33: former, valued, same, every, many

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. ἀρχαία ~ ἀρχαίας (fem.): ancient, former 

2. τίμιον ~ τιμίου (neut.): valued 

3. ὅμοιον ~ ὁμοίου (neut.): the same, like 

4. πᾶς ~ παντός (masc.): all, every
5. πολύς ~ πολλοῦ (masc.): much, many 

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Εἰς ἀρχαίας φάτνας.

Σοφία δὲ πλούτου κτῆμα τιμιώτερον.

Ὅμοια πόρνη δάκρυα καὶ ῥήτωρ ἔχει.

Δρυὸς πεσούσης πᾶς ἀνὴρ ξυλεύεται.

Ναρθηκοφόροι μὲν πολλοί, βάκχοι δέ τε παῦροι. 

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Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 033

Plus some commentary:

Εἰς ἀρχαίας φάτνας.

To their former mangers.

As Erasmus explains, this proverb is based on the way that animals return to their familiar feeding-troughs. Metaphorically, it applies to people who have suffered a reversal of fortune, causing them to return to their old lifestyle. The root of the adjective ἀρχαῖος is ἀρχή, "beginning, first, former," which you can see in the English noun archetype and in the adjective archaic.

Σοφία δὲ πλούτου κτῆμα τιμιώτερον.

Wisdom is a more valuable possession than wealth.

The word τιμιώτερον is a comparative form of the adjective, τίμιον, "valued, valuable," and it thus takes a genitive complement: "more valuable than wealth." The noun σοφία, "wisdom," shares a root with the adjective σοφός, "wise," and this is where we get soph- words in English.

Ὅμοια πόρνη δάκρυα καὶ ῥήτωρ ἔχει.

The prostitute and the public speaker have the same tears.

This is one of the sayings of Menander. For those of you who know Latin, this Latin version has the tears "falling," which is a nice detail: Lacrumae oratori eaedem ac meretrici cadunt. From the root of Greek ὅμοιος, we get homo- words in English. This saying might be a good one to keep in mind as election histrionics pick up speed as we head for November.

Δρυὸς πεσούσης πᾶς ἀνὴρ ξυλεύεται.

When the tree has fallen, every man chops wood.

The idea is that felling the tree is the hard work; after the tree has fallen, chopping wood is easy. The construction "δρυὸς πεσούσης" is a genitive absolute clause ("the tree having fallen"), and absolute clauses are usually translated as subordinate clauses in English: "when the tree has fallen" or "after the tree has fallen." The word "druid" comes from the same Indo-European root as Greek δρῦς; more about Indo-European *dóru.

Ναρθηκοφόροι μὲν πολλοί, βάκχοι δέ τε παῦροι.

The people carrying the wands of Bacchus are many, but the worshipers of Bacchus are few.

In the ritual worship of Bacchus, i.e. Dionysus, the devotees carried a wand made of fennel, νάρθηξ in Greek. This ritual wand was called a thyrsus; you can find out more at Wikipedia: Thyrsus. The proverb contrasts the outward show of devotion with divinely inspired frenzy.

Here is a relief showing a Bacchant with a thyrsus:

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