λύω ~ λύσω ~ ἔλυσα: untie, release
ἔχω ~ ἕξω ~ ἔσχον: have, hold
τελευτάω ~ τελευτήσω ~ ἐτελεύτησα: fulfill, finish
ἅπτω ~ ἅψω ~ ἧψα: light, kindle
σιγάω ~ σιγήσω ~ ἐσίγησα: keep silent
These are the proverbs (and there are always more proverbs at the blog):
Κάθαμμα λύειν.
Βοῶν ὦτα ἔχετε.
Θεὸς διὰ πάντα τελευτᾷ.
Λύχνον ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ ἅπτειν.
Σιγᾶν ἄμεινον ἢ λαλεῖν ἃ μὴ πρέπει.
And now, some commentary:
Κάθαμμα λύειν.
To loosen the knot.
As Erasmus explains, this is a reference to the legend of the Gordian knot, which you can read about also at Wikipedia. Alexander the Great famously cut the knot with his sword rather than figuring out how to untie it (see below). Compare this saying from an earlier blog post (in fact, the very first Greek proverb post at this blog!): Γόρδιος δεσμός.
Βοῶν ὦτα ἔχετε.
You have the ears of oxen.
The ox was proverbially slow-witted, so to have the "oxen ears" meant that someone did not understand what was being said. This proverb was used as a pun to make fun of Boeotians since "βοῶν ὦτα" sounds like Βοιωτοί, Boeotians. (The name Boeotia does come from "ox" βοῦς, but it has nothing to do with ears.)
This ancient joke appears in the ancient commentary on Horace's Epistles, "Boetians were considered to be slow-witted, as if βοῶν ὦτα ἔχοντες."
Θεὸς διὰ πάντα τελευτᾷ.
God brings all things to completion.
The words come from Homer's Iliad, when Agamemnon is basically blaming Zeus for his quarrel with Achilles. The word διὰ is not a preposition here; instead, it is functioning as an adverb; later, these adverbs attached themselves to the verbs as prefixes (δια-τελευτάω), but they were more free-floating in Homer. This is called tmesis, "cutting" of the verb; you can read more at Wikipedia: Tmesis. The root of the verb is τέλος, meaning the end or outcome, and you can see that Greek root in English teleology.
Λύχνον ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ ἅπτειν.
To light the lamp at midday.
This is a proverbially foolish and/or wasteful thing to do; compare the English saying "to burn daylight." You don't need a lamp when the sun is shining! There is an Aesop's fable based on this saying; you can read more about that fable here: The Lamp in Daylight.
Σιγᾶν ἄμεινον ἢ λαλεῖν ἃ μὴ πρέπει.
To be silent is better than to say things that are not appropriate.
The Greek infinitive, σιγᾶν, is a neuter noun, hence the neuter adjective, ἄμεινον (the masculine form is ἀμείνων). This is another one of Menander's monostichs; here is the iambic meter marked:
Σιγᾶν ἄμει|νον ἢ λαλεῖν | ἃ μὴ πρέπει.
And here's a random proverb too:
No comments:
Post a Comment