Greek Vocabulary Challenge: May 27

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 169. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

θεός ~ θεοῦ (noun m.): god

βασιλεύς ~ βασιλέως (noun m.): king, chief 

λίθος ~ λίθου (noun m.): stone 

λέων ~ λέοντος (noun m.): lion 

χρυσός ~ χρυσοῦ (noun m.): gold 

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

Θεοὺς σέβου.

Μωρῷ καὶ βασιλεῖ νόμος ἄγραφος.

Λίθος κυλιόμενος φῦκος οὐ ποιεῖ.

Ἐκ τῶν ὀνύχων τὸν λέοντα γινώσκειν.

Κρίνει φίλους ὁ καιρός, ὡς χρυσὸν τὸ πῦρ.

And now, some commentary:

Θεοὺς σέβου.

Revere the gods.

This is one of so-called Delphic maxims, the sayings recorded by Stobaeus. They take the form of imperatives, which means they provide lots of opportunities to practice those middle imperative forms, like this one: σέβου.

Μωρῷ καὶ βασιλεῖ νόμος ἄγραφος.

For the fool and for the king there is no law written.

In other words, for the extremes of the behavior hierarchy — the king at the top and the fool at the bottom — the usual rules do not apply as they do us. We obey the rules as written, but fools and kings do not: for them, the law is ἄγραφος, not-written. Sometime it has the king only, βασιλεῖ νόμος ἄγραφος, but I definitely prefer this version with the king and the fool.

Λίθος κυλιόμενος φῦκος οὐ ποιεῖ.

The stone that rolls does not make weed.

Compare the English saying, "A rolling stone gathers no moss." The idea is that if you are constantly having to go from one place to another, you do not have a chance to accumulate wealth, comfort, etc. Over time, however, this saying (which is found in all the European languages) has come to also include a more positive interpretation of restlessness and rootlessness as a kind of growth or freedom: you should keep on moving so that you don't become stale or stagnant. For more about the history of this saying, see Wikipedia: Rolling Stone.

Ἐκ τῶν ὀνύχων τὸν λέοντα γινώσκειν.

To know the lion by its claws.

You've seen a version of this saying in a shorter form: Ἐξ ὄνυχος τὸν λέοντα. In that short version, the verb was implied by the use of the accusative case; in this version, the verb is included: γινώσκειν.

Κρίνει φίλους ὁ καιρός, ὡς χρυσὸν τὸ πῦρ.

A crisis passes judgment on friends, as fire does gold.

The idea is that whether a friend is true or false is revealed in a crisis, just as gold can be tested in a fire. For the process of testing gold with fire, see Wikipedia: Cupellation.

cupellation furnaces

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

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