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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