Daily Greek Vocabulary Challenge: Dec. 10

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 122. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

λέγω ~ λέξω ~ εἶπον: say, speak 

πάσχω ~ πείσομαι ~ ἔπαθον: suffer 

μιμνήσκω ~ μνήσω ~ ἔμνησα: remember, mention 

νέμω ~ νεμέω ~ ἔνειμα: inhabit, possess 

φθέγγομαι ~ φθέγξομαι ~ ἐφθεγξάμην: utter a sound, speak 

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

Λέγε εἰδώς.

Παθὼν δέ τε νήπιος ἔγνω.

Ἡδύ τοι σωθέντα μεμνῆσθαι πόνων. 

Διὰ Θεῶν πόλιν νεμόμεθ' ἀδάματον.

Ἄλλο γλαὺξ, ἄλλο κορώνη φθέγγεται.

And now, some commentary:

Λέγε εἰδώς.

Speak what you know.

Literally, "having come to know something, speak." The word εἰδώς is the perfect active participle of οἶδα. This is another one of the sayings attributed to the Seven Sages; see more at Wikipedia: Delphic maxims.

Παθὼν δέ τε νήπιος ἔγνω.

Even the fool learns by experience.

The words come from Hesiod's Works and Days. Compare Homer's Iliad: Ρεχθέν δε τε νήπιος έγνω. The word νήπιος can mean a child, someone young, but it can also mean childish, foolish, silly, etc., as in this saying. The idea here is that a more wise person might use reasoning instead without suffering "the school of hard knocks" as we say in English; that English saying even has its own Wikipedia article: School of Hard Knocks.

Ἡδύ τοι σωθέντα μεμνῆσθαι πόνων. 

Indeed it is sweet for the one who has been saved to remember his sufferings.

This line is a fragment of Euripides, cited by Aristotle. The word σωθέντα is an aorist passive participle, masculine accusative, serving as the subject of the infinitive μεμνῆσθαι, which takes a genitive complement: πόνων. You can see a collection of related sayings here: Pleasure at Pain in the Past.

Διὰ Θεῶν πόλιν νεμόμεθ' ἀδάματον.

By means of the gods we inhabit a city that is unconquered.

The words come from Aeschylus's Seven Against Thebes. The verb here is νεμόμεθα, and the final vowel drops out before the following vowel. The word ἀδάματον is feminine accusative; alpha-privative adjectives regularly do not have a distinctive feminine form. 

Ἄλλο γλαὺξ, ἄλλο κορώνη φθέγγεται.

The owl says one thing, the crow another.

The saying is used to refer to differences of opinion, or any kind of stark contrast. The root of the verb φθέγγομαι appears in English words like diphthong and apothegm.

owl skyphos

And here's a random proverb too:

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