1. γάμος ~ γάμου (noun m.): wedding, marriage
2. μνήμη ~ μνήμης (noun f.): memory
5. χρεία ~ χρείας (noun f.): need, want
Here are the proverbs and sayings:
Γάμος Αἰγύπτου.
Μνήμην καμήλου.
Ἔργου σκιὰ οἱ λόγοι.
Ὄνος λύρας ἢκουε καὶ σάλπιγγος ὗς.
Οὐ χρείαν ἔχουσιν οἱ ἰσχύοντες ἰατροῦ ἀλλ᾽ οἱ κακῶς ἔχοντες.
Plus some commentary:
Γάμος Αἰγύπτου.
The marriage of Aegyptus.
This saying appears in Erasmus, who explains that it refer to a disastrous event, alluding to the marriage of the 50 sons of Aegyptus to the 50 daughters of Danaus, or Danaids; 49 of the 50 daughters of Danaus murdered their husbands on that wedding night. Find out more at Wikipedia: Danaids. You can see the root γαμ- in English words like monogamy and gamete.
Μνήμην καμήλου.
(He has) the memory of a camel.
The Greeks believed that the camel had a good memory. A related proverb states: μνησικακία καμήλου, "the camel's remembrance of wrongs" (μνησι-κακία), i.e. the camel remembers any person who has treated it badly and will seek revenge. You can see the root μνημ- in the name Μνημοσύνη, the Greek goddess of memory: Wikipedia: Mnemosyne.
Ἔργου σκιὰ οἱ λόγοι.
Words (are) the shadow of the deed.
You can see the Greek root εργ- in English words like energy and ergonomic. Meanwhile, the word σκιὰ is lurking in the English word "squirrel," as the squirrel was called σκίουρος in Greek: σκιά-οὐρά, shadow-tail, thanks to the way its big busy tail is like an umbrella! (And "umbrella" is from the Latin word for shadow: umbra.)
Ὄνος λύρας ἢκουε καὶ σάλπιγγος ὗς.
The donkey listened to the lyre, and the pig to the trumpet.
This is a mocking proverb, as the Greeks supposed that neither the donkey nor the pig had any real appreciation of music. You saw a version of this saying about just the donkey in an earlier post: Ὄνος λύρας ἀκούων κινεῖ τὰ ὦτα. Note that the verb ἀκούω takes a genitive complement (λύρας...σάλπιγγος...); find out more at the Logeion entry for ἀκούω.
Οὐ χρείαν ἔχουσιν οἱ ἰσχύοντες ἰατροῦ ἀλλ᾽ οἱ κακῶς ἔχοντες.
Those who are strong have no need of a doctor but those who are not well (do need a doctor).
The words are spoken by Jesus in the Gospel of Mark in response to those who rebuke him for associating with sinners and other low-lifes. He explains the metaphorical application in the second half of the verse: οὐκ ἦλθον καλέσαι δικαίους ἀλλὰ ἁμαρτωλούς, "I have come to call not those who are righteous, but whose who have done wrong." The saying also appears in the Gospel of Matthew, and in a slightly different form in Luke: οὐ χρείαν ἔχουσιν οἱ ὑγιαίνοντες ἰατροῦ ἀλλὰ οἱ κακῶς ἔχοντες.
The Danaids were famously punished in the afterlife by being condemned to forever draw water with pots that had holes in them; here is Waterhouse's painting of the Danaids' punishment:
Click here to subscribe/unsubscribe to the email list.
No comments:
Post a Comment