40: rough, old, mortal, steady, bad

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. τραχύς ~ τραχέος (adj. masc.): prickly, rough 

2. πρέσβυς ~ πρέσβεος (adj. masc.): old 
3. θνητός ~ θνητοῦ (adj. masc.): mortal 

4. βέβαιος ~ βεβαίου (adj. masc.): steady, lasting 
5. κακή ~ κακῆς (adj. fem.): bad, evil 

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Ἅπας ἐχῖνος τραχύς.

Πρεσβύτερος Κόδρου.

Βέβαιον οὐδέν ἐστιν ἐν θνητῷ βίῳ.

Ὁ δ' ὄλβος οὐ βέβαιος, ἀλλ' ἐφήμερος.

Ἡ δὲ κακὴ βουλὴ τῷ βουλεύσαντι κακίστη. 

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Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 040

Plus some commentary:

Ἅπας ἐχῖνος τραχύς.

The whole hedgehog is prickly.

As Erasmus explains, this saying refers to a person who is "prickly" by analogy to the prickly hedgehog. In the same way that there is no un-prickly part of a hedgehog that allows you to safely pick it up, so too there are some people who are impossible to deal with no matter what you try to do: they are completely prickly. From the same root in Greek τραχύς we get English trachea, so-called because of the windpipe's bumpy cartilage.

Πρεσβύτερος Κόδρου.

Older than Codrus.

Codrus was a legendary king in very ancient times, so even by the standards of the ancient Greeks, he belonged to "olden times." You can read about his reign at Wikipedia: Codrus. The word πρεσβύτερος is a comparative form of πρέσβυς, and thus takes a genitive complement: Πρεσβύτερος (than) Κόδρου. From this same root, we get the English word Presbyterian.

Βέβαιον οὐδέν ἐστιν ἐν θνητῷ βίῳ.

Nothing is lasting in this mortal life.

The contrast between dying and living is much stronged in the Greek:  θνητῷ βίῳ, the life subject to death. For the etymology of Greek Βέβαιον, see the next item. This is another of the iambic monostichs of Menander.

Ὁ δ' ὄλβος οὐ βέβαιος, ἀλλ' ἐφήμερος.

Wealth does not last but is gone in a day.

The adjective βέβαιος is built on the perfect stem βέβηκ- of the verb βαίνω; the present stem means "step, walk," but the perfect stem means "stand," i.e. to have walked and come to a halt. The Greek ἐφήμερος is a compound, ἐπι-ήμερος, in-a-day. The words are from Euripides's The Phoenician Women.

Ἡ δὲ κακὴ βουλὴ τῷ βουλεύσαντι κακίστη. 

The harmful plan is most harmful of all for the one who planned it.

The words are from Hesiod's Works and Days. Hesiod adds this related thought: οἷ γ᾽ αὐτῷ κακὰ τεύχει ἀνὴρ ἄλλῳ κακὰ τεύχων, "the man who does bad things to another is doing bad things to himself."

You can see King Codrus depicted on this vase painting:

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