43: anger, experience, Heracles, shout, thought

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. θυμός ~ θυμοῦ (masc.): spirit, strong feeling, anger 
2. πεῖρα ~ πείρας (fem.): experience, attempt 
3. Ἡρακλῆς ~ Ἡρακλέους (masc.): Heracles, Hercules 
4. βοή ~ βοῆς (fem.): shout, outcry 
5. διάνοια ~ διανοίας (fem.): thought, intention 

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Θυμοῦ λόγος ἰατρός.

Ἡ πεῖρα διδάσκαλος.

Ἡρακλῆς καὶ πίθηκος.

Λύκος πρὸ βοῆς σπεύδει.

Πολλοῖς γὰρ ἡ γλῶττα προτρέχει τῆς διανοίας. 

Listen at SoundCloud.

Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 043

Plus some commentary:

Θυμοῦ λόγος ἰατρός.

Speech is anger's doctor.

In other words, if someone is angry at you, use calm, rational speech as an antidote to that anger. The Greek word θυμός has an enormous range of meaning, and so does λόγος; click the words to see the dictionary entries. 

Ἡ πεῖρα διδάσκαλος.

Experience is a teacher.

You can find the saying in Gregory of Nyssa, and likewise in John Chrysostom. Plus here's a fun word origin: from Greek πεῖρα and its derivative, πειρατής, we actually get the English word pirate! We also get technical terms like empirical.

Ἡρακλῆς καὶ πίθηκος.

Heracles and an ape.

The saying is about things that cannot be compared, much like the English saying "apples and oranges." Lucian uses these words to denounce contemporary philosophers in The Fisherman, where he also includes the absurd comparison of a vulture to a nightingale (νῦν δὲ θᾶττον ἂν γὺψ ἀηδόνα μιμήσαιτο ἢ οὗτοι φιλοσόφους).

Λύκος πρὸ βοῆς σπεύδει.

The wolf hurries away before the shouting.

The saying is applied to someone with a guilty conscience who flees before even being accused of wrongdoing, just as the wolf runs away as soon as he has stolen a sheep, not waiting for the shepherds to start shouting.

Πολλοῖς γὰρ ἡ γλῶττα προτρέχει τῆς διανοίας.

Many people's tongue runs faster than their thinking.

In other words: many people speak before they think. The saying appears in Isocrates (γλῶττα is Attic for γλῶσσα),and Diogenes Laertius attributes a 2nd-person variant to Chilon of Sparta, with νόος (mind) instead of διανοίας: ἡ γλῶσσά σου μὴ προτρεχέτω τοῦ νοῦ. The word διάνοια is itself formed from νόος: δια-νόος-ια.

Here's a photo of the Farnese Heracles:

---

Click here to subscribe/unsubscribe to the email list.

---