῃς and μάθῃς are in the subjunctive, and the use of οὐ μὴ with the subjunctive expresses an emphatic negative prediction, so the saying could even be translated as "you won't ever learn."

Τὰ πάντα ῥεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει.

All things are in flux and nothing lasts.

You are already saw a shorter version of this saying in a previous blog post: Πάντα ῥεῖ.  

Ἄνθρακες ὁ θησαυρὸς πέφηνεν.

The treasure turned out to be charcoal.

The proverb refers to a supposed treasure that turned out to be worthless. It might also be an allusion to a folktale type that is sometimes called "fairy gold" in English, i.e. gold belonging to or given by fairies which disappears or changes into something worthless. You can find the saying in Lucian of Samosata along with a Latin version in Phaedrus's fables: Carbonem, ut aiunt, pro thesauro invenimus.

Ἐν ψύλλας δήξει θεὸν ἐπικαλεῖται.

He calls upon God for the bite of a flea.

This proverb alludes to Aesop's fable about the man who foolishly called upon the divine Hercules for help when a flea bit him, as if a flea bite were worthy of divine intervention!

The fable appears in La Fontaine, and here is an illustration for that fable by Rabier which shows not only Hercules, but also Zeus in the heavenly clouds above... plus decorative fleas down below!

 

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25: walk, present, able, become, work

Here are today's vocabulary words; they are verbs with the present, future, and aorist stems, plus a brief definition. (If you are just beginning Greek and have not studied the future or aorist stems yet, you can just focus on the present stem.) Click on the word to learn more at Logeion, and there's also a study tips post.

1. βαίνω ~ βήσομαι ~ ἔβην: walk, go 

2. πάρειμι ~ παρέσομαι (no aorist): be present 

3. δύναμαι ~ δυνήσομαι ~ ἐδυνησάμην: be able to 

4. γίγνομαι ~ γενήσομαι ~ ἐγενόμην: be, become, happen 

5. κάμνω ~ καμέομαι ~ ἔκαμον: work, be weary 

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Ἐν πυρὶ βέβηκας.

Τὴν παρεοῦσαν ἄμελγε.  

Μωρὸς σιωπᾶν οὐ δύναται.

Ἐκ τοῦ ὁρᾶν γίγνεται τὸ ἐρᾶν.

Ἄλλοι μὲν κάμον, ἄλλοι δ᾽ ὤναντο.

Listen at SoundCloud.

Laura Gibbs · 25 Greek Proverbs

Plus some commentary:

Ἐν πυρὶ βέβηκας.

You're walking on fire.

The proverb suits any dangerous situation. More specifically, the idea is that fire can smolder, unseen, beneath the ashes, so you may be walking on fire without even knowing it. Here is Samuel Johnson's rendering of some lines in Horace to that effect: "With heedless feet on fires you go / That hid in treacherous ashes glow."

Τὴν παρεοῦσαν ἄμελγε.

Milk (the cow that is) present. 

The idea is that you should milk the cow (or sheep or goat) that you have; you cannot milk a cow who is not right there at hand. This applies literally to a cow and metaphorically to any situation where you need to make do with whatever it is you actually have available. The advice appears in the bucolic poetry of Theocritus, hence the implied cow (or goat or sheep). The Greek verb ἀμέλγω is related to the English word milk, both deriving from Indo-European h₂melǵ. From the Greek verb πάρειμι comes the noun παρουσία, "presence," which is used as a theological term in English: parousia.

Μωρὸς σιωπᾶν οὐ δύναται.

A fool isn't able to keep quiet.

There are many proverbs which praise the virtue of silence; talking too much is a sign of foolishness. The verb δύναται takes an infinitive complement: σιωπᾶν. From Greek σοφός and μωρός we get English sophomore, which is an oxymoron... and yes, we get the word oxymoron from μωρός also: sharp-dull.

Ἐκ τοῦ ὁρᾶν γίγνεται τὸ ἐρᾶν.

From seeing comes loving.

Note the articles with the infinitive: the infinitive is a noun, and the article tells you the case. So, τὸ ἐρᾷν is nominative, the subject of γίγνεται, "becomes, comes into being, comes," and τοῦ ὁρᾷν is genitive with the preposition ἐκ. 

Ἄλλοι μὲν κάμον, ἄλλοι δ᾽ ὤναντο.

Some did the work, others got the profit.

The Greek ἄλλος... ἄλλος... construction is like the English "some... others..." — and you can also see how it is coordinated in Greek with μὲν... δὲ...

Here is a Greek terracotta vase in the shape of a cow's head:

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Week 4: Proverb and Vocabulary Review

Last week I posted some Quia activities for reviewing the third week of proverbs and vocabulary, plus noun and verb forms review; see the first week's review post for an explanation of how to use Quia activities, and you can find all my Quia materials here.

This week, I created the same activities for the Week 4 proverbs: Proverbs, Vocabulary, Vocabulary with Parts, Noun Practice (genitive forms), and Verb Practice (aorist forms).

I also updated the randomizing widget which you can copy in your own website or blog if you want; here's how the widget works. And here's a random proverb from the 120 proverbs now in the widget:

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If you want to review this week's posts, here they are: Group 19 - Group 20 - Group 21 - Group 22 - Group 23 - Group 24.

Finally, 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. Enjoy!

• Ἀγροίκου μὴ καταφρόνει ῥήτορος.
  
• Ἀεί τι καινὸν ἡμέρα παιδεύεται.
  
• Ἄκουε τοῦ τέσσαρα ὦτα ἔχοντος.
  
• Ἀκρὸν λάβε, καὶ μέσον ἕξεις.
  
• Ἀνδρὶ σοφῷ πᾶσα γῆ βατή.
  
• Ἀνδρῶν ἡρώων τέκνα πήματα.
  
• Ἄνθρωπος μέτρον.
  
• Βελλεροφόντης τὰ γράμματα.
  
• Δεινῆς ἀνάγκης οὐδὲν ἰσχυρότερον.
  
• Δὶς κράμβη θάνατος.
  
• Ἐλέφαντα ἐκ μυίας ποιεῖς.
  
• Ἰατρὲ, θεράπευσον σεαυτόν.
  
• Καδμεία νίκη.
  
• Καθὼς ἡ μήτηρ καὶ ἡ θυγάτηρ.
  
• Κύων σπεύδουσα τυφλὰ τίκτει.
  
• Λέων τὴν τρίχα, ὄνος τὸν βίον.
  
• Μέτρον ἄριστον.
  
• Μὴ μοῦ τοὺς κύκλους τάραττε.
  
• Οἶνος καὶ παῖδες ἀληθεῖς.
  
• Ὄνος λύρας ἀκούων κινεῖ τὰ ὦτα.
  
• Οὐδείς ἐστιν ἅπαντα σοφός.
  
• Ὄφιν ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ τρέφεις.
  
• Πολιτικὸν ζῷον ὁ ἄνθρωπος.
  
• Πόλλ᾿ ἐλπίδες ψεύδουσι βροτοὺς.
  
• Πολλοὶ ἰατροὶ βασιλέα ἀπώλεσαν.
  
• Σιγηροῦ ποταμοῦ τὰ βάθη γυρεύει.
  
• Σὺν Ἀθηνᾷ καὶ χεῖρας κίνει.
  
• Ὕπνος δεινὸν ἀνθρώποις κακόν.
  
• Φάρμακον ὀργῆς ὁ χρόνος.
  
• Ὦτα καὶ ὀφθαλμοὶ πολλοὶ βασιλέως.
  

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24: life, person, river, speaker, eye

Here are today's vocabulary words; they are masculine nouns with the nominative and genitive, along with a brief definition. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion, and there's also a study tips post.

1. βίος ~ βίου (m.): life, lifestyle
2. ἄνθρωπος ~ ἀνθρώπου (m.): person, human being
3. ποταμός ~ ποταμοῦ (m.): river
4. ῥήτωρ ~ ῥήτορος (m.): public speaker
5. ὀφθαλμός ~ ὀφθαλμοῦ (m.): eye

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Λέων τὴν τρίχα, ὄνος τὸν βίον.

Ὕπνος δεινὸν ἀνθρώποις κακόν.

Σιγηροῦ ποταμοῦ τὰ βάθη γυρεύει.

Ἀγροίκου μὴ καταφρόνει ῥήτορος. 

Ὦτα καὶ ὀφθαλμοὶ πολλοὶ βασιλέως. 

Listen at SoundCloud.

Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 024

Plus some commentary:

Λέων τὴν τρίχα, ὄνος τὸν βίον.

A lion (judging by its) fur, a donkey (by its) lifestyle.

This saying alludes to the famous Aesop's fable about the donkey in the lion skin: it looks like a lion, but it acts like a donkey. However, in his note to this proverb Apostolius reports a different story about a man found a lion cub and raised it. The man then used the lion to draw a wagon; hence the proverb. The story has a sad ending: when people saw the lion acting in this shameful and undignified way, they killed it. Of course, things don't turn out well for the donkey in the lion-skin either! From Greek βίος we get words like biology and antibiotic.

Ὕπνος δεινὸν ἀνθρώποις κακόν.

Sleep is a terrible evil for mankind.

The plural ἄνθρωποι, "people," can be used much like "mankind" or "humanity" in English (and so anthropology is the study of humanity). Other sayings commend the healthy side of sleeping, but this saying warns us about the darker side of sleep: it is similar to death. Compare the English expression "sleeping your life away." For an artistic association of sleep and death, see Ὕπνος and Θάνατος carrying the body of the dead warrior Sarpedon from the battlefield below. More about the personification of sleep at Wikipedia: Hypnos. 

Σιγηροῦ ποταμοῦ τὰ βάθη γυρεύει.

The depths of a silent river are swirling.

Compare the English saying, "Still waters run deep." The idea is that while a river may appear to be calm and still on the surface, down below its currents are spinning and swirling; so too with people: someone might be silent, but their innermost emotions can be rushing and raging. Note a peculiar feature of the Greek language here: the neuter plural subject, τὰ βάθη, takes a singular verb, γυρεύει. From Greek ποταμός, we get hippopotamus, horse-of-the-river.

Ἀγροίκου μὴ καταφρόνει ῥήτορος. 

Do not look down on a rural speaker.

The adjective ἄγροικος, literally "of the fields," refers to someone who lives in a rural area, but it also has negative connotations, something like the phrase "country bumpkin" in English. This saying, like the previous saying, conveys a message similar to the English proverb, "Don't judge a book by its cover." In other words, look beyond the label "rural" and listen instead to what the speaker is saying. From the same root in Greek ῥήτορος we get the English word rhetoric.

Ὦτα καὶ ὀφθαλμοὶ πολλοὶ βασιλέως.

Many are the eyes and ears of the king.

Compare a saying you saw in an earlier blog post: Μακραὶ τυράννων χεῖρες. From Greek ὀφθαλμός we get ophthalmology — and knowing the Greek can help you remember how to spell the English! Note that the adjective πολλοὶ agrees with the nearest noun, ὀφθαλμοὶ, although it applies to both ὀφθαλμοὶ and ὦτα.

Here is the vase painting showing Hypnos and Thanatos, Sleep and Death, carrying the dead Sarpedon from the battlefield, with Hermes, conductor of dead souls, watching on:

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23: measure, wine, daughter, dog, king

Here are today's vocabulary words; they are nouns with the nominative and genitive plus gender, along with a brief definition. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion, and there's also a study tips post.

1. μέτρον ~ μέτρου (neut.): measure, rule

2. οἶνος ~ οἴνου (masc.): wine

3. θυγάτηρ ~ θυγατρός (fem.): daughter

4. κύων ~ κυνός (common): dog
5. βασιλεύς ~ βασιλέως (masc.): king, chief

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Ἄνθρωπος μέτρον.

Οἶνος καὶ παῖδες ἀληθεῖς.  

Καθὼς ἡ μήτηρ καὶ ἡ θυγάτηρ.

Κύων σπεύδουσα τυφλὰ τίκτει.

Πολλοὶ ἰατροὶ βασιλέα ἀπώλεσαν.

Listen at SoundCloud.

Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 023

Plus some commentary:

Ἄνθρωπος μέτρον.

Man (is) the measure.

The words are a fragment of the pre-Socratic philosopher Protagoras, who argued for philosophical relativism: what a person subjectively perceives is the measure of their reality. It is sometimes cited as Ἄνθρωπος μέτρον ἁπάντων, "Man (is) the measure of all things." You can see the Greek μέτρον in English metronome.

Οἶνος καὶ παῖδες ἀληθεῖς.

Wine and children (are) truthful.

You can find this saying in Plato's Symposium. Compare a similar saying that you saw in an earlier blog post: Ἐν οἴνῳ ἀλήθεια. You can see Greek παῖδες in English pedagogy.

Καθὼς ἡ μήτηρ καὶ ἡ θυγάτηρ.

As the mother, so also the daughter.

Compare the English saying, "Like mother, like daughter." The Greek kinship terms are related to the English terms; you can see a handy table of Indo-European kinship terms at Wikipedia.

Κύων σπεύδουσα τυφλὰ τίκτει.

The dog, hurrying, gives birth to blind (puppies).

Not only is this a Greek saying; it is also found on an ancient Assyrian clay tablet, and has thus been described as "the oldest proverb in the world." You can find the Greek proverb in a fragment of the archaic poet Archilochus.

Πολλοὶ ἰατροὶ βασιλέα ἀπώλεσαν.

Many physicians killed the king.

The dying emperor Hadrian supposedly used this saying to taunt the physicians who attended him to no avail. From the same root as the Greek βασιλεύς we get the English word basil.

The Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome, built in Rome in 139 by his Hadrian's successor, Antoninus Pius, is now better known as the Castel Sant'Angelo:

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22: move, take, have, listen, lie

Here are today's vocabulary words; they are verbs with the present, future, and aorist stems, plus a brief definition. (If you are just beginning Greek and have not studied the future or aorist stems yet, you can just focus on the present stem.) Click on the word to learn more at Logeion, and there's also a study tips post.

1. κινέω ~ κινήσω ~ ἐκίνησα: set in motion, move

2. λαμβάνω ~ λήψομαι ~ ἔλαβον: take, seize

3. ἔχω ~ ἕξω ~ ἔσχον: have, hold

4. ἀκούω  ~ ἀκούσομαι ~ ἤκουσα: listen, hear
5. ψεύδω ~ ψεύσω ~ ἔψευσα: lie, falsify

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Σὺν Ἀθηνᾷ καὶ χεῖρας κίνει.

Ἀκρὸν λάβε, καὶ μέσον ἕξεις.

Ἄκουε τοῦ τέσσαρα ὦτα ἔχοντος.

Ὄνος λύρας ἀκούων κινεῖ τὰ ὦτα.

Πόλλ᾿ ἐλπίδες ψεύδουσι βροτοὺς.

Listen at SoundCloud.

Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 022

Plus some commentary:

Σὺν Ἀθηνᾷ καὶ χεῖρας κίνει.

With Athena, move your arms too!

This is from an Aesop's fable (Perry 30) about an Athenian whose ship went down in a storm; as he was praying to Athena to save him, a sailor from the ship swam by him and spoke these words. Compare the English saying, "God helps them that help themselves."

Ἀκρὸν λάβε, καὶ μέσον ἕξεις. 

Grab the top, and you'll get the middle.

In other words: it's a good thing to plan big because, even if your plan falls short, you'll still end up with something! Some sources attribute this to the Delphic oracle; find out more at Wikipedia: Delphic maxims. This saying is a good way to remember the future stem of ἔχω: ἕξω (note the rough breathing).

Ἄκουε τοῦ τέσσαρα ὦτα ἔχοντος. 

Listen to the one who has four ears.

This saying shows up in Erasmus's Adagia.

There are various explanations for the origin of the saying, but the idea is that you should listen to those who are wiser than you. Someone with four ears is bound to have heard and learned more than you have with your two ears! From Greek τέσσαρες, we get the English words tessera and tesseract.

Ὄνος λύρας ἀκούων κινεῖ τὰ ὦτα.

The donkey listening to the lyre moves his ears.

This proverb is mocking the donkey; the foolish animal may think that he is a true connoisseur of music, but he is not. Sometimes the saying is shortened to just two words: Ὄνος λύρας. From the same root as Greek ἀκούω we get English words like acoustic, and of course Greek λύρα gives us English lyre. There is an Aesop's fable about a donkey foolishly trying to play the lyre (and see the image below).

Πόλλ᾿ ἐλπίδες ψεύδουσι βροτοὺς.

Hopes tell many lies to mortals.

The saying is adapted from a fragment of Euripides. The word πόλλα becomes πόλλ' before the following vowel. For the Greek personification of Hope, see Wikipedia: Elpis. You've seen the verb ψεύδω in an earlier proverb: Πολλὰ ψεύδονται ἀοιδοί.

In medieval art, the donkey does not just listen to the lyre; he tries to play! The carving is from the Church of Saint-Pierre d'Aulnay:

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21: death, bosom, doctor, hero, circle

Here are today's vocabulary words; they are masculine nouns with the nominative and genitive, along with a brief definition. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion, and there's also a study tips post.

1. θάνατος ~ θανάτου (m.): death
2. κόλπος ~ κόλπου (m.): bosom, lap
3. ἰατρός ~ ἰατροῦ (m.): doctor, healer
4. ἥρως ~ ἥρωος (m.): hero, epic warrior
5. κύκλος ~ κύκλου (m.): circle, ring

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Δὶς κράμβη θάνατος.

Ὄφιν ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ τρέφεις.

Ἰατρὲ, θεράπευσον σεαυτόν.

Ἀνδρῶν ἡρώων τέκνα πήματα.

Μὴ μοῦ τοὺς κύκλους τάραττε.

Listen at SoundCloud.

Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 021

Plus some commentary:

Δὶς κράμβη θάνατος.

Cabbage two days in a row (is) death.

Cabbage was proverbially the food of poor people, and having to eat cabbage day after day is proverbial hyperbole for desperate poverty. The saying appears in the letters of Basil of Caesarea. You can find out about the Greek personification of death at Wikipedia: Thanatos.

Ὄφιν ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ τρέφεις.

You're nursing a snake in your bosom.

This saying appears in Erasmus's Adagia. Compare the Aesop's fable about the man who found a frozen snake in the snow and warmed it, only to be bitten by the snake when it thawed: The Man and the Snake. You can see a more poetic restatement of this proverb, emphasizing that the snake is cold, in this post: Ψυχρὸν ἐν κόλπῳ ποικίλον εἶχες ὄφιν.

Ἰατρὲ, θεράπευσον σεαυτόν.

Physician, heal yourself.

This famous saying has an article of its own at Wikipedia: Physician, heal thyself. It comes from the Gospel of Luke. There is also an Aesop's fable with a similar moral: The Frog Physician. The form θεράπευσον is an aorist imperative.

Ἄνδρῶν ἡρώων τέκνα πήματα.

The children of heroes (are) a calamity.

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.

Μὴ μοῦ τοὺς κύκλους τάραττε.

Don't disturb my circles.

These were supposedly the last words of Archimedes. The Romans had conquered the city of Syracuse, and when a Roman soldier entered Archimedes' house, Archimedes, who was working on a geometry problem, supposedly shouted these words at him; you can read more at Wikipedia: Noli turbare circulos meos. Archimedes and the Siege of Syracuse made their way into the latest Indiana Jones movie!

Here is a mosaic showing Archimedes and the soldier:

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Greek Proverbs Widget

You may have noticed the Greek proverb widget in the sidebar of this blog; it displays a proverb at random, linked to the blog post in which that proverb appears. There are now 270 proverbs in the randomizer! You can see the widget in action here; hit reload to see another: 

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If you see the same proverb twice in a row, or if you see the same proverb in the post and in the sidebar, take it as a divine sign... because the odds are 270 to 1 against seeing the same proverb twice in a row! When I have blogged 366 proverbs, I'll also create a "Greek Proverb of the Day" widget.

I host the script at my website, and you can deploy it in your website, blog, or LMS using the javascript version or an iframe version. 

Here is the javascript version that you can embed anywhere that javascript is allowed, such as in a website, a wiki, a blog post, blog sidebar, etc.:

<script type="text/javascript"> var display = "random" </script><script type="text/javascript" src="https://greek.lauragibbs.net/widget/proverbs.js"></script>

Here is the iframe version that you can use in a website builder like Google Sites or an LMS like Canvas that does not allow direct use of javascripts but does allow iframes; you can adjust the height and width variables as needed:

<iframe src="https://greek.lauragibbs.net/widget/iframe.html" width="300" height="200"></iframe>

I made this Greek proverb widget with Randy Hoyt's wonderful RotateContent.com. If you know how to create an HTML table and have a place to host a javascript script, you can create your own randomizing widgets with any kind of content: text, images, embedded videos, etc. See Randy's site with a step by step guide. The site has been running for over 20 years and is still going strong!

20: best, every, political, new, stronger

Here are today's vocabulary words; they are neuter adjectives with the nominative and genitive singular, along with a brief definition. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion, and there's also a study tips post.

1. ἄριστον ~ ἀρίστου (adj. n.): best, finest

2. ἅπας ~ ἅπαντος (adj. n.): all, every

3. πολιτικόν ~ πολιτικοῦ (adj. n.): political, civic

4. καινόν ~ καινοῦ (adj. n.): new, strange

5. ἰσχυρότερον ~ ἰσχυροτέρου (adj. n.): stronger

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Μέτρον ἄριστον.

Οὐδείς ἐστιν ἅπαντα σοφός.

Πολιτικὸν ζῷον ὁ ἄνθρωπος.

Ἀεί τι καινὸν ἡμέρα παιδεύεται. 

Δεινῆς ἀνάγκης οὐδὲν ἰσχυρότερον.  

Listen at SoundCloud.

Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 020

Plus some commentary:

Μέτρον ἄριστον.

Moderation (is) best.

The words are attributed to Cleobulus, one of the Seven Sages of ancient Greece. For more on this concept in Greek culture, see Wikipedia: Golden Mean.

Οὐδείς ἐστιν ἅπαντα σοφός.

No one is wise in all things.

The saying is adapted from the ancient Greek poet, Theognis (see below). From the Greek word σοφός we get words like philosophy and sophomore.

Πολιτικὸν ζῷον ὁ ἄνθρωπος.

A person (is) a political animal.

The saying is adapted from Aristotle's Politics. The word πολιτικός is from the word πόλις, meaning "city," so πολιτικός describes someone who lives in a city or state or some other community. In his History of Animals, Aristotle explains that there are other animals besides humans who are "political," i.e. living in communities; they are the bee, the wasp, the ant, and the crane.

Ἀεί τι καινὸν ἡμέρα παιδεύεται. 

A day always teaches something new.

The words come a fragment of Euripides. The English word pedagogy and Greek verb παιδεύω share the same root: παῖς, meaning "child." 

Δεινῆς ἀνάγκης οὐδὲν ἰσχυρότερον.

Nothing (is) stronger than dire necessity.

The comparison — stronger than, ἰσχυρότερον — takes a genitive complement in Greek: δεινῆς ἀνάγκης. The adjective ἰσχυρότερον, "stronger," is a comparative form of ἰσχυρόν, "strong." You can see the Greek adjective δεινός in the English dinosaur. For more about ἀνάγκη, see Wikipedia: Ananke.

This Greek vase painting shows someone singing the words from a poem of Theognis:

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19: victory, elephant, anger, earth, letter

Here are today's vocabulary words; they are nouns with the nominative and genitive plus gender, along with a brief definition. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion, and there's also a study tips post.

1. νίκη ~ νίκης (f.): victory
2. ἐλέφας ~ ἐλέφαντος (m.): elephant
3. ὀργή ~ ὀργῆς (f.): anger
4. γῆ ~ γῆς (f.): earth, land
5. γράμμα ~ γράμματος (n.): letter, writing

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Καδμεία νίκη.

Ἐλέφαντα ἐκ μυίας ποιεῖς.

Φάρμακον ὀργῆς ὁ χρόνος.

Ἀνδρὶ σοφῷ πᾶσα γῆ βατή.

Βελλεροφόντης τὰ γράμματα. 

Listen at SoundCloud.

Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 019

Plus some commentary:

Καδμεία νίκη.

A Cadmeian victory.

This famous saying has its own article at Wikipedia: Cadmeian victory; it refers to a victory which comes at a terrible cost to the victor, so that the victory is also a defeat. You can also read about the goddess of victory at Wikipedia: Nike, and you can find out more about the hero Cadmus too, who, like Bellerophon (see below), was a famous slayer of monsters: Wikipedia: Cadmus. 

Ἐλέφαντα ἐκ μυίας ποιεῖς.

You're making an elephant out of a fly.

Compare the English saying: "You're making a mountain out of a molehill." This Greek saying appears in Erasmus's Adagia.

Φάρμακον ὀργῆς ὁ χρόνος.

Time is a remedy for anger.

From Greek φάρμακον we get the English word pharmacy. This Greek word was also made famous in modern times thanks to its use by the French philosopher Derrida; see more at Wikipedia: Pharmakon.

Ἀνδρὶ σοφῷ πᾶσα γῆ βατή.

The whole world is open to the wise man.

This is a fragment of the philosopher Democritus, the idea being that wisdom removes all obstacles. The word γῆ gives us English geology and geometry. The word also appears in the form γαῖα, as in the name of the Earth Goddess; find out more at Wikipedia: Gaia.

Βελλεροφόντης τὰ γράμματα.

The letter of Bellerophon.

This saying alludes to a story about the hero Bellerophon who was sent to King Iobates bearing a letter (Greek γράμματα, plural, means a "letter" in English) that said "Kill Bellerophon." You can read more at Wikipedia: Bellerophon. Another famous letter like this appears in the story of King David in the Hebrew Bible; David sends Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, on a mission carrying a letter intended to secure Uriah's death. Uriah does, in fact, die, but Bellerophon survives and goes on to other heroic adventures. More about Uriah in Wikipedia: Bathsheba. You can also read about this motif at the great TVTropes website: Kill The Messenger.

Here's Bellerophon on Pegasus slaying the Chimera:

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Week 3: Proverb and Vocabulary Review

Last week I posted some Quia activities for reviewing the second week of proverbs and vocabulary, plus some noun review; see the first week's review post for an explanation of how to use Quia activities, and you can find all my Quia materials here.

This week, I created the same activities for the Week 3 proverbs — Proverbs, Vocabulary, Vocabulary with Parts, Noun Practice — and I was also able to create something new: Verb Practice. There were enough verbs from Weeks 1-3 combined so that I could create a set of cards to encourage you to practice both the English definitions and the two most important principal parts: present and aorist.

IMO those are the verbs to learn: present and aorist. If you can learn those, that will cover 90% of the verbs you are doing to see (the future and the perfect are just not that common).

So, for the Verb Review activities, you will see the present tense form of the verb on one side of the card, which should prompt you to supply both the aorist form  and the English definition. I hope you will find that useful! 

So, going forward, those will be the Quia activities I'll make every week: proverb and vocabulary practice, plus noun forms and verb forms.

If you want to review this week's posts, here they are: Group 13 - Group 14 - Group 15 - Group 16 - Group 17 - Group 18.

Below 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. Enjoy!

• Ἄγει δὲ πρὸς φῶς τὴν ἀλήθειαν χρόνος.
  
• Ἀεὶ ὁ θεὸς γεωμετρεῖ.
  
• Αἴξ τὴν μάχαιραν.
  
• Ἀλώπηξ τὸν βοῦν ἐλαύνει.
  
• Ἄριστος ἰατρὸς ἡ φύσις.
  
• Δασύπους κρεῶν ἐπιθυμεῖ.
  
• Δὶς καὶ τρὶς τὸ καλόν.
  
• Δὶς παῖδες οἱ γέροντες.
  
• Εἶς ἀνὴρ οὐδεὶς ἀνήρ.
  
• Εἰς οὐρανὸν πτύεις.
  
• Ἐκ τοῦ καρποῦ τὸ δένδρον γινώσκω.
  
• Ἰχθὺς ἐκ τῆς κεφαλῆς ὄζειν ἄρχεται.
  
• Κροκοδείλου δάκρυα.
  
• Μὴ κίνει κακὸν εὖ κείμενον.
  
• Μὴ λόγους ἀντ᾽ ἀλφίτων.
  
• Μήτηρ τῆς ἐνδείας ἡ ἀεργία.
  
• Μισῶ μνήμονα συμπότην.
  
• Ὁ ψεύστης οὐ πιστεύεται.
  
• Ὄρος ὄρει οὐ μίγνυται, ἄνθρωπος δ᾽ ἀνθρώπῳ.
  
• Οὐδεὶς ἐπλούτησε ταχέως δίκαιος ὤν.
  
• Οὐκ αὖθις ἀλώπηξ πάγαις.
  
• Οὔποθ' ὕδωρ καὶ πῦρ συμμείξεται.
  
• Πέτρας σπείρεις.
  
• Προμηθεὺς μετὰ τὰ πράγματα.
  
• Σπεῦδε βραδέως.
  
• Τα παθήματα μαθήματα.
  
• Τέφραν φεύγων, εἰς ἀνθρακιὰν ἔπεσεν.
  
• Τὸ τῆς Ἀμαλθείας κέρας.
  
• Φιλεῖν μὲν προδοσίαν, προδότην δὲ μισεῖν.
  
• Χελιδόνα οἰκίαι μὴ δέχου.
  

18: sow, hurry, receive, fall, join

Here are today's vocabulary words; they are verbs with the present, future, and aorist stems, plus a brief definition. (If you are just beginning Greek and have not studied the future or aorist stems yet, you can just focus on the present stem.) Click on the word to learn more at Logeion, and there's also a study tips post.

1. σπείρω ~ σπερῶ ~ ἔσπειρα (verb): sow, scatter

2. σπεύδω ~ σπεύσω ~ ἔσπευσα (verb): hurry, hasten

3. δέχομαι ~ δέξομαι ~ ἐδεξάμην (verb): receive, take

4. πίπτω ~ πεσοῦμαι ~ ἔπεσον (verb): fall, fall down

5. μίγνυμι ~ μίξω ~ ἔμιξα (verb): mix, join

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Πέτρας σπείρεις.

Σπεῦδε βραδέως.

Χελιδόνα οἰκίαι μὴ δέχου.

Τέφραν φεύγων, εἰς ἀνθρακιὰν ἔπεσεν.

Ὄρος ὄρει οὐ μίγνυται, ἄνθρωπος δ᾽ ἀνθρώπῳ.

Listen at SoundCloud:

Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 018

Plus some commentary:

Πέτρας σπείρεις.

You're sowing rocks.

Of course, you are supposed to sow seeds, not rocks: you are not going to get any harvest if you sow rocks! Compare a similar saying about a futile endeavor from a previous post: Πέτρας ἕψεις.

Σπεῦδε βραδέως.

Hurry up slowly.

In other words: don't be slow, but don't be too fast either! This phrase became popular as a Latin saying, which has its own Wikipedia article: Festina lente. Compare a similarly paradoxical English saying: "More haste, less speed."

Χελιδόνα οἰκίαι μὴ δέχου.

Do not receive a swallow in your house.

The saying is attributed to Pythagoras, who was not alone in regarding the swallow as a bird of ill omen, but the swallow could also be a good omen. For an overview of the swallow as a bird who could be regarded as both an ill omen and a good omen, see J. G. Frazer: Swallows in the House.

Τέφραν φεύγων, εἰς ἀνθρακιὰν ἔπεσεν.

Fleeing the ashes, he fell into the coals.

Compare the English saying, "Out of the frying pan, into the fire." The Greek word ἀνθρακιά is formed from ἄνθραξ, which means charcoal and also carbuncle, and thus an abcess or boil that looks like a carbuncle. Hence the English word anthrax.

Ὄρος ὄρει οὐ μίγνυται, ἄνθρωπος δ᾽ ἀνθρώπῳ.

A mountain cannot get acquainted with (another) mountain, but a person can (get acquainted with another) person. 

You can find the saying in English: "A mountain never meets a mountain but a man meets a man." The verb μίγνυμι has a range of meanings, from mix to mingle to join. From Greek ἄνθρωπος we get English anthropology, and from ὄρος, orography.

Here is an ancient Minoan fresco with swallows:

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17: believe, hate, drive, mix, lead

Here are today's vocabulary words; they are verbs with the present, future, and aorist stems, plus a brief definition. (If you are just beginning Greek and have not studied the future or aorist stems yet, you can just focus on the present stem.) Click on the word to learn more at Logeion, and there's also a study tips post.

1. πιστεύω ~ πιστεύσω ~ ἐπίστευσα (verb): believe, trust

2. μισέω ~ μίσομαι ~ ἐμισήθην (verb): hate

3. ἐλαύνω ~ ἐλάω ~ ἤλασα (verb): drive, set in motion

4. συμμείγνυμι ~ συμμείξω ~ συνέμειξα (verb): mix

5. ἄγω ~ ἄξω ~ ἤγαγον (verb): lead, bring

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Ὁ ψεύστης οὐ πιστεύεται.

Μισῶ μνήμονα συμπότην.

Ἀλώπηξ τὸν βοῦν ἐλαύνει.  

Οὔποθ' ὕδωρ καὶ πῦρ συμμείξεται.

Ἄγει δὲ πρὸς φῶς τὴν ἀλήθειαν χρόνος. 

Listen at SoundCloud:

Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 017

Plus some commentary:

Ὁ ψεύστης οὐ πιστεύεται.

The liar is not believed.

This saying is nicely illustrated by the famous Aesop's fable of The Boy Who Cried Wolf; the liar is not believed even when he is telling the truth. The noun ψεύστης is related to the verb ψεύδω which you saw in a previous blog post: Πολλὰ ψεύδονται ἀοιδοί.

Μισῶ μνήμονα συμπότην.

I hate a drinking companion with a memory.

The word συμπότης is a compound, συμ-πότης, a co-drinker — and yes, from this same root we get the English word symposium. The Greek συμπόσιον was a drinking party! A drinking-companion who remembers what is done and said at a symposium is dangerous because, as you learned in a previous post: Ἐν οἴνῳ ἀλήθεια. Meanwhile, from the Greek verb μισέω we get English words like misogyny and misanthrope.

Ἀλώπηξ τὸν βοῦν ἐλαύνει.

The fox is driving the ox.

This proverb is used for a situation where someone who is small but smart, like a fox, is able to control someone who is bigger and stronger, like an ox, but not as smart. Compare the English rhyming proverb, "Sleight masters might." According to another interpretation, however, the fox driving the ox refers to an absurd situation because the fox is not a farmer, and he has no business plowing a field with an ox. That's the thing about proverbs: they can mean quite different things based on the context in which they are actually used.

Οὔποθ' ὕδωρ καὶ πῦρ συμμείξεται.

Water and fire will never mix. 

The word οὔποτε loses its final epsilon before the following vowel, and the final consonant aspirates before the rough breathing: οὔποθ' ὕδωρ. It is also a compound: οὔ-ποτε, not-ever, i.e. never. You can see the Greek word ὕδωρ in English hydrate and πῦρ in pyromaniac.

Ἄγει δὲ πρὸς φῶς τὴν ἀλήθειαν χρόνος. 

Time brings the truth into the light.

You can see the Greek χρόνος in English words like chronometer and chronicle, and Greek φῶς appears in phosphorus. The stem of the φῶς is φωτ- which you see in English photograph, photon, etc. This is also one of the monostichs of Menander.

You can read the Aesop's fable about the lying shepherd here; this is an illustration by Tenniel; the shepherd is telling the truth now, but his fellow shepherds do not believe him. 

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