Daily Greek Vocabulary Challenge: Dec. 6

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 120. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

πρόνοια ~ προνοίας (noun f.): foresight 

Ζεύς ~ Διὸς (noun m.): Zeus 

ὄμμα ~ ὄμματος (noun n.): eye; eyesight 

κέντρον ~ κέντρου (noun n.): goad, spur 

πένθος ~ πένθους (noun n.): grief, misery 

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

Πρόνοιαν τίμα.

Διὸς ἐγκέφαλος.

Ἀτρέως ὄμματα.

Πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζεις.

Τῷ μὲν κλέος, ἄμμι δὲ πένθος.

And now, some commentary:

Πρόνοιαν τίμα.

Honor foresight.

The Greek πρόνοια is from the verb προνοέω. You can see a wide range of νοέω derivatives at Wiktionary. This is another one of the maxims attributed by Stobaeus to the Seven Sages.

Διὸς ἐγκέφαλος.

Zeus's brains.

This Greek phrase was used to refer to rare and costly food; it appears in Athenaeus' Deipnosophistae, and it actually shows up in the LSJ entry for ἐγκέφαλος. From the Greek ἐγκέφαλος we get English encephalitis, inflammation of the brain.

Ἀτρέως ὄμματα.

The eyes of Atreus.

This refers to someone with a cruel look, like the wicked Atreus who tricked his twin brother, Thyestes, into eating his own sons in a stew. When Thyestes was done eating, Atreus then brought out the dead boys' hands and feet to reveal their identities (see medieval illustration below). Agamemnon and Thyestes are the sons of Atreus, i.e. Atreides. Find out more at Wikipedia: Atreus.

Πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζεις.

You are kicking against the goads.

This refers to recalcitrant animals, and metaphorically to recalcitrant humans. You can see the phrase in Euripides' Bacchae, when Dionysus is speaking to Pentheus, admonishing a mortal not to struggle against the power of a god. This classical Greek phrase also appears in the Biblical Book of Acts: "it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks."

Τῷ μὲν κλέος, ἄμμι δὲ πένθος.

For him, glory; for us, grief.

The words are from Homer's Iliad. Agamemnon is speaking about the wound his brother Menelaus has suffered in battle: that wound brought glory on the Trojan warrior Pandarus, but grief to the Greeks.

Atreus and Thyestes

And here's a random proverb too:

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