Tuesday, March 24, 2026

Greek Proverbs: March 24

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):

Μισῶ μνήμονα συμπότην.
I hate a drinking companion with a memory.
The word συμπότης is a compound, συμ-πότης, a co-drinker — and yes, from this same root we get the English word symposium. The Greek συμπόσιον was a drinking party! A drinking-companion who remembers what is done and said at a symposium is dangerous because, as you learned in a previous post: Ἐν οἴνῳ ἀλήθεια. Meanwhile, from the Greek verb μισέω we get English words like misogyny and misanthrope.



Φιλόσοφος γίνου.
Be a lover of wisdom.
This is one of the maxims of the Seven Sages recorded by Stobaeus; for more, see Wikipedia: Delphic maxims. Like many compound adjectives, there is not a distinctive feminine form; φιλόσοφος is both masculine and feminine, depending on context. It is often used substantively as a noun, which is the origin of our "philosopher" in English.



Μνήμην καμήλου.
(He has) the memory of a camel.
The Greeks believed that the camel had a good memory. A related proverb states: μνησικακία καμήλου, "the camel's remembrance of wrongs" (μνησι-κακία), i.e. the camel remembers any person who has treated it badly and will seek revenge. You can see the root μνημ- in the name Μνημοσύνη, the Greek goddess of memory: Wikipedia: Mnemosyne.



Χρόνου φείδου.
Be sparing of time.
The verb φείδου is another middle imperative; the verb φείδομαι has only middle forms, and it takes a genitive complement: χρόνου. This is another one of the maxims that Stobaeus attributed to the Seven Sages; see above for another one.



Δικαίως κτῶ.
Acquire possessions rightfully.
The word κτῶ is a middle imperative from the verb κτάομαι (it looks especially weird because the word has only one syllable; hence the circumflex). The adverb δικαίως is formed from the adjective δίκαιος which is in turn formed from the noun δίκη meaning order or justice. For the goddess of Justice, see Wikipedia: Dike.


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




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