7: shepherd, old age, corpse, good luck, wind

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. ποιμήν ~ ποιμένος (m.): shepherd

2. γῆρας ~ γήρως (n.): old age

3. νεκρός ~ νεκροῦ (m.): corpse, dead man

4. εὐτυχία ~ εὐτυχίας (f.): good luck, success

5. ἄνεμος ~ ἀνέμου (m.): wind, gale

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Λύκος ποιμήν.

Τιθωνοῦ γῆρας.

Νεκρὸς οὐ δάκνει.

Εὐτυχία πολύφιλος.

Δικτύῳ ἄνεμον θηρᾶς.  

Listen at SoundCloud:

Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 007

Plus some commentary:

Λύκος ποιμήν.

A wolf (as) shepherd.

Compare the English saying: "the fox guarding the henhouse."

Τιθωνοῦ γῆρας.

The old age of Tithonus.

This saying alludes to the myth of Tithonus, mortal lover of the goddess dawn. He was granted immortality, but not undying youth; instead, he got endless old age. Eventually he turned into a cicada, chirping feebly for eternity. Find out more at Wikipedia: Tithonus. From the same root in γῆρας we get English words like geriatric, gerontology, etc.

Νεκρὸς οὐ δάκνει.

A dead man does not bite.

Compare the English saying: "Dead men tell no tales." For a great use of this proverb in context, see Plutarch's Life of Brutus.

Εὐτυχία πολύφιλος.

Good luck has many friends.

In other words: when you're rich, successful, etc., you have many friends, but if you lose your good fortune, you will lose your friends too. The word εὐτυχία is a compound: εὐ-τυχία. You can read about the goddess of fortune at Wikipedia: Tyche. Like many compound adjectives, πολύφιλος is both feminine and masculine; it does not have a distinct feminine form.

Δικτύῳ ἄνεμον θηρᾶς.

You're hunting the wind with a net.
This is a proverbial fool's errand, because you cannot catch the wind in a net!

Here is a Greek vase painting of Eos and Tithonus in his younger days:

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