29: naked, good, small, trustworthy, other

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. γυμνή ~ γυμνῆς (fem.): naked, nude 

2. ἀγαθή ~ ἀγαθῆς (fem.): good 

3. μικρόν ~ μικροῦ (neut.): small, little 

4. πιστός ~ πιστοῦ (masc.): trustworthy 

5. ἑτέρα ~ ἑτέραν (fem.): other, another 

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Αἱ Χάριτες γυμναί.

Ἀγαθὴ καὶ μᾶζα μετ᾽ ἄρτον.

Μικρὸν κακὸν μέγα ἀγαθόν.

Ὀφθαλμοὶ ὠτίων πιστότεροι.

Ἀλωπεκίζειν πρὸς ἑτέραν ἀλώπεκα.  

Listen at SoundCloud: 29.

Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 029

Plus some commentary:

Αἱ Χάριτες γυμναί.

The Graces (are) nude.

In other words, the Graces are completely open and sincere, without pretense of any kind. The word χάρις in Greek also means gratitude (compare English "to say grace"), so the idea is that your gratitude should also be completely open and sincere. You can read more about the Graces at Wikipedia: Charites. And from Greek χάρις we get English charisma, and you can see γυμν- in gymnasium.

Ἀγαθὴ καὶ μᾶζα μετ᾽ ἄρτον.

Even a barley-cake is good, after the bread (is gone).

Barley-cakes were the proverbial food of poor people and slaves. In other words, when someone's circumstances have changed for the worst, they will change their opinion about what is good. Note the adverbial use of καὶ here: instead of joining two equal things as a conjunction, it means something like "even" or "also." From Greek Ἀγαθὴ, we get the name Agatha.

Μικρὸν κακὸν μέγα ἀγαθόν.

A small evil (is) a great good.

This saying is a good way to remember the unexpected ending of the adjective μέγα: just like μικρόν, κακόν and ἀγαθόν, μέγα is neuter singular. And compare this saying from a previous blog post: Μέγα βιβλίον μέγα κακόν. From Greek μικρόν we get all the micro words, of which there are many in English; you can use OneLook to see them all.

Ὀφθαλμοὶ ὠτίων πιστότεροι.

The eyes (are) more trustworthy than the ears.

The idea is that you need to see something for yourself rather than listening to someone else tell you about it. Compare the English saying, "Seeing is believing." The word πιστότεροι is a comparative form of the adjective πιστός, and as a comparative it takes a genitive complement: ὠτίων. (For those of you who know Latin, this is one of many situations where the Greek genitive takes over the function of the Latin ablative.)

Ἀλωπεκίζειν πρὸς ἑτέραν ἀλώπεκα. 

To play the fox against another fox.

The fox was a proverbial trickster in ancient Greece, especially in Aesop's fables. Note how Greek makes the noun fox into a verb by adding the -ιζω suffix: ἀλωπεκίζειν is to "foxize." So, if you are facing a tricky opponent, you better be prepared to play some tricks of your own. In other words: to "outfox" (as we say in English) your opponent. From Greek ἑτερ- we get all the hetero- words in English. And yes, English alopecia does come from the Greek word for fox, ἀλώπηξ. In Greek medicine, ἀλωπεκία was a kind of fox mange, and the term has now become appropriated for broader usage as an English medical term.

As an illustration today, here are those lovely Charites in a fresco from Pompey:

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