Ad Fontes

Greek Quote of the Week

Greek Quote# 11

Υἱὸς σοφὸς εὐφραίνει πατέρα, υἱὸς δὲ ἄφρων λύπη τῇ μητρί. (Παροιμίαι (Παλαιά Διαθήκη) 10:1)

“A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. “( Proverbs 10:1 KJV)

Brief Glossary and Parsing notes follow:

The masculine noun υἱός (son) appears 2x times in this verse and both times it is found in the nominative singular dictionary form.  

  •  All the following lexical items in verse relating the singular (son) are also all singular.
    σοφός  (wise/wisdom) masculine nominative adjective in the plain dictionary form.
    εὐφραίνει  (to make glad, happy, cause to celebrate)  is the present active indicative 3rd person form of the verb εὐφραίνω    
    πατέρα    (Father, Dad, parent) is the accusative masculine form of the noun πατήρ   
    δὲ  (but, however, now) is a conjunction
  • ἄφρων (stupid, foolish) is the masculine nominative form of the adjective  ἄφρων   
  • Naturally the following are all feminine singular(s)
    λύπη   (sorrow, grief, unhappiness) is a nominative noun  
    τῇ is the of course the article ὁ   
    μητρί (mother) is the dative form of the noun μήτηρ  

Greek Quote #9

Το αποδημείν εί αρίστη παιδεία

The greatest education is being aboard (the act of traveling). / Traveling/the journey is the perfect education.

Brief Parsing Information:

  • Το is the definite article
  • αποδημείν is a contrastive present active infinitive verb with the meaning being or going on journey
  • εί this looks like it the subjunctive meaning  ‘if’, but it is more likely a present indicative form of  εἶμι  (will go) or εἰμί (to be)
  • αρίστη is a feminine singular adjective (can be dative, vocative, and nominative) it means best or perfect
  • παιδεία is a feminine singular noun (it can be vocative or nominative) meaning education or raising children 

Today’s quote is a famous saying/proverb, and unfortunately, no one knows who first said it.

Greek Quote #8

Μέγιστον τόπος. Άπαντα γαρ χωρεί.

Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the philosophers, book 1, chapter 35

This quote is attributed to Thales of Miletus (Θαλής ο Μιλήσιος) who lived from 624/623  – c. 548/545 BC (640 ή 624 π.Χ. Μίλητος, Ιωνία – 546 π.Χ.)

Here is some brief glossary/Parsing info:

  • μέγιστον is a singular adjective neuter vocative form of μέγας meaning great
  • τόπος is a singular mainline noun with the meaning of location or place or space
  • ἀπάντα is a singular Present Active Imperative 2nd Person form of ἅπας meaning all together / everything
  • γάρ in a conjunction used alone or with other Particles meaning ‘for’, since’, ‘but’, ‘because’
  • χώρει  is a singular verb present indicative active transitive 2nd or 3rd person form of χωρεω meaning contain 

Greek Quote #6

Ἑλληνιστὶ γινώσκεις;

ΠΡΑΞΕΙΣ ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΩΝ 21:37b

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