1. γλῶσσα ~ γλώσσης (f.): tongue
2. λιμήν ~ λιμένος (m.): harbor, haven
3. ἵππος ~ ἵππου (c.): horse, mare
4. νοῦς ~ νοῦ (m.): mind, sense
5. κέρδος ~ κέρδους (n.): gain, profit
Here are the proverbs and sayings:
Βοῦν ἐπὶ γλώττης.
Ἐν λιμένι ναυαγεῖν.
Ἀφ᾽ ἵππων ἐπ᾽ ὄνον.
Ἁλιεὺς πληγεὶς νοῦν οἴσει.
Τὰ δειλὰ κέρδη πημονὰς ἐργάζεται.
Plus some commentary:
Βοῦν ἐπὶ γλώττης.
(To have) an ox on your tongue.
The ox can be understood as something strong and weighty which prevents the tongue from speaking, either through constraint or self-restraint. Alternatively, the ox might refer, by metonymy, to a coin, i.e. someone has taken a bribe to remain silent. More here: An Ox on My Tongue. From the Attic form γλώττ- we get English words like epiglottis, and from γλώσσ- we get English words like glossary.
Ἐν λιμένι ναυαγεῖν.
To be shipwrecked in port.
The saying refers to suffering defeat just within sight of your goal, i.e. the ship goes down just as it sails into its destination port. The verb ναυαγεῖν is a compound: ship-break, ναῦς-ἄγνυμι.
Ἀφ᾽ ἵππων ἐπ᾽ ὄνον.
From horses to a donkey.
Other versions go from horses to donkeys, plural: ᾿Αφ’ ἵππων ἐπ’ ὄνους. Whether a person goes from horses to donkeys in the plural or from horses to just one donkey, it is clearly a big comedown. You can see ἵππο- in many Greek names, such as Hippocrates and Hippodamia. AFAIK, there are no Greek donkey names!
Ἁλιεὺς πληγεὶς νοῦν οἴσει.
The fisherman, after he is stung, will get smart.
The words come from a fragment of Sophocles. The idea is that the fisherman who reaches recklessly into his net can get stung by a jellyfish or other dangerous creature; once he has been stung, he will be more cautious the next time. The phrase "νοῦν οἴσει" literally means "he will fetch sense" (οἴσει is the future of ἄγει), which I translated as "will get smart." See Logeion for the wide range of meanings of νοῦς.
Τὰ δειλὰ κέρδη πημονὰς ἐργάζεται.
Vile profits cause calamities.
The words come from Sophocles' Antigone, at the end of Creon's tirade against the evils of money. Although Greek κέρδος came to mean "profit" or "gain," it originally meant "craft" or "skill" and it continued to have the meaning of "craftiness," especially in the negative sense of "wiles" or "mischief." See Logeion for more details.
A dodecadrachma coin showing a bull, and a triskelion on the obverse!
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