42: himself, bravery, skill, slave, reproach

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. αὐτός ~ αὐτοῦ (m.): he, himself 

2. ἀνδρεία ~ ἀνδρείας (f.): bravery, manly spirit 

3. τέχνη ~ τέχνης (f.): art, skill, craft 

4. δοῦλος ~ δούλου (m.): slave 

5. ὄνειδος ~ ὀνείδεος (n.): reproach, disgrace 

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Αὐτὸς αὑτὸν αὐλεῖ.

Ἀλκήστιδος ἀνδρεία.

Τύχη τέχνην ὀρθοῖ, οὐ τέχνη τύχην.

Ἀνὴρ ἀτεχνὴς τοῖς πᾶσίν ἐστι δοῦλος.

Θεοῦ δ᾿ ὄνειδος τοὺς κακοὺς εὐδαιμονεῖν. 

Listen at SoundCloud.

Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 042

Plus some commentary:

Αὐτὸς αὑτὸν αὐλεῖ.

He plays himself upon the flute.

Compare the English saying "to sing his own praises." From the same root as Greek αὐτο- we get all the auto- words in English. For another saying about the flute, see this post: Αὐλητοῦ βίον ζῇς, "You are living the life of a flute player."

Ἀλκήστιδος ἀνδρεία.

The bravery of Alcestis.

Literally, the "manliness" of the woman Alcestis, who was willing to die in her husband's place when no one else was brave enough to do so. You can read more about this heroic woman at Wikipedia: Alcestis. The root of Greek ἀνδρεία is ἀνήρ, and it is the origin of the English name Andrew. 

Τύχη τέχνην ὀρθοῖ, οὐ τέχνη τύχην.

Luck guides skill; skill does not guide luck.

Note the elegant chiasmus of the words, Τύχη τέχνην X τέχνη τύχην, but not of the grammar: nom acc = nom acc. You can find out more about the Greek goddess of Luck at Wikipedia: Tyche. From Greek τέχνη, we get all the "tech" words in English, including technology. From the root in Greek ὀρθο- we get all the ortho- words in English.

Ἀνὴρ ἀτεχνὴς τοῖς πᾶσίν ἐστι δοῦλος.

The man without skill is a slave to everyone.

Here the Greek word τέχνη has been made into an alpha-private adjective meaning un-skilled:  ἀ-τεχνὴς. The etymology of Greek δοῦλος remains in dispute, possibly being Semitic in origin and not Indo-European. The English use of the word "doula" was inspired by the Greek word for a female slave; see Wikipedia: Doula.

Θεοῦ δ᾿ ὄνειδος τοὺς κακοὺς εὐδαιμονεῖν.

It is a reproach to the god when wicked men prosper.

Erasmus pairs this line of iambic verse with a saying that you saw in an earlier post: Νῦν θεοὶ μάκαρες, "The gods are now happy" (when justice is done).  The accusative κακοὺς is the subject of the infinitive εὐδαιμονεῖν, which means "to have a divine power that does well," and the adjective εὐδαίμων means "fortunate, wealthy," literally "having a good divine power." And yes, that Greek δαίμων is the origin of English "demon" via medieval Latin.

Here is a Roman fresco from Pompey showing Alcestis as she ponders her husband's fate and her own sacrifice:

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