10: sweet, many, worthy, straight, bad

Here are today's vocabulary words; they are adjectives with the nominative and genitive singular 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. γλυκὺς ~ γλυκέος (masc.): sweet, pleasant 
2. πολύ ~ πολλοῦ (neut.): much, many 

3. ἀξία ~ αξίας (fem.): worthy, deserving

4. ὀρθόν ~ ὀρθοῦ (neut.): straight, (up)right

5. κακόν ~ κακοῦ (neut.): bad, evil (thing) 

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Γλυκὺς ἀπείρῳ πόλεμος. 

Πολλὰ ψεύδονται ἀοιδοί.

Ἀξία ἡ κύων τοῦ θρόνου.

Ξύλον ἀγκύλον ουδέποτ' ὀρθόν.

Ἡ γλῶσσα πολλῶν ἐστιν αἰτία κακῶν.

Listen at SoundCloud:

Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 010

Plus some commentary:

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. From the root of γλυκύς, we get medical terms like hypoglycemia, "low blood sugar," in English.

Πολλὰ ψεύδονται ἀοιδοί.

The bards tell many lies.

The saying appears in Aristotle's Metaphysics, who labels the words a παροιμία, a "proverb," and the words are also attributed to Solon, one of the Seven Sages of ancient Greece. From the Greek root in the verb ψεύδω we get English words like pseudo, pseudonym, etc., and from πολύ, we get all the poly- words: polygon, polygamy, polytheism, and on and on.

Ἀξία ἡ κύων τοῦ θρόνου.

A dog worthy of a throne!

This is a mocking, ironical saying, as the Greeks did not hold dogs in high regard. A dog does not deserve any kind of throne, so this saying applies to a situation when someone has been elevated to a position of honor that they do not deserve. From the Greek root in ἄξιος we get the English word axiom.

Ξύλον ἀγκύλον ουδέποτ' ὀρθόν.

A crooked piece of wood never (will be) straight.

The word οὐδέποτε loses its final -ε before the following vowel: ουδέποτ' ὀρθόν. From the root in Greek ξύλον we get the English word xylophone, and from ὀρθόν we get all the ortho- words: orthodoxy, orthopedic, and on and on. Compare a saying in the Book of Ecclesiastes: That which is crooked cannot be made straight.

Ἡ γλῶσσα πολλῶν ἐστιν αἰτία κακῶν.

The tongue is to blame for many bad things.

This is one of the monostichs of Menander, warning us about the harm that words can do. This saying is a good way to remember that the adjective αἴτιος takes a genitive complement: to be the cause of, to be responsible for, etc. From this same root we get the English word aetiology, the study of causation, and from κακόν we can cacophony.

An ancient sculpture of Homer, the most famous of the Greek bards:

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