Greek Proverbs

Here are today's Greek proverbs with LOLCats! These are repeats of previous proverbs, but now with illustrations... and with a quiz too! See how you do on the questions up top, and then try them again down below after you've read through the proverbs (the quiz results display only at the blog, not in the email):

Ἐν ______ ναυαγεῖν.

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Ἐν λιμένι ναυαγεῖν.

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Λύκου ______ ζητεῖς.

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Λύκου πτερὰ ζητεῖς.

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Κροκοδείλου ______.

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Κροκοδείλου δάκρυα.

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Εἰς θεῶν ______ ἦλθεν.

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Εἰς θεῶν ὦτα ἦλθεν.

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Κοσκίνῳ ______ φέρει.

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Κοσκίνῳ ὕδωρ φέρει.

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Ἐν λιμένι ναυαγεῖν.

To be shipwrecked in port.

The saying refers to suffering defeat just within sight of your goal, i.e. the ship goes down just as it sails into its destination port. The verb ναυαγεῖν is a compound: ship-break, ναῦς-ἄγνυμι.

Λύκου πτερὰ ζητεῖς.

You're looking for wings on a wolf.

This is one of those proverbial fool's errands: you will not find any wings on a wolf... and it's a dangerous place to look!

Κροκοδείλου δάκρυα.

Crocodile tears.

This famous saying has its own article at Wikipedia: Crocodile Tears. The idea is that the crocodile is a hypocrite, weeping (or seeming to weep) while he devours his victims. From the Greek κροκόδειλος we get the English word "crocodile," but it's not clear where the Greek word itself comes from: etymology of  κροκόδειλος. Compare a similar phrase: Μεγαρέων δάκρυα, "The tears of the Megarians." There are various explanations for why the people of Megara were associated with tears that were not tears of sadness; my favorite is that Megara was famous for its garlic, and the pungency of the garlic made the Megarians shed tears.

Εἰς θεῶν ὦτα ἦλθεν.

It came to the ears of the gods.

As Erasmus explains, this phrase means that what is done rightly or wrongly, once it finally reaches the ears of the gods, will be rewarded or punished accordingly. The verb ἧλθον is used as the aorist of the verb ἔρχομαι; it's another example of an irregular verb paradigm, or suppletion.

Κοσκίνῳ ὕδωρ φέρει.

He's carrying water in a sieve.

This is a proverbial fool's errand, since of course the water comes streaming out of the sieve before the fool reaches his destination. The saying appears in Plato's Gorgias and also in the Republic.

Ἐν ______ ναυαγεῖν.

reveal/hide answer

Ἐν λιμένι ναυαγεῖν.

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Λύκου ______ ζητεῖς.

reveal/hide answer

Λύκου πτερὰ ζητεῖς.

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Κροκοδείλου ______.

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Κροκοδείλου δάκρυα.

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Εἰς θεῶν ______ ἦλθεν.

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Εἰς θεῶν ὦτα ἦλθεν.

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Κοσκίνῳ ______ φέρει.

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Κοσκίνῳ ὕδωρ φέρει.

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

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