Monday, March 31, 2025

Greek Vocabulary Challenge: April 1

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 155. You may have seen these proverbs before (this project has been going for over a year now!), but this time the vocabulary focus is different. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

ἄπειρος ~ ἀπείρου (adj. masc.): inexperienced, ignorant 
γλύκιον ~ γλυκίονος (adj. neut.): sweeter, more dear 
ἐμός ~ ἐμοῦ (adj. masc.): my, mine 
περισσόν ~ περισσοῦ (adj. neut.): excessive, superfluous 
ὑμετέρα ~ ὑμετέρας (adj. fem.): yours 

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

Γλυκὺς ἀπείρῳ πόλεμος.

Οὐδὲν γλύκιον ἧς πατρίδος.

Ἐμοῦ θανόντος γαῖα μιχθήτω πυρί.

Μὴ γίνου δίκαιος πολὺ καὶ μὴ σοφίζου περισσά. 

Μακάριοι οἱ πτωχοί, ὅτι ὑμετέρα ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ.

And now, some commentary:

Γλυκὺς ἀπείρῳ πόλεμος.
War (is) sweet to the inexperienced (person).
By implication, the person with experience of war knows that it is anything but sweet. The adjective ἄπειρος is an alpha-privative: ἄ-πειρος, and you can see the root πειρ- in English "empirical." From the root of γλυκύς, we get medical terms like hypoglycemia, "low blood sugar," in English.

Οὐδὲν γλύκιον ἧς πατρίδος.
Nothing is sweeter than one's fatherland.
The word γλύκιον is comparative ("sweeter"), so it takes a genitive complement: πατρίδος. The words appear in Homer's Odyssey, and so echo on throughout Greek literature, quoted by later authors.
For example, here is a line from the Greek Anthology, with "said Odysseus" at the end: ὡς οὐδὲν γλύκιον ἧς πατρίδος, εἶπεν Ὀδυσσεύς. The complete line in the Odyssey includes parents also:
ὣς οὐδὲν γλύκιον ἧς πατρίδος οὐδὲ τοκήων
Here is the dactylic meter:
ὣς οὐ~δὲν γλύκι~ον ἧς ~ πατρίδος ~ οὐδὲ το~κήων

Ἐμοῦ θανόντος γαῖα μιχθήτω πυρί.
When I die, let the earth be mixed with fire.
The opening words, ἐμοῦ θανόντος, are a genitive absolute, the idea being that once I'm dead, it doesn't matter to me what happens; the earth might as well burn to ashes for all I care. The words are the first line of an iambic couplet from the Greek Anthology; the second line is: οὐδὲν μέλει μοι· τἀμὰ γὰρ καλῶς ἔχει, "It doesn't matter at all to me, for my situation (τὰ ἐμά, "my stuff") is just fine." The saying was quoted by the Emperor Tiberius, and this callous and self-centered sentiment certainly suits him. Here is the meter marked:
Ἐμοῦ ~ θανόν~τος γαῖ~α μιχ~θήτω ~ πυρί.
οὐδὲν ~ μέλει ~ μοι· τἀ~μὰ γὰρ ~ καλῶς ~ ἔχει,

Μὴ γίνου δίκαιος πολὺ καὶ μὴ σοφίζου περισσά.
Do not be too righteous and do not be overly clever.
This advice comes from the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes. Both πολὺ and περισσά are neuter adjectives (singular and plural) being used adverbially. You can see the adjective σοφός in the verb σοφίζω: "wise-ify," i.e. to be clever. You can see the root of δίκαιος in Δίκη, the goddess of justice; find out more at Wikipedia: Dike.

Μακάριοι οἱ πτωχοί, ὅτι ὑμετέρα ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ.
Blessed are (you who are) poor, because the kingdom of god will be yours.
These words also come from the Gospel of Luke. This is the first of the four "beatitudes," in which Jesus blesses the people who are poor, who are hungry, who are grieving, and who are hated. You can find out more at Wikipedia: Beatitudes. The use of the second-person pronoun conveys that sense of Jesus addressing his audience. From the root βασιλ- in βασιλεία, we get English words like basil and basilica.


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




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