Daily Greek Vocabulary Challenge: Dec. 17

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 127. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

ἀρετή ~ ἀρετῆς (noun f.): excellence, virtue 

πόλεμος ~ πολέμου (noun m.): war, battle 

θάλασσα ~ θαλάσσης (noun f.): sea 

ῥῆμα ~ ῥήματος (noun n.): word, subject matter 

οἶκος ~ οἴκου (noun m.): house, household 

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

Ἐπαίνει ἀρετήν.

Ἄδακρυς πόλεμος.

Θάλαττα, θάλαττα.

Ῥήματα ἀντί ἀλφίτων.

Μὴ ἴσθι ὡς λέων ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ σου.

And now, some commentary:

Ἐπαίνει ἀρετήν.

Praise excellence.

This is another one of the maxims that Stobaeus attributed to the Seven Sages. The verb ἐπαινέω is a contract verb (ἐπ-αινέω), so ἐπαίνει is an imperative (the 3rd-person indicative would be ἐπαινεῖ, with the same spelling but different accent). There is a word in English, aretology, the study of virtue, derived from Greek ἀρετή.

Ἄδακρυς πόλεμος.

A war without tears.

The word ἄδακρυς is an alphaprivate: ἄ-δακρυς, without-tears. The phrase refers to people who face great danger and risk yet achieve perfect success, victory without tears. From the root of Greek πόλεμος, we get the word polemical. The Greek name Ptolemy also comes from this root; see more at Wikipedia: Ptolemy.

Θάλαττα! θάλαττα! 

The sea! The sea!

This was the cry of Cyrus's army of Greek mercenaries who had been stranded in Persia and finally reached the Black Sea after a two-year, 3000-mile journey; the story is told in Xenophon's Anabasis. It features the Attic pronunciation: θάλαττα instead of θάλασσα. The phrase has its own Wikipedia article: Thalatta! Thalatta!

Ῥήματα ἀντί ἀλφίτων.

Words in place of barley.

The implication is that words cannot fill your stomach the way barley can; talk is a poor substitute for food when you are hungry. Compare the English saying, "Fine words butter no parsnips." The root in Greek ῥῆμα is the same root you see in ῥήτωρ, and thus also in English rhetoric.

Μὴ ἴσθι ὡς λέων ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ σου.

Do not be like a lion in your home.

The idea is to treat your family and other members of your household kindly, not like a wild beast. This saying comes from the Biblical Book of Sirach. The word ἴσθι is the imperative of εἰμί (most forms of this verb are irregular). From the root in Greek οἶκος we get English words like economy and ecology.

(route of the 10,000 Greek mercenaries)

And here's a random proverb too:

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