Greek Proverbs: Nov. 13

Here are today's Greek proverbs; it's Group 206. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

πιστεύω ~ πιστεύσω ~ ἐπίστευσα (verb): believe, trust 

ἀνάγκη ~ ἀνάγκης (noun f.): necessity 

εὑρίσκω ~ εὑρήσω ~ ηὗρον (verb): find, discover 

συνάπτω ~ συνάψω ~ σύνηψα (verb): join, engage in 

ῥῆμα  ~ ῥήματος (noun n.): word, subject matter 

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

Τύχῃ μὴ πίστευε.

Ὑπὸ τῆς ἀνάγκης πολλὰ γίγνεται κακά.

Οὐκ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν βίον ἄλυπον οὐδενός.

Πρὸς λέοντα δορκάδες συνάπτουσι μάχας.

Οὐκ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ πᾶν ῥῆμα.

And now, some commentary:

Τύχῃ μὴ πίστευε.

Don't trust in luck.

This is one of the so-called Delphic maxims recorded by Stobaeus; you can find out more at Wikipedia.

Ὑπὸ τῆς ἀνάγκης πολλὰ γίγνεται κακά.

Many bad things happen by necessity.

You can read about the divine personification of ἀνάγκη at Wikipedia: Ananke. The words come from the comic playwright Menander and are in iambic meter:

Ὑπὸ τῆς | ἀνάγ||κης πολ|λὰ γίγ||νεται | κακά.

Οὐκ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν βίον ἄλυπον οὐδενός.

Nobody's life can be found that is without grief.

This is another one of the fragments of Menander, again in iambic meter:

Οὐκ ἔσ|τιν εὑ||ρεῖν βίον | ἄλυ||πον οὐ|δενός.

Πρὸς λέοντα δορκάδες συνάπτουσι μάχας.

The deer are massing in battle against the lion.

The deer are in the plural, δορκάδες, but even in the plural, all those deer are no match for a lion of course!

Οὐκ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ πᾶν ῥῆμα.

No thing will be impossible with God.

The words come from the Annunciation scene in the Gospel of Luke, where the angel is announcing to Mary that her cousin Elizabeth, though old, is about to bear a child (who will be John the Baptist).

The Annunciation

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

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