Friday, November 29, 2024

Daily Greek Vocabulary Challenge: Nov. 29

I hope all of you in the U.S. are having a nice holiday! I'll be back this weekend with the review post. For today, here are the vocabulary words; it's Group 115. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

ἁπλῶς (adverb): simply, plainly 
οὔτις ~ οὔτινος (pronoun): no one, nobody 
ἄν (hypothetical modal particle)
ἀντί (prep.+gen.): instead of 
οὐ (conj.): not

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

Ἁπλῶς διαλέγου.

Οὖτις ἐμοί γ' ὄνομα.

Ὃ ἂν μὴ ἴδῃς μὴ λέγε.

Ἀντὶ πέρκης σκορπίον.

Ἀετὸς μυίας οὐ θηρεύει.


And now, some commentary:

Ἁπλῶς διαλέγου.
Speak simply.
This one of the maxims attributed to the Seven Sages by Stobaeus. The verb διαλέγου is a middle imperative; διαλέγομαι is one of those verbs that has no active forms. The word ἁπλώς is an adverbial form of ἁπλοῦς, which means once-folded (ἁ-πλοῦς), the same etymology as the Latin simplex (sim-plex), which gives us English simple.

Οὖτις ἐμοί γ' ὄνομα.
Nobody is my name.
These are the words famously spoken by Odysseus, when he tells Polyphemus the Cyclops that his name is "nobody," which results in Polyphemus's failed cry for help: Οὖτίς με κτείνει, "Nobody is killing me!" You can read more about this episode from the Odyssey at Wikipedia: Polyphemus.

Ὃ ἂν μὴ ἴδῃς μὴ λέγε.
If you didn't see it, don't say it.
The words are attributed to Solon, one of the Seven Sages; find out more at Wikipedia: Solon. The particle ἂν with the subjunctive ἴδῃς conveys a hypothetical sense.  The verb ἴδῃς (aorist subjunctive) is used with the verb ὁράω, and this aorist stem is from the Indo-European root weyd- which you can see also in Latin video, and the same root also gives English "wise" and "wit" etc. You can read about the Indo-European stem at the wiktionary.

Ἀντὶ πέρκης σκορπίον.
(To give) a scorpion instead of a perch.
The word σκορπίον is in the accusative, which lets you know there is an implied verb. The saying applies to any situation where, instead of a welcome or useful gift (like a perch, something nice to eat), you receive something that is unexpected and dangerous, not what you hoped for at all. Compare this similar idea in the Gospel of Luke: καὶ αἰτήσει ᾠόν, ἐπιδώσει αὐτῶ σκορπίον; "and if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?" (and see also the Gospel of Matthew).

Ἀετὸς μυίας οὐ θηρεύει.
An eagle does not hunt mice.
The idea is that someone great does not concern themselves with petty trifles, although eagles do in fact eat mice! Even the mighty bald eagle will eat mice if they cannot find better food; find out more: Bald Eagle. The negating οὐ is used with indicative verbs as here, as opposed to the use of μὴ for subjunctive and imperative verbs as above: Ὃ ἂν μὴ ἴδῃς μὴ λέγε.



And here's a random proverb too:



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