Greek Vocabulary Challenge: March 18

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 152, featuring proverbs you (may) have seen before, but with a new word focus. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

ἴδιον ~ ἰδίου (adj. neut.): one's own, private; peculiar 

χρύσεον ~ χρυσέου (adj. neut.): golden, gold 

τραχύς ~ τραχέος (adj. masc.): prickly, rough 

ἄδικος ~ ἀδίκου (adj. masc.): unjust, unrighteous 

δεινή ~ δεινῆς (adj. fem.): fearful, terrible 

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

Ἴδια φύλαττε.

Χρύσεα χαλκείων.

Ἅπας ἐχῖνος τραχύς.

Ὁ ἄδικος οὐ λανθάνει τοὺς θεούς.

Δεινῆς ἀνάγκης οὐδὲν ἰσχυρότερον.

And now, some commentary:

Ἴδια φύλαττε.

Protect what is yours.

This is one of the Delphic maxims recorded by Stobaeus. The form φύλαττε is Attic; the dictionary form of the verb is φυλάσσω. And yes, English "idiot" is from Greek ἴδιος; details at the Wiktionary.

Χρύσεα χαλκείων.

Golden things (in exchange for) bronze.

The spelling χαλκείων is epic, and comes from an episode in Homer's Iliad, when Glaucus foolishly traded his golden armor for the bronze armor of Diomedes. But it's not really Glaucus's fault; Zeus made him lose his mind: φρένας ἐξέλετο Ζεύς, "Zeus took away his wits." You can read more at Wikipedia: Glaucus, and Plato invokes this as a proverbial saying in The Symposium. For the Greek root χρυσ- in English, see "chrysanthemum," golden-flower.

Ἅπας ἐχῖνος τραχύς.

The whole hedgehog is prickly.

As Erasmus explains, this saying refers to a person who is "prickly" by analogy to the prickly hedgehog. In the same way that there is no un-prickly part of a hedgehog that allows you to safely pick it up, so too there are some people who are impossible to deal with no matter what you try to do: they are completely prickly. From the same root in Greek τραχύς we get English trachea, so-called because of the windpipe's bumpy cartilage.

Ὁ ἄδικος οὐ λανθάνει τοὺς θεούς.

The unjust person does not escape the gods.

The word ἄδικος is an alpha-privative, ἄ-δικος. The word "escape" here means to "escape the notice of," i.e. the gods see the person who is unjust; he cannot escape their judgment.

Δεινῆς ἀνάγκης οὐδὲν ἰσχυρότερον.

Nothing (is) stronger than dire necessity.

The comparison — stronger than, ἰσχυρότερον — takes a genitive complement in Greek: δεινῆς ἀνάγκης. The adjective ἰσχυρότερον, "stronger," is a comparative form of ἰσχυρόν, "strong." You can see the Greek adjective δειν- in the English dinosaur. For more about ἀνάγκη, see Wikipedia: Ananke.

Glaucus and Diomedes exchanging armor; Glaucus is on the right.

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

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