Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Greek Proverbs: January 8

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):

Ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός.
God from the machine.
This is better known in its Latin form: Deus ex machina. The machine in question is the crane used in ancient Greek theater to lower a god onto the stage, and the phrase refers to some unexpected event; find out more at Wikipedia: Deus ex machina. From Greek μηχανή we get English mechanical, and also (via Latin) machine.



Κινδύνευε φρονίμως.
Take risks wisely.
This is one of those maxims attributed by Stobaeus to the Seven Sages. The adverb φρονίμως is from the adjective φρόνιμος, which is in turn from the noun φρήν, often found in the plural φρένες, which gives rise to a range of important words in Greek; you can see a list of derived words at the Wiktionary.



Κατόπιν ἑορτῆς ἥκεις.
You have come late to the festival.
This saying is used to mock anyone who has arrived late for a business matter or some other serious purpose. There are also variants of this saying referring to popular Greek festivals: Παναθηναίων κατόπιν ... Πυθίων ὕστερον ἧκες. You can read about the Panthenaean festival and the Pythian games at Wikipedia.



Ἅπας ἐχῖνος τραχύς.
The whole hedgehog is prickly.
As Erasmus explains, this saying refers to a person who is "prickly" by analogy to the prickly hedgehog. In the same way that there is no un-prickly part of a hedgehog that allows you to safely pick it up, so too there are some people who are impossible to deal with no matter what you try to do: they are completely prickly. From the same root in Greek τραχύς we get English trachea, so-called because of the windpipe's bumpy cartilage.



Μηδὲν ἄγαν.
Nothing to excess.
Note the specific form of "nothing" used here: μηδέν as opposed to οὐδέν. The word μή is used for negative imperatives, which gives this proverb the force of a negative imperative even though no verb is expressed: don't talk too much, don't eat too much, don't sleep too much, etc. etc. — μηδὲν ἄγαν.


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




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