Thursday, January 29, 2026

Greek Proverbs: Jan. 29

Here are today's Greek proverbs with LOLCats! These are repeats of previous proverbs, but now with illustrations (and there are always more proverbs at the blog):

Εὐτυχίαν εὔχου.
Pray for success.
This is one of the "Delphic maxims" recorded by Stobaeus. The word εὐτυχία is literally εὐ-τυχία, "good luck, good fortune," and it also means success. Notice that the act of praying, εὔχομαι, is one of those middle verbs that takes a direct object (εὔχου is a middle imperative).



Ἀντὶ ἡμέρας νὺξ ἐγένετο.
Instead of day, there was night.
The cycles of night and day, day and night, provides a proverbial way to express the ups and downs of life, its bright moments and its dark moments; something has gone very wrong when the cycle is out of kilter. The Greek νύξ is cognate with English night, from proto-Indo-European nókʷts. You can see the Greek ἡμέρα in the English ephemeral, i.e. lasting for just a day.



Ἄλλος οὗτος Ἡρακλῆς.
This man (is) another Heracles.
As Erasmus explains, the words refer to someone who is tireless and willing to carry out enormous tasks, just as Heracles was; it can also refer to an exceptionally strong man. You can find out more about the ancient hero Heracles, called Hercules by the Romans, at Wikipedia: Heracles.



Νόμῳ πείθου.
Obey the law.
This is another of the maxims attributed by Stobaeus to the Seven Sages. The word πείθου is a middle imperative from πείθω, and one of the middle meanings of this verb is "obey" (in the sense of listen and obey, trust and obey), and it takes a dative complement: νόμῳ. In terms of etymology, πείθω is cognate with Latin fido, which means it is a cousin of English faith. Here is the Indo-European root: bʰéydʰeti.



Τῷ θεῷ ἕπου.
Follow the god.
This is one of the oracular sayings of ancient Greece. You can read more about these oracles at Wikipedia: Delphic oracles.


And to finish up, here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too:




Click here to subscribe/unsubscribe to the email list.



No comments:

Post a Comment