The Greek Quote Thread

[Brian K. Mitchell]

Quote

Μέγιστον τόπος.

ἅπαντα 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 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

ἅπαντα from the adjective ἅπας meaning all together / everything

γάρ is 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 

 

Edited April 13 by Brian K. Mitchell
big mistakes

[Brian K. Mitchell]

Quote

Το αποδημείν εί αρίστη παιδεία

The greatest education is being aboard (the act of traveling).

Traveling/the journey is the prefect education.

 

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.

 

[Brian K. Mitchell]

Quote

Χάριν λαβών μέμνησο και δους επιλαθού

attributed to Μένανδρος (Menander)

Χάριν is a singular feminine accusative noun meaning grace / favor

λαβών is the singular masculine aorist active participle nominative case version of λαμβάνω meaning to receive or take

μέμνησο is 2nd person singular prefect imperative meaning to remember /recall

και means 'and' but you already knew that

δους is a form you might not know but it comes from a lemma all Biblical Greek students know: δίδωμι to give

επιλαθού is 2nd person singular present or aorist imperative verb form of ἐπιλανθάνομαι meaning to forget.

 

 

[Brian K. Mitchell]

Quote

Λύκος δοράν οιός περιβεβλημένος

Λύκος is a singular masculine noun meaning wolf

δοράν is a plural feminine noun in the genitive case meaning skins of or hides of

οιός is a singular masculine/feminine noun is the genitive case meaning ram/sheep

περιβεβλημένος comes from a Greek lemma every student knows περιβάλλω. It is a singular masculine prefect participle. It has a range of meaning but it here is probably means to throw something around one's self.

 

This is a famous saying from Αίσωπος (Aesop)

[Brian K. Mitchell]

Before you copy, paste, and search for this verse first try to read it and see if you can guess which book of the Bible is being quoted. Hint: the following is taken from Accordance Bible Software's Alfred Rahlfs LXX module:

 

Quote

Τίς αὕτη ἡ ἀναβαίνουσα ἀπὸ τῆς ἐρήμου
    ὡς στελέχη καπνοῦ τεθυμιαμένη
    σμύρναν καὶ λίβανον ἀπὸ πάντων κονιορτῶν μυρεψοῦ;

 

The following parsing information is taken from Accordance Bible Software's instant parsing tool:

 

Τίς    Pronoun (interrogative) feminine singular nominative who? what? why?
αὕτη    Pronoun (demonstrative) feminine singular nominative    this, this one, he
ἡ    Article feminine singular nominative    the, who, which
ἀναβαίνουσα    Verb present active participle feminine singular nominative    to go up, rise up, advance
ἀπὸ    Preposition (+genitive)    (+gen) from, by, since
τῆς    Article feminine singular genitive    the, who, which
ἐρήμου  Noun feminine singular genitive (common)    (f) desolate; wilderness, desert
ὡς    Conjunction subordinating    as, like, while, that; (interjection) how!
στελέχη    Noun neuter plural nominative (common)    trunk, branch; stump
καπνοῦ    Noun masculine singular genitive (common)    smoke
τεθυμιαμένη  Verb perfect passive participle feminine singular nominative    to burn incense
σμύρναν    Noun feminine singular accusative (common)    myrrh
καὶ    Conjunction coordinating    and, also, even, and yet, but
λίβανον    Noun masculine singular accusative (common)    frankincense
ἀπὸ    Preposition (+genitive)    (+gen) from, by, since
πάντων    Adjective masculine plural genitive noDegree (intensive)    all, every; the whole
κονιορτῶν    Noun masculine plural genitive (common)    (m) dust, dustcloud
μυρεψοῦ    Noun masculine singular genitive (common) perfumer

[Brian K. Mitchell]

Here is a short but famous Classical Greek saying you may have heard in English:

Quote

" Παν Μέτρον άριστον "

Attributed to (Cleobulus of rhodes) or Ο Κλεόβουλος (6ος αιώνας π.Χ. - βρισκόταν στη ζωή τουλάχιστον έως το 560 π.Χ.)

 

πάν is a masculine singular noun found throughout the Greek NT meaning:  "all" or "everything"

Μέτρον  (this word is found about 14 times in the Greek New Testament)

It is a neuter singular noun that can be accusative, nominative, or vocative. Its Strong's index number is

3358. It means "measure" or "moderation" 

άριστον (ἅριστος) is a singular masculine nominative adjective meaning: "best"

[Brian K. Mitchell]

Quote

Κάλλιστον κόσμος, ποίημα γαρ θεού.

The Universe is awesome because it's God's creation!

Ο Θαλής ο Μιλήσιος (Thales of Miletus)

640 ή 624 π.Χ. Μίλητος, Ιωνία - 546 π.Χ.

 

Κάλλιστον  is the neuter form of the superlative adjective "κάλλιστος" (kállistos), which means "most beautiful" or "best."

 

κόσμος is a Greek noun that means "world" or "universe" in English. Grammatically, it is masculine in gender and can take different forms depending on its role in a sentence, such as nominative, accusative, genitive, etc.

 

ποίημα is a Greek noun that means "workmanship", "creation", or "poem" in English. It is neuter in gender.

 

γαρ  is a Greek particle used in ancient Greek and Koine Greek. It's commonly translated as "for" or "indeed" in English. Grammatically, it serves as a conjunction or a particle that connects clauses, providing an explanation, justification, or reason for what was said before. It doesn't inflect like nouns or verbs, so it doesn't have different forms.

 

θεού is a Greek noun that means "of God" in English. Grammatically, it is in the genitive case, which typically indicates possession or relationship. In this form, it shows possession or association with the noun it modifies. In this case, "θεού" indicates possession by or association with God.

 

 

[A.D. Riddle]

On 1/25/2023 at 11:56 PM, Brian K. Mitchell said:

This quote is attributed to Thales of Miletus…

ἀπάντα is a singular Present Active Imperative 2nd Person form

Going back a few months: I don't believe ἀπάντα is a verb.

 

A.D.

[Brian K. Mitchell]

31 minutes ago, A.D. Riddle said:

Going back a few months: I don't believe ἀπάντα is a verb.

 

@A.D. Riddle

 Thank you for catching my blunder! One, you are correct this is not a verb it is an adjective, and Two, the accent marks on ἀπάντα are probably erroneous it probably should have been ἅπαντα.

 

άπαντα  (is a noun)

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/άπαντα

 

 απαντά (from απαντάω is a verb)

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/απαντάω

 

ἅπαντα (from ἅπας is a compound word which is an adjective)

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ἅπας#Ancient_Greek

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0072:entry=a(/pas