Greek Vocabulary Challenge: Jan. 31

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 140. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

εὐτυχία ~ εὐτυχίας (noun f.): good luck, success 

βίος ~ βίου (noun m.): life, lifestyle 

χρῆμα ~ χρήματος (noun n.): property, money 

κίνδυνος ~ κινδύνου (noun m.): danger, hazard, risk 

ζυγόν ~ ζυγοῦ (noun n.): yoke 

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

Εὐτυχίαν εὔχου.

Ὁ βίος  τρόχος, ἄστατος ὄλβος.

Μὴ ἔπεχε ἐπὶ χρήμασιν ἀδίκοις.

Πᾶσίν τοι κίνδυνος ἐπ᾽ ἔργμασιν.

Ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ σὺ ταὐτὸν ἕλκομεν ζυγόν.

And now, some commentary:

Εὐτυχίαν εὔχου.

Pray for success.

This is one of the "Delphic maxims" recorded by Stobaeus. The word εὐτυχία is literally εὐ-τυχία, "good luck, good fortune," and it also means success. Notice that the act of praying, εὔχομαι, is one of those middle verbs that takes a direct object (εὔχου is a middle imperative).

Ὁ βίος τρόχος, ἄστατος ὄλβος.

Life is a wheel, and wealth is unstable.

This is a saying found in Pseudo-Phocylides, whose sayings are hexameter lines. This saying is the second part of a hexameter, following the caesura:

κοινὰ πάθη πάντων· ὁ βίος  τρόχος, ἄστατος ὄλβος.

The first part reads: Suffering is common to all.

Here is the meter marked:

κοινὰ πά|θη πάν|των ~ ὁ βί|ος  τρόχος | ἄστατος | ὄλβος

You can find out more at Wikipedia: Pseudo-Phocylides.

Μὴ ἔπεχε ἐπὶ χρήμασιν ἀδίκοις.

Do not grasp at ill-gotten goods. 

This is from the Biblical Book of Sirach; find out more at Wikipedia: Ecclesiasticus. The verse goes on to explain why: μὴ ἔπεχε ἐπὶ χρήμασιν ἀδίκοις οὐδὲν γὰρ ὠφελήσει σε ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἐπαγωγῆς ... in the King James version: Set not thine heart upon goods unjustly gotten, for they shall not profit thee in the day of calamity.

Πᾶσίν τοι κίνδυνος ἐπ᾽ ἔργμασιν.

There is risk in every sort of business.

The words come from Solon; you can see a collection of his fragments here. The words are the start of a hexameter line in an elegiac couplet: Πᾶσίν | τοι κίν|δυνος ἐπ᾽ | ἔργμασιν... You can find out more about this Greek politician and philosopher at Wikipedia: Solon.

Ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ σὺ ταὐτὸν ἕλκομεν ζυγόν.

You and I are dragging the same yoke.

The metaphor is two oxen who are yoked together, so this saying refers to a situation of two people stuck in a situation together, with no way to go but forward, like oxen under the same yoke. The line is in iambic verse:

Ἐγὼ | δὲ καὶ || σὺ ταὐ|τὸν ἕλ||κομεν | ζυγόν.

ancient Greek terracotta: yoked oxen

And here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too :

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