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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