λύκος ~ λύκου (noun m.): wolf
κορώνη ~ κορώνης (noun f.): crow
λέων ~ λέοντος (noun m.): lion
αἴξ ~ αἰγός (noun c.): goat
ἔλαφος ~ ἐλάφου (noun c.): deer
These are the proverbs (and there are always more proverbs at the blog):
Λύκος μάτην χάνων.
Κορώνη τὸν σκορπίον ἥρπασεν.
Οὐ χρὴ λέοντος σκύμνον ἐν πόλει τρέφειν.
Αἲξ οὔπω τέτοκεν, ἔριφος δ᾿ ἐπὶ δώματι παίζει.
Φοβερώτερόν ἐστι στρατόπεδον ἐλάφων ἡγουμένου λέοντος ἢ λεόντων ἐλάφου.
And now, some commentary:
Λύκος μάτην χάνων.
The wolf, gaping like a fool.
This proverb refers to someone whose hopes are disappointed: he is gaping, empty-mouthed, not having gotten what he wanted. The proverb takes on narrative form in an Aesop's fable about a foolish wolf who heard a mother threatening her baby: "If you don't stop crying, I'll throw you to the wolf." Since the baby kept on crying, the wolf stood there outside the window, hoping that the woman would soon throw the baby to him, but he stood there gaping like a fool — the woman was never really going to throw the baby to the wolf.
Κορώνη τὸν σκορπίον ἥρπασεν.
The crow seized the scorpion.
As you can guess, things did not turn out well for the scorpion! There is a similar Aesop's fable with a snake instead of a scorpion: The Crow and the Snake.
Οὐ χρὴ λέοντος σκύμνον ἐν πόλει τρέφειν.
It is not right to raise a lion's cub in the city.
The saying appears in Aristophanes's Frogs, where it is attributed to Aeschylus in reference to Alcibiades, and as such it appears in Plutarch's Life of Alcibiades as well (but not in exactly this form).
Αἲξ οὔπω τέτοκεν, ἔριφος δ᾿ ἐπὶ δώματι παίζει.
The goat has not yet given birth, and the kid is playing on the rooftop.
This is like the English saying, "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. " In other words: don't start imagining the playful kid before the goat has actually given birth.
Φοβερώτερόν ἐστι στρατόπεδον ἐλάφων ἡγουμένου λέοντος ἢ λεόντων ἐλάφου.
An army of deer with the lion as leader is more frightening than an army of lions led by a deer.
This saying plays with the stereotypical cowardice of the deer as opposed to the bellicose lion. The image of an army of lions led by a deer is a nice bit of satire!
And here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too:
No comments:
Post a Comment