44: look, mention, love, consider

Here are today's vocabulary words; they are verbs with the present, future, and aorist stems, plus a brief definition. (If you are just beginning Greek and have not studied the future or aorist stems yet, you can just focus on the present stem.) Click on the word to learn more at Logeion, and there's also a study tips post.

1. βλέπω ~ βλέψομαι ~ ἔβλεψα: look at, see 

2. μιμνήσκω ~ μνήσω ~ ἔμνησα: remember, mention 

3. ἀγαπάω ~ ἀγαπήσω ~ ἠγάπησα: love, be fond ot 
4. φρονέω ~ φρονήσω ~ ἐφρόνησα: understand, consider
5. ἀποκτείνω ~ ἀποκτενέω ~ ἀπέκτεινα: kill, slay 

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Γόργειον βλέπειν.

Ἐὶ καὶ λύκου ἐμνήσθης.

Πᾶς τις τὰ ἑαυτοῦ ἀγαπᾷ.

Εἰ θνητὸς εἶ, βέλτιστε, θνητὰ καὶ φρόνει.

Τὸ γὰρ γράμμα ἀποκτέινει, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ζῳοποιεῖ. 

Listen at SoundCloud.

Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 044

Plus some commentary:

Γόργειον βλέπειν.

To gaze like a Gorgon.

Compare the English saying: "If looks could kill." The gaze of a Gorgon really could kill by turning you into stone. Erasmus reports this saying in a slightly different form: Γοργὸν βλέπειν. Erasmus also cites Homer describing Hector Γοργοῦς ὄμματ᾿ ἔχων, "having Gorgon's eyes" (Iliad 8). You can read more about the Γοργώνες and their deadly gaze at Wikipedia: Gorgons.

Ἐὶ καὶ λύκου ἐμνήσθης.

If you even mention the wolf.

This is the Greek equivalent of the English saying, "speak of the devil," i.e. "speak of the devil, and he will appear," but with the wolf instead of the devil: "if you even mention the wolf (he will come)." About the καὶ: this is an adverbial καὶ, "even," which implies the idea of summoning the wolf. In other words, "if you summon the wolf, of course he will come; but if you even mention the wolf... he will come!" As Erasmus explains, the saying is used when someone turns up or something happens unexpectedly after being mentioned in conversation, just as we use "speak of the devil" in English today. The Latin equivalent was lupus in fabula or lupus in sermone, which both mean "the wolf in conversation."

Πᾶς τις τὰ ἑαυτοῦ ἀγαπᾷ.

Each person loves the things that are theirs.

Compare the English saying "To each his own," which renders the Latin cuique suum, "to each their own."  The inclusion of ἀγαπᾷ here aligns it with cuique suum placet, "to each their own is pleasing," which is just one of many variations on that Latin saying; I have lots to say about cuique suum in Latin if you are curious about that.

Εἰ θνητὸς εἶ, βέλτιστε, θνητὰ καὶ φρόνει.

If you are mortal, my good fellow, likewise think on mortal things.

This is another one of Menander's one-liners (monostichs), written in iambic meter. Here I've used hyphens and n-dashes to separate the iambic elements:

Εἰ θνη-τὸς εἶ, – βέλτισ-τε, θνη–τὰ καὶ - φρόνει.

You can see the color-coded version here; I've been experimenting with ways of marking up meter; feedback welcome!

Τὸ γὰρ γράμμα ἀποκτέινει, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ζῳοποιεῖ.

The letter kills, but the spirit creates life.

The words come from 2 Corinthians in the Bible. You can find out more about the enduring and broad significance of this Biblical phrase in the Wikipedia article: Letter and spirit of the law. From Greek γράμμα, we get words like grammar and telegram, but note that the Greek word can also mean a small weight, which is where we get the -gram in kilogram, etc. It is possible that the two words come from different sources: γράμμα the letter from the verb γράφω, "write" (cognate with English "carve"), and γράμμα the weight from a Semitic borrowing.

Here's a Gorgon from the Temple of Artemis in Corfu:

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