Greek Proverbs: April 7

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):

Ἀφ' Ἑστίας ἀρχόμενοι.

Beginning with Hestia.

The preposition ἀπό drops its final vowel before the following vowel, and the aspiration of Ἑστία changes the pi to phi. This saying refers to the appropriate order in which to do things (compare English "begin at the beginning"), based on the fact that sacrifices to the gods began with a sacrifice to Hestia, the goddess of the hearth; honoring Hestia was honoring the fire of the sacrifice itself. You can find out more about Hestia at Wikipedia.

Λύκος ποιμήν.

A wolf (as) shepherd.

Compare the English saying: "the fox guarding the henhouse."

Ἐν νυκτὶ βουλή.
In night (comes) counsel.
In other words: sleep on it; the decision will be clear to you in the morning.
The Greek root νυκτ-, like English night, is from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts.

Καιρὸν γνῶθι.
Recognize the critical moment.

Another translation might be: "Know the right moment (in which to do something." The word καιρός has a wide range of meanings in Greek; you can read the dictionary entry at Logeion to learn more. The etymology of this important Greek word remains a mystery. The saying is attributed to Pittacus of Mitylene, one of the seven sages of ancient Greece.

Σοφοῖς χρῶ.

Make use of those who are wise.

The form χρῶ is the second-person imperative of χράομαι (those middle imperatives can look sneaky, especially for contract verbs). The adjective σοφός is being used substantively as a noun: (a) wise (man). This is one of the maxims that Stobaeus attributes to the Seven Sages of Greece. From the Greek root σοφ- we get all the soph- words in English philosopher and sophistication.

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

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