Greek Animal Vocabulary: July 17

Here are today's animal names; it's Group 183. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

ὗς ~ ὑός (noun c.): pig 

γαλέη ~ γαλέης (noun f.): weasel 

λύκος ~ λύκου (noun m.): wolf 

λαγώς ~ λαγώ (noun m.): hare 

μύρμηξ ~ μύρμηκος (noun m.): ant 

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

Βοιωτία ὗς.

Γαλῆν ἔχεις.

Λύκος καλεῖ τὰς αἶγας.

Δειλότερος εἶ τῶν λαγωῶν.

Οὐαὶ μύρμηκι πτεροῖς ἀρθέντι.

And now, some commentary:

Βοιωτία ὗς.

A Boeotian pig.

This saying brings together two proverbially ignorant creatures: someone from Boeotia, and a pig. Combine the two, and you've got someone who is totally ignorant. You've already seen a proverb mocking the people of Boeotia in a previous post: Βοιώτιος νοῦς. You've also seen a saying mocking the ignorance of the foolish pig who dares to rival the goddess of wisdom in this post from last week: Ὗς πότ᾽ Ἀθηναίαν ἔριν ἤρισεν.

Γαλῆν ἔχεις.

You've got the weasel.

The weasel was a very bad omen, so telling someone that they have a weasel means that they are unlucky and going to get into trouble as a result. Compare the evil omen of a black cat crossing your path in English; there is a lot of folkloric overlap between weasels and cats (the ancient Greeks kept weasels in their houses to control mice; later, they adopted the Egyptian practice of keeping cats as pets).

Λύκος καλεῖ τὰς αἶγας.

The wolf is calling the goats.

The goats would be very foolish indeed if they came to the wolf when he called to them. Of course the wolf is going to try to trick the goats; it's up to the goats to know better and watch out. So, if you're a metaphorical goat, beware!

Δειλότερος εἶ τῶν λαγωῶν.

You are more cowardly than the rabbits.

There is an Aesop's fable about the proverbial cowardice of rabbits, but in the Aesop's fable, the rabbits are comforted by the fact that the frogs are even more scared than they are; here's that fable in Greek: Λαγωοὶ καὶ βάτραχοι.

Οὐαὶ μύρμηκι πτεροῖς ἀρθέντι.

Woe to the ant equipped with wings.

This proverb suggests a lost Aesop's fable; there are often connections between the plots of Aesop's fables and ancient Greek proverbs featuring animals, like this one. Inspired by this proverb, the neo-Latin poet Desbillons wrote a story about foolish ants who asked Zeus to give them wings, but then they became food for birds. Here's the story in Latin (I don't think Desbillons has been translated into English...?): Formica et Jupiter.

"hare" vase, circa 600 BCE

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

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