Daily Greek Vocabulary Challenge: Nov. 27

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 113. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

καλόν ~ καλοῦ (adj. neut.): fine, beautiful 

φίλος ~ φίλου (adj. masc.): dear, friend 

κενός ~ κενοῦ (adj. masc.): empty, ineffectual 

ἴσον ~ ἴσου (adj. neut.): equal, fair 

ἡδύ ~ ἡδέος (adj. neut.): pleasant, sweet

These are the proverbs (and there are always more proverbs at the blog):

Ἔρρει τὰ καλά.

Φίλοις εὐνόει.

Κενὰ κενοὶ βουλεύονται.

Κακὰ κέρδεα ἶσ' ἀάτῃσιν.

Ἡδύ γε σιωπᾶν ἢ λαλεῖν, ἃ μὴ πρέπει.

And now, some commentary:

Ἔρρει τὰ καλά.

The good things are gone.

Here the adjective καλά is being substantively: the good (things). As usual in ancient Greek, the neuter plural subject takes a singular verb. Xenophon reports these as the words of the Spartan Hippocrates announcing the loss of the fleet and the death of his commander Mindarus in battle; the brief letter, intercepted by the Athenians, reads as follows: ἔρρει τὰ κᾶλα. Μίνδαρος ἀπεσσύα. πεινῶντι τὤνδρες. ἀπορίομες τί χρὴ δρᾶν; "The good things (i.e. the ships) are gone. Mindarus is dead. The men are starving. At a loss what to do."

Φίλοις εὐνόει.

Wish your friends well.

This is another of the maxims that Stobaeus attributed to the Seven Sages. The compound verb εὐνοέω ("well-think") takes a dative complement: φίλοις. The form εὐνόει is a contract imperative; the 3rd-person singular indicative would be εὐνοεῖ, with a difference only in the accent mark. The adjective φίλος is often used substantively as a noun, "friend."  

Κενὰ κενοὶ βουλεύονται.

Useless people make useless plans.

The adjective κενός means literally "empty," but it also has a range of metaphorical meanings: fruitless, purposeless, useless, etc. From Greek English has adopted the theological word kenosis, which has a more positive sense of emptying oneself to make room for the divine; to find out more, see Wikipedia: Kenosis. 

Κακὰ κέρδεα ἶσ᾽ ἀάτῃσιν.

Wicked gains are equivalent to losses.

The words come from Hesiod's Works and Days. The adjective ἶσα has lost its final vowel before the following vowel: ἶσα ἀάτῃσιν. The word ἄτη has a wide range of meanings in Greek; see the LSJ dictionary entry. For Ἄτη as the goddess of error and ruin, see Wikipedia: Ate.

Ἡδύ γε σιωπᾶν ἢ λαλεῖν, ἃ μὴ πρέπει.

Sweet it is to keep silent, rather than say things that are inappropriate.

The Greek infinitive is technically a neuter noun, hence the neuter adjective here: ἡδύ σιωπᾶν, "to keep silent is sweet." This is one of the monostichs (one-liners) of Menander; here it is with the iambic meter marked:

Ἡδύ γε | σιω||πᾶν ἢ | λαλεῖν || ἃ μὴ | πρέπει.

modern replica of ancient Greek trireme

And here's a random proverb too:

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