Saturday, April 20, 2024

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.  



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:


No comments:

Post a Comment