List of Greek phrases / epsilon

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Ἐὰν ταῖς γλώσσαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων λαλῶ…

ancient greek cymbal
Ἐὰν ταῖς γλώσσαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων λαλῶ καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω, γέγλλλα χαλκὸς ἠχῶαν ἢ κζομβ.
Ean tais glōssais tōn anthrōpōn lalō kai tōn angelōn, agapē de mē echō, Gegona chalkos ēchōn ē kymbalon alalazon.
"If I spoke in the tongues of men and angels, but if I did not have love, I would be sounding ore or a ringing bell."

From this passage from the 1st letter of Paul to the Corinthians (13.1 EU ) of the apostle Paul , the winged word “ speak with the tongues of angels ” goes back to the meaning “ to speak urgently to someone” .

Paul is probably responding to what is known as “speaking in tongues”. Paul does not elaborate on what it is like to speak in angel tongues , but in the Bible angels do speak human language. But speaking in tongues is only noise when done without love. Ore ( χαλκὸς chalkos ) is initially just the material the instrument is made of, usually copper or a copper alloy. The cymbal ( κύμβαλον kymbalon ), a kind of cymbal, doesn't sound really nice, but primarily attracts attention. Loveless speech attracts attention, but is hollow and most likely serves to be self-important.

Ἐὰν ὕδωρ πίνῃς, μὴ λέγε ἐκ πάσης ἀφορμῆς, ὅτι ὕδωρ πίνεις.

Ἐὰν ὕδωρ πίνῃς, μὴ λέγε ἐκ πάσης ἀφορμῆς, ὅτι ὕδωρ πίνεις.
Ean hydōr pinēs, mē lege ek pasēs aphormēs, hoti hydōr pineis.
"When you drink water, do not say that you drink water on every occasion."

Admonition in the handbook on morals of the philosopher Epictetus to self-righteous teetotalers :

“If you are used to a simple way of life, don't be proud of it. If you only drink water, do not say on every occasion: I drink water, but consider how much more miserable the poor live and how much they endure; and if you want to practice work and perseverance, do it for yourself and not in front of people. Do not clasp the statues, but if you are very thirsty, take your mouth full of cold water, spit it out again and - don't tell anyone. "

Ἐγγύα, πάρα δ 'ἄτα.

Ἐγγύα, πάρα δ 'ἄτα.
Engya, para d 'ata.
"Guarantee brings disaster."

Dictum of the Valley of Miletus , one of the seven wise men . As Cleomenes says about Hesiod in his work, the saying is anticipated by Homer with a verse from the Odyssey (8, 351):

"Guarantee for a bad person is bad to take as guarantee."
" Δειλαί τοι δειλῶν γε καὶ ἐγγύαι ἐγγυάασθαι. "

This sentence is called in Latin: Sponde, noxa sed praesto tibi. "

The classical philologist Bruno Snell states that this and most of the other Delphic sayings are time-dependent:

“The warning about the guarantee presupposes the conditions of the beginning money economy; The importance of exercise was particularly high at a time when one began to trust one's own strength and no longer ascribed great achievement to the work of the deity; the contempt of the many is openly expressed when the aristocratic order still prevails, but individuals are already resolutely highlighting themselves as individual personalities. "

In the school of Aristotle this sentence was viewed as a statement by the Chilon of Sparta and it is said that Chilon wrote these three sentences on a column on his arrival in Delphi as a donation of his understanding for God:

  1. “Know yourself!” - Γνῶθι σεαυτόν
  2. “Nothing too much!” - “ Μηδὲν ἄγαν. "
  3. “Guarantee brings disaster.” - Ἐγγύα, πάρα δ᾽ ἄτα.

See also the Herodotus quote: Ἀναγκαίην φασὶ εἶναι τὸν ὀφείλοντα καί τι ψεῦδος λέγειν. ( "Anyone who has debts must necessarily lie." )

Ἐγγὺς μὲν ἡ σὴ περὶ πάντων λήθη, ἐγγὺς δὲ ἡ πάντων περὶ σοῦ λήθη.

Ἐγγὺς μὲν ἡ σὴ περὶ πάντων λήθη, ἐγγὺς δὲ ἡ πάντων περὶ σοῦ λήθη.
Engys men hē sē peri pantōn lēthē, engys de hē pantōn peri sou lēthē.
“Soon - and you've forgotten everything. Soon - and everything has forgotten you. "

Quote from the self-contemplation of the Roman Emperor Marc Aurel (VII, 21).

In Latin this sentence is:

" Instat tempus, quo tu omnium oblitus eris: instat, quo omnes tui obliti erunt. "

Marc Aurel wants to express that a human life as a whole is only a tiny moment and even the hope of fame is irrelevant. Our name and our deeds will soon be forgotten. But becoming aware of this fact is a great step in understanding the world.

Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ...

Pieter Bruegel the Elder : Census at Bethlehem
Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ἐξῆλθε δόγμα παρὰ Καίσαρος Αὐγούστου ἀπογράφεσθαι πᾶμνν οὴνην έοκν
Egeneto de en tais hēmerais ekeinais exēlthe dogma para Kaisaros Augoustou apographesthai pasan tēn oikoumenēn.
"But it came to pass at that time that the Emperor Augustus made a command that all the world should be valued."

Beginning of the Christmas story in the Gospel according to Luke , which begins with Emperor Augustus carrying out the first census in history and therefore every family should go to the hometown of the father of the family. For this reason, Joseph goes to Bethlehem with his heavily pregnant fiancée Maria .

A papyrus find published by A. Deißmann in his work Licht von Osten seems to prove that censuses were carried out:

" Gaius Vibius Maximus , Governor of Egypt, says: When the home enrollment is about to take place (household appraisal), it is necessary to inform all those who stay away from their homes for whatever reason that they (must) return to their homes so that they can both meet the usual facility of the valuation as well as be incumbent on them agriculture. "

The theologian Albert Schweitzer writes about this census:

“So we know nothing of such an estimate. Even more: at the time of Jesus' birth the Roman emperor in Israel could not have an estimate made, because the land then belonged to his friend, King Herod. The Roman officials had nothing to say in it and also no census to take place, just as little as the German emperor could order this in Switzerland. "

ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία

Title page of the “ Encyclopédie ” by d'Alembert and Diderot, 1772
ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία
enkyklios paideia
"Comprehensive education"

The word encyclopedia (formed from enkyklios 'circular' and paideia 'education') originally describes universal education or the propaedeutics of science.

The educational system of the Seven Liberal Arts (Latin Septem Artes Liberales ), a canon of subjects with grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music, belongs to late antiquity . They could be supplemented by studying philosophy as the culmination of the training.

It was only in the modern era, with the work of the French encyclopedists d'Alembert and Diderot, that the concept of general science and the representation of the totality of knowledge emerged .

Due to the French encyclopedia's method of presenting knowledge in the form of an alphabetical reference work, the term soon became an abbreviation for the term encyclopedic dictionary.

Ἐγὼ ἄρξω τοῦ γένους.

Ἐγὼ ἄρξω τοῦ γένους.
Egō arxō tou genous.
"I will be the first of my gender."

Alleged answer of the Athenian general Iphikrates when someone accused him of his low origin. His father was a tanner.

Ἐγὼ μέν σε νῦν ἠρώτησα, σὺ δέ μοι ὡς ἐπὶ Ἀγαμέμνονος ἀποκρίνῃ.

Ἐγὼ μέν σε νῦν ἠρώτησα, σὺ δέ μοι ὡς ἐπὶ Ἀγαμέμνονος ἀποκρίνῃ.
Egō men se nyn erōtesa, sy de moi hōs epi Agamemnonos apokrinē.
"I ask you now, but you answer me like in Agamemnon's time."

Comment by the philosopher Demonax to a colleague who answered him in an antique Attic . So-called atticism was a literary fashion that intellectual snobs availed themselves of by using an overly antique-looking language.

The time of Demonax (2nd century AD) was a millennium away from the time of the Iliad hero Agamemnon .

The Attic of the 5th century BC BC is considered to be the classical form of Greek. The most important writings of the classical period were written in Attic, including the works of the philosophers Plato and Aristotle , the historians Xenophon and Thucydides, and the playwrights Aeschylus , Sophocles and Aristophanes .

The ancient model became the norm in high-level Greek. Until the second half of the 20th century, a form of modern Greek ( Katharevussa ) based on the Attic was taught as the state language in schools.

Εθνικός Διχασμός

Εθνικός Διχασμός
Ethnikos Dichasmos
"National Division"

The Εθνικός Διχασμός was a falling out between King Constantine I and his Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos over the question of whether Greece should intervene on the side of the Allies in the First World War. The two men initially worked closely together, but their fundamentally different views on foreign policy issues led to a confrontation that shaped political life for several decades.

Due to his pro-German attitude (he came from a German aristocratic family and was married to the Prussian princess Sophie) the king did not want his country to be drawn into the war, while Venizelos, who was orienting himself towards the sea power Great Britain, advocated this. In 1915 the king dismissed the prime minister twice, dissolved parliament and took over the government himself, while Venizelos installed a counter-government in northern Greece and finally forced Constantine to abdicate in 1917.

Εἶ.

Εἶ.
Egg.
"You are."

According to the tradition of Charmides and Plutarch , this was the "third Apollonian wisdom" in Delphi besides:

and

To what extent it graced the portal is uncertain. According to Plutarch, it was probably a spoken response from visitors to the temple to the inscriptions. “ Gnôthi seautón ” may have been Apollo's words of welcome to the visitors in the beginning . Here the historian Plutarch writes:

"When entering, God speaks to each of us, so to speak, with his 'Know thyself', which is at least as good as 'Heil!'"

In response to this, the visitor replied "You are" to the god .

Plutarch continues: "We answer God with ' ' by giving him the designation that is true and contains no lie and belongs to him alone and to no other, namely that of being ..."

Εἰ καὶ λύκου ἐμνήσθῃς.

Εἰ καὶ λύκου ἐμνήσθῃς.
Ei kai lykou emnēsthes.
"When you talk about the wolf."

Proverb that goes back to the widespread superstition that one lures the wolf (or the devil) when one speaks of him. In German you express your astonishment at the unexpected appearance of what you are talking about. Often expressed as

"If you name the donkey, it comes running."

Or:

"Speaking of the devil."

In the play Adelphi ( “Brothers” ) by the Roman poet Terence , the slave Syrus and the young Ctesipho are talking about old Demea when Syrus suddenly interrupts their conversation.

  • Latin: Lupus in fabula. ( "The wolf in history." )
  • Modern Greek: Κατά φωνή κι ο γάιδαρος. ( "The donkey appears at the sound of the voice." )

Εἰ μὴ Ἀλέξανδρος ἤμην, Διογένης ἂν ἤμην.

Alexander : Εἰ μὴ Ἀλέξανδρος ἤμην, Διογένης ἂν ἤμην.  - “If I weren't Alexander, I wanted to be Diogenes. "
(By W. Matthews)
Εἰ μὴ Ἀλέξανδρος ἤμην, Διογένης ἂν ἤμην.
Ei mē Alexandros ēmēn, Diogenēs an ēmēn.
"If I weren't Alexander, I wanted to be Diogenes."

Reaction of Alexander after Diogenes answered his question what he could do for him: Μικρὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου μετάστηθι. - "Get out of the sun a bit."

At least that is what the historian Plutarch reports in his Alexander biography Life of Alexander (14).

In a modern version, Diogenes is said to have said, dismayed:

“What, that was Alexander! If I had known this …"

What is to be made of the truth of this anecdote? On the website of the University of Göttingen it says:

“It is unlikely that the king and the philosopher ever met. However, the anecdote aptly characterizes the difference between the king, fully aware of his power, and the philosopher, who had only a slight contempt for it. "

Εἰ στρατεύσεις ἐπὶ τοὺς Πέρσας, μεγάλην ἀρχὴν καταλύσεις.

The Halys River today (Turkish: Kızılırmak )
Εἰ στρατεύσεις ἐπὶ τοὺς Πέρσας, μεγάλην ἀρχὴν καταλύσεις.
Ei strateuseis epi tous Persas, megalēn archēn katalysisis.
"If you go to war against the Persians, you will destroy a great empire."

Ambiguous prophecy of the Oracle of Delphi for King Croesus . Also quoted as "If you cross the Halys , you will destroy a great empire."

The well-known ambiguous saying of the oracle of Delphi to the Lydian king Croesus that he would "destroy a great empire" when crossing the Halys, refers to the function of the river as a border between the Lydians and the Persians who followed the Medes: Croesus destroyed his own empire when he went to the field against Cyrus II .

Εἴ τις οὐ θέλει ἐργάζεσθαι, μηδὲ ἐσθιέτω.

Εἴ τις οὐ θέλει ἐργάζεσθαι, μηδὲ ἐσθιέτω.
Ei tis ou thelei ergazesthai, mēde esthietō.
"If someone doesn't want to work, he shouldn't eat either."

Requirement from the 2nd letter of Paul to the Thessalonians :

" Καὶ γὰρ ὅτε ἦμεν πρὸς ὑμᾶς, τοῦτο παρηγγέλλομεν ὑμῖν, ὅτι εἴ τις οὐ θέλει ἐργάζεσθέτι, μηδὲ ἐσθιω. "

This sentence is still quoted today, although most of the time it is not even aware that it comes from the Bible.

In May 2005, Franz Müntefering , at that time German Federal Minister for Labor and Social Affairs , responded to the criticism of his SPD parliamentary group colleague Ottmar Schreiner of Hartz IV with the sentence: "Only those who work should also eat." In an interview with ZDF said Müntefering two months later:

“There was a very old saying in social democracy: 'If you don't work, you shouldn't eat either.' You don't even dare to say that today. But that was social democratic thinking. They knew: everyone has to make an effort, everyone has to do their part. "

Είμαστε δυό είμαστε τρείς ...

Είμαστε δυό είμαστε τρείς ...
Eimaste dyo, eimaste treis ...
"We are two, we are three ..."

This is the penultimate verse of the song Είμαστε δυό We Are Two by Mikis Theodorakis , which became the slogan of the Greek left. The last three verses are:

Ο εκδικητής ο λυτρωτής
είμαστε δυό είμαστε τρείς
είμαστε χίλιοι δεκατρείς.

The Avenger, Redeemer We are
two, we are three,
we are thirteen thousand.

The lyrics speak of beating guards and the hope of escaping this fate.

Εἰρήνη ὑμῖν.

Εἰρήνη ὑμῖν.
Eirēnē hymin.
"Peace be with you."

With these words, the risen Jesus greeted his disciples in the Gospel according to Luke .

36 But as they were speaking of it, Jesus himself stood among them and said,“ Peace be with you! 37 But they were frightened and frightened, thinking that they were seeing a ghost. "

To prove to them that he was not a spirit, Jesus made his disciples feel his hands and feet and asked for something to eat. Then Jesus took them to Bethany and ascended to heaven.

The Latin version Pax vobiscum is answered in the liturgy of the Catholic Church by the community with Et cum spiritu tuo ( “And with your spirit” ).

Εἷς κοίρανος ἔστω, εἷς βασιλεύς.

Εἷς κοίρανος ἔστω, εἷς βασιλεύς.
Heis koiranos esto, heis basileus.
"Let one be ruler, one king."

Often quoted passage from the Iliad . In the translation by Johann Heinrich Voss it says in the popular assembly of Greeks before Troy , in which an early departure is discussed:

Multiple rule in the people is never good; only one was ruler,
one king alone, to whom the son of the hidden Kronos
gave scepter and laws that he was supreme power.

These are the words with which Odysseus persuaded the soldiers to return from the ships ready for departure to the meeting place. In Gustav Schwab's legends of classical antiquity it sounds like this:

“We Greeks cannot all be kings! Multiple domination is of no use, Zeus only awarded the scepter to one person, and the others should obey him! "

It was only the ugly and vile demagogue Thersites who blasphemed Agamemnon :

“'What do you have to complain about, Atride,' he shouted, 'what do you need? Is not your tent full of precious bronze and full of women? You take it easy and we should let you lead us into all misery? We would do much better to sail home on the ships and let this one here alone in front of Troy fatten him up with gifts of honor! '"

So Odysseus took his scepter and struck him with it. Thersites ran away in pain, laughed at by the glee soldiers.

Εἷς μοι μύριοι, ἐὰν ἄριστος ἦν.

Εἷς μοι μύριοι, ἐὰν ἄριστος ἦν.
Heis moi myrioi, ean aristos ēn.
"One means as much to me as ten thousand if he's the best."

This saying is an expression of Heraclitus' aristocratic and anti-democratic sentiments. He rebuked the residents of his hometown Ephesus , who had banned his friend, the prominent local politician Hermodoros :

“The Ephesians would do right to hang themselves man by man, all of them [...], who threw Hermodoros out, their most valuable husband, with the words: 'None of us should be the most valuable or, if so, then elsewhere and with others. '“

εἰς τὰς ἑλληνικὰς καλένδας ἐξοφλεῖν

εἰς τὰς ἑλληνικὰς καλένδας ἐξοφλεῖν
ice tas hellēnikas kalendas exophlein
"To pay on the Greek calendar"

Joke word of the Roman emperor Augustus , which meant as much as on Saint Never's Day . The Greeks did not have calendars , as the Romans called the first day of the month. In ancient Rome, the calendar was used as a payment date. So if someone was put off with the payment ad Kalendas Graecas in Latin , he should no longer receive his money.

The direct translation of the Latin phrase also entered the vocabulary of modern European peoples:

  • French: aux calendes grecques
  • Portuguese: às calendas gregas
  • Modern Greek: στις ελληνικές καλένδες

εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος

Trinity in a 15th century French Bible
εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος
ice to onoma tou patros kai tou hyiou kai tou hagiou pneumatos
"In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit"

According to the gospel according to Matthew , 28.19 EU , Jesus sent his disciples out with the following words:

“And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all the peoples: baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to keep all that I have commanded you. "

In the Catholic Church this passage from the Bible is quoted with the mention of the Holy Trinity as the sign of the cross :

εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς
καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ
καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος

In nomine Patris,
et Filii,
et Spiritus Sancti.

In the name of the Father
and the Son
and the Holy Spirit.

εἷς τῶν δώδεκα

εἷς τῶν δώδεκα
heis tōn dōdeka
"One of the twelve"

Formula used in the Gospel after Matthew the traitor Judas Iscariot is named. In the Gospels of the Bible, a selection from the disciples of Jesus is reported, who are also called "the twelve apostles" or "the twelve" for short . This number has a special meaning due to the Jewish tradition of the twelve tribes of Israel .

List of apostles according to Matthew
No. image Gospel of Matthew Remarks
1 Dürer-Petrus.jpg Simon, called Petrus
Σίμων ὁ λεγόμενος Πέτρος
Simōn ho legomenos Petros
Peter is the first confessor, but also a denier of Jesus Christ. According to all the gospels, his name was Simon. Paul of Tarsus, on the other hand, only ever called him Cephas. This expression is a Graecization of the Aramaic word kefa כיפא, Greek πετρος (petros), Latinized Peter. It means stone , rock in both languages . Jesus is said to have given Simon this nickname personally: “ Σὺ εἶ Πέτρος, καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν. - " " You are Peter the rock and on this rock I will build my church. " He is the first male eyewitness of the risen One and spokesman for the apostles and leader of the early church in Jerusalem . Catholicism traces the Roman bishop's claim to primacy and thus the papacy back to Peter.
2 Martyrdom of andrew.jpg Andreas, "his brother"
Ἀνδρέας ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ
Andreas ho adelphos autou
The Gospel of John reports that Andrew was first a disciple of John the Baptist , who then referred him to Jesus, whereupon he also led his brother Simon Peter to Jesus with the message "We have found the Messiah." Hence his traditional nickname of the first called. His importance for the Orthodox Church is comparable to that of his brother Peter for the Roman Catholic Church. The current Archbishop of Constantinople is considered to be the 270th successor to the Apostle Andrew.
3 Albrecht Dürer 008.jpg James, (the son) of Zebedee
Ἰάκωβος ὁ τοῦ Ζεβεδαίου
Iakōbos ho tou Zebedaiou
"James the Elder", together with his brother John, is one of the first called disciples along with Andrew and Simon Peter. James and John received the nickname Sons of Thunder from Jesus because of their impetuous nature . James is with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane together with Peter and John and also on the Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus speaks with Elijah and Moses .
4th El Greco 034.jpg John, "his brother"
Ἰωάννης ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ
Iōannēs ho adelphos autou
Like James the Elder, a son of Zebedee. An identity with the evangelist John cannot be proven, even if he is identified in the church tradition with the “favorite disciple” of Jesus from the Gospel of John. John is presented in the Gospels as the son of Zebedee and Salome and as the brother of James the Elder . John and James are said to have been fishermen on Lake Gennesaret by profession . They were nicknamed the Sons of Thunder by Jesus , either because of their intense fire or because of their shocking speech.
5 Albrecht Dürer 009.jpg Philip
Φίλιππος
Philippos
Philip was called directly by Jesus to follow him. It is he who passed on what he had experienced to Nathanael. (" Βρήκε ο Φίλιππος τον Ναθαναήλ. " - "Philip met Nathanael." ) Otherwise he appears in all biblical lists of apostles . He is to be distinguished from the deacon and later evangelist mentioned in Acts of the Apostles, even if the two biographies of Philip were linked in the formation of the legend.
6th Last judgment.jpg Bartholomew
Βαρθολομαῖος
Bartholomew
“Bartholomäus” is probably identical with “Nathanael” from the Gospel of John. His full name was in all likelihood Natanaël Bar-Tolmai. He is mentioned in the apostellists of the first three Gospels. It can be assumed that he was a scribe or scribe student. He has been depicted with his skin peeled off since the 13th century. In Michelangelo's Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel in Rome, the face on the skin worn by Bartholomew is considered to be Michelangelo's self-portrait.
7th Santo Tomás - Jusepe Martínez.jpg Thomas
Θωμᾶς
Thōmas
"Didymos Judas Thomas" is mentioned in all four Gospels. The name Thomas is derived from Aramaic: ta'am, which means paired or twin. That is why Thomas is also called "Didymos" ( δίδυμος ). He is known as the unbelieving Thomas because he was not there at the first appearance of Jesus after his resurrection and did not want to believe it: “The other disciples said to him: We have seen the Lord. He replied: If I don't see the marks on the nails on his hands and if I don't put my finger in the marks on the nails and my hand in his side, I don't think so. "
8th Guido Reni 043.jpg Matthew, the (former) tax
farmer Ματθαῖος ὁ τελώνης
Matthaios ho telōnēs
An identity with the evangelist Matthew is assumed, but this cannot be proven. The disciple Matthew is the son of Alphaeus . He was a customs officer in Capernaum . However, it is not mentioned in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, and only once in the book of Acts. Jerome writes: “Matthew, who is also Levi and who went from a tax collector to an apostle, and indeed as the first of all evangelists, wrote a gospel of Christ in Judea in the Hebrew language and in Hebrew characters for the benefit of those who were circumcised. who believed. "
9 Parish churches - ceiling fresco - Apostle James the Younger.jpg James, the son of Alphaeus
Ἰάκωβος ὁ τοῦ Ἁλφαίου
Iakōbos ho tou Alphaiou
James the Younger is also called "James, son of Alphaeus " - in contrast to "James, son of Zebedee". In the church tradition, the names James the Younger and James the Elder have prevailed.

In church history, James, the son of Alphaeus, was also equated with James the Little and James, the brother of Jesus . The equation of James Alphaeus with James, the Little, and James, the Lord Brother, was made mandatory for the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent.

10 Georges de La Tour 052.jpg Judas, "his brother"
Λεββαῖος ὁ ἐπικληθεὶς Θαδδαῖος
Lebbaios ho epiklētheis Thaddaios
Like James the Younger, a son of Alphaeus. "Judas" and "Thaddäus" could also be different people, but are traditionally identified with one another. In the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles , the list of the twelve apostles contains a "Judas the son of James" . Like the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Matthew knows a "Thaddäus" who is not called "Judas". The Gospel of John again mentions a "Judas, not the Iscariot" . In the church tradition, one and the same person is identified with the double name Judas Thaddäus under all these names. But he is also identified with Simon Zelotes .
11 Simon (Caravaggio) .jpg Simon Kananäus
Σίμων ὁ Κανανίτης
Simōn ho Kananitēs
The Gospel of Luke called Simon (Kanaanäus) as a Zealot , that "zealots", a member of the independence movement, Simon the Zealot . "Kananeans" is an origin name. His nickname Zelotes, in Aramaic “Kananäu”, in German “der Eiferer”, he received probably due to his original membership of the radical Zealot party , which set itself the goal of forcibly expelling the Romans from Israel. In older Bible translations the name was often misrepresented as "Simon the Canaanite" .
12 KissOfJudas.jpg Judas Iscariot
Ἰούδας ὁ Ἰσκαριώτης
Ioudas ho Iskariōtēs
"Iscariot" nickname "man from Kariot" (more likely) or " Sicarian " ("knife fighter", member of an independence movement, less likely). Matthias is the apostle who was added to the remaining eleven apostles by lot to replace Judas Iscariot after his suicide (Acts 1: 23-26). He is therefore sometimes referred to as the thirteenth apostle.

Ἐκ Διὸς ἀρχομένα.

Ἐκ Διὸς ἀρχομένα.
Ek Dios archomena.
"Start with Zeus!"
Latin " Ab Iove principium ".

Quote from the cycle To Artemis Orthia by the poet Alkman :

ἐγὼν δ 'ἀείσομαι
ἐκ Διὸς ἀρχομένα

egōn d 'aeisomai
ek Dios archomena

I
begin to sing, taking the beginning from Zeus.

Zeus was the beginning of all singing.

Damoetas said of the Roman poet Virgil :

Ab Iove principium, Musae, Iovis omnia plena;
illegal colit terras, illi mea carmina curae.

Begin from Iuppiter, you muses, who fill everything;
Iuppiter blesses the land, my songs are worth to him.

The words " ab Iove principium generis " ( "The origin of the sex comes from Jupiter." ) Can be found in the 7th book of Virgil's Aeneid .

Arat begins his astronomical didactic poem Φαινόμενα Phainomena (known under the Latinized form Phaenomena ; translation by Manfred Erren , 1971) with another variant :

ἐκ Διὸς ἀρχώμεσθα, τὸν οὐδέποτ 'ἄνδρες ἐῶμεν
ἄρρητον ...

ek Dios archōmestha, ton oudepot 'andres eōmen
arrēton ...

Let us begin with Zeus, whom we humans never
leave unsaid ...

Ἐκ τῆς κόνεώς μου ἀναγεννῶμαι.

Flag of Ypsilantis
Ἐκ τῆς κόνεώς μου ἀναγεννῶμαι.
ancient Greek: Ek tēs koneōs mu anagennōmai.
Modern Greek: Ek tis koneos mu anagennomē.
"I am reborn from my ashes."

This representation was found on the sacred ribbon ( Ιερός Λόχος ) of the Greek freedom fighter Alexander Ypsilantis at the beginning of the Greek Revolution ( Ελληνική Επανάσταση Elliniki Epanastasi ).

It picks up on the reverse of the Greek flag of the Emperor Constantine with a phoenix reborn from its ashes. On the front side was the better known phrase Ἐν τούτῳ νίκα. ( En toutō nika. "In this [sign] win!")

The three colors of the flag have the following meanings:

  • Red for patriotism
  • White for brotherhood
  • Black for sacrifice

ἐκκλησία πάνδημος

Greek inscription on the church of Cattolica dei Greci in Reggio Calabria :
ΚΑΘΟΛΙΚΗ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑ / ΤΗΣ ΑΓΙΑΣ ΠΑΡΘΕΝΟΥ ΘΕΟΤΟΚΟΥ
Καθολικὴ ἐκκλησία / τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου Θεοτόκου
Katholike Ekklesia / Tēs Hagias parthenou Theotokou
Catholic Church / the Virgin and Theotokos 
ἐκκλησία πάνδημος
ekklēsia pandēmos
"The whole people called out"

From this designation for the Macedonian army assembly and the people's assembly ἐκκλησία ekklēsia at the time of Attic democracy , the Christian term Ἐκκλησία ("the called out", Latin: Ecclesia ) is derived.

Ekklesia is the name for the church in Christianity. Already in the Old Testament the people of Israel were called out of Egypt and from that point on they were called the congregation Israel . The church of Jesus is thus seen as the people of God "called out" from the world, who gather in the name of Jesus .

From Ekklesia also the Greek name is Ecclesiastes ( Ἐκκλησιαστής ) for the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes (Hebrew קהלת, also preacher Solomon ).

Ελευθερία ή Θάνατος!

Flag of Greece :
9 stripes for the 9 syllables of the motto,
Ε-λευ-θε-ρί-α ή Θά-να-τος ,
or for the letters of the word Ελευθερία (freedom).
Flag of the island of Spetses with the words Ελευθερία ή Θάνατος
Ελευθερία ή Θάνατος!
Elefthería í thánatos!
"Freedom or death!"

The motto of the Hellenic Republic in the national anthem Ymnos is tin Eleftherian ( "Ode to Freedom" ). This has 158 stanzas and is considered the national anthem of Greece and the Republic of Cyprus . The text was written in 1823 by Dionysios Solomos on his home island Zakynthos .

Σε γνωρίζω από την κόψη
του σπαθιού την τρομερή,
σε γνωρίζω από την όψη
που με βια μετράει τη γη.

Se gnorizo ​​apo tin kopsi
tou spathiou tin tromeri,
se gnorizo ​​apo tin opsi
pou me via metrai ti gi.

Yes, I know you on the blade of
your sword as sharp and bright
as on this earth ring,
your violent gait is walking.

The 9 stripes in the flag of Greece are supposed to represent the number of syllables of the motto of the Greek War of Liberation, Ε-λευ-θε-ρί-α ή Θά-να-τος (E-lef-the-rí-ai thá-na-tos) , stand or for the letters of the word Ελευθερία .

The saying on the flag of the island of Zakynthos also comes from Solomos: " Θέλει αρετή και τόλμη η ελευθερία. "( " Freedom needs virtue and courage. " )

Ἐλέφαντα ἐκ μυίας ποιεῖς.

Ἐλέφαντα ἐκ μυίας ποιεῖς.
Elephanta ek myias poieis.
"You make an elephant out of a fly."

Model of the German idiom “make an elephant out of a mosquito”.

Lukian already describes this phrase as proverbial when he says:

“I still have a lot to say. Nevertheless, I am now coming to the end of my speech, because I do not want to give the impression that, as the saying goes, I am making an elephant out of the mosquito. ""

Erasmus von Rotterdam reproduces this saying in Latin with " Elephantum ex musca facis " and relates it to his relationship with Martin Luther . Erasmus begins his treatise ironically:

“'Impossible', people will say, 'Erasmus dares to argue with Luther, i. H. a fly with an elephant! '"

In the same context , Johannes Eck wrote to the Bishop of Meißen , Johann von Schleynitz:

"His weak justifications - that's what I call them - allow LUTHER to continue to make" a mosquito an elephant ": the Church of Christ existed for twenty years after his suffering before the Roman Church came into being."

There are two modern Greek variants of this idiom:

  • " Κάνω τη µύγα βόδι. "( " He turns the fly into an ox. " )
  • " Κάνει την τρίχα τριχιά. "( " He makes a hair into a rope. " )

Ελλάς Ελλήνων Χριστιανών

Ελλάς Ελλήνων Χριστιανών
Ellas Ellinon Christianon
"Greece of the Christian Greeks"

The most important slogan of the Greek military junta from 1967 to 1974, which also propagated the following slogan:

Πατρίς, Θρησκεία, Οικογένεια
Patris Thriskia Ikojenia
"Fatherland, religion, family"

Ελληνική Δημοκρατία

Ελληνική Δημοκρατία
Ellinikí Dimokratía
"Hellenic Republic"

Self-name of the Republic of Greece , which is derived from the Hellenes tribe. Names for the Greeks are and were:

  • Έλληνες Ellines ( " Hellenes " , today): Name of a Thessalian tribe after its mythical progenitor Hellen . In the late ancient Eastern Roman Empire, initially only for the followers of the ancient Greek cults, later used for all non-Christians.
  • Ἀργεῖοι Argeioi (" Argiver ", in Homer ): Originally Argos is said to have been called Phoroneikon, after Phoroneus, the grandfather of Argos
  • Δαναοί Danaoi (" Danaer ", in Homer): One of three names used by the Greeks in Homer. They are named after Danaos , the progenitor of Menelaus and Agamemnon .
  • Ἀχαιοί Achaioi (" Achaeans ", from Homer): The Achaians lived in the Achaia landscape in the northwest of the Peloponnese .
  • Ῥωμαῖοι Romaioi (" Romans ", in late antiquity): In the Eastern Roman Empire, even after the end of antiquity, i.e. in the Byzantine Middle Ages, the inhabitants continued to refer to themselves as "Romans" and considered their empire to be the New Rome ( néa Róme  - with a Pun; because the expression also means new strength / power ). The term Rumi was also used for the Greeks in Turkish and Arabic .
  • Γραικοί Graikoi (" Greeks ", after the Boeotian tribe of the Graeci, Roman name): Greeks who settled in Italy, later Magna Graecia , in the 8th century and called themselves Graikoi or similar. Name of a Boeotian city called Graia ( Γραῖα ).
  • Βυζαντινοί Byzantinoi ("Byzantine", modern name): Inhabitant of the Byzantine Empire , derived from Βυζάντιον Byzantion .
  • Ἴωνες Jones ( " Ionians " in the ancient peoples of the Middle East ): The Persian designated Greece as Yauna, and the term came into all the languages of the Persian Empire. The name spread throughout the Muslim world, examples being Arabicيوناني(Yunani) and Turkish Yunanlı . Javan has been in Hebrew since biblical times (יָוָן) the term for the Greeks.

The Greeks of today define themselves as the direct and only descendants of the ancient Hellenes, the sons of Homer, Plato and Socrates, and consider themselves the only legitimate heirs of Alexander the Great. In the name dispute over Macedonia, the Greek state insists on this sole successor to the ancient Macedonians.

ελληνική διασπορά

50 states with the largest Greek population
ελληνική διασπορά
elliniki diaspora
"Hellenic Diaspora"

This term ( diaspora = dispersion) refers to members of the Greek nation who live outside the traditional Greek mother country. Today we mean the states of Cyprus and Greece; at the beginning of the 20th century, the Greek motherland also included Asia Minor and, in ancient times, southern Italy and Sicily.

The Greeks in Germany are equipped with 303,761 people (2006) to Turks, Italians and Poles the fourth largest immigrant group of the Federal Republic.

At the end of the 17th century, the center of foreign Greece in Germany was Leipzig , which at that time was an important trading center. Around 25 Greeks did their doctorate at the University of Leipzig each year. Goethe also got to know many Greek fellow students there. A descendant of these Greeks was, for example, the conductor Herbert von Karajan .

Another Greek community formed in Munich in the early 19th century; Since the Wittelsbacher Otto I became King of Greece, Greeks could settle in Bavaria or study for free.

During the Greek civil war, communist parents sent their children to the GDR and other Eastern European countries. Meanwhile, so-called guest workers began to be recruited from West Germany . Later, Pontos Greeks from the former Soviet Union came to Germany as Greek citizens, so that the total number of Greeks in Germany - despite returning home - has remained stable.

During this process, the Greek language took over a few loan words from German. This includes:

  • γκασταρμπάιτερ gastarbáiter = guest workers
  • σνίτσελ shnitsel = schnitzel
  • φροϊλάιν froilain = miss

ἐλπίδες ἐν ζωοῖσιν, ἀνέλπιστοι δὲ θανόντες

ἐλπίδες ἐν ζωοῖσιν, ἀνέλπιστοι δὲ θανόντες
elpídes en zōoîsin, anélpistoi dé thanóntes
“There is hope with the living, the dead are hopeless.” - Theocritus , Eidyllia 4,42.
The sentence is one of the statements that have become a proverb, to which the Latin saying “ Dum spiro, spero ” (“As long as I breathe, I live”) goes back.

Ἐμίσθωσα τὸν ὄνον, οὐ τὴν σκιάν.

Donkey sculpture (based on Wieland's "The Trial of the Donkey's Shadow" ) on the market square in Biberach
'Ἐμίσθωσα', ἔφη, 'τὸν ὄνον, οὐ τὴν σκιάν.'
'Emisthōsa', ephē, 'ton onon, ou tēn skian.'
"I rented the donkey, not the shade."

Key sentence from the parable " Over the donkey's shadow " ( Περὶ τοῦ ὄνου σκιᾶς ), which the speaker Demosthenes gave to the Athenians.

Demosthenes was prevented from finishing his speech and began to talk about an Athenian who had rented a donkey and wanted to rest in the donkey's shadow in the midday heat. The donkey driver, however, prevented him from doing so because he had rented the donkey to him, but not its shadow. However, the Athenian claimed to have rented the Shade as well. Then Demosthenes stopped talking. When the Athenians asked him to finish his speech, he told them:

" Εἶτα περὶ μὲν ὄνου σκιᾶς", ἔφη, "βούλεσθε ἀκούειν, λέγοντος δ 'ἐμοῦ περὶ σπουδαίων πραγμάτων κλεθενο σλθεο. "
( "So you want to hear about the shadow of a donkey, but you don't want to hear me talk about serious things!" )

The text is from the 3rd / 4th Century AD, the author is unknown. It is located in the vitae decem oratorum ( life of ten speakers ) that once Plutarch awarded and in his Moralia were mitüberliefert, therefore pseudo-Plutarch . The source of the text: Plutarch (pseudo-Plutarch), Moralia 848A / B (= vitae decem oratorum, chapter 8, Demosthenes).

Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν.

William Blake : The Ancient of Days , 1794
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν.
En archē epoiēsen ho theos ton ouranon kai tēn gēn.
"In the beginning God created heaven and earth."

First sentence of Genesis in the Septuagint , which in Hebrew "בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃"( " Bərē'šîṯ bārā '' ĕlōhîm 'ēṯ haššāmayim wə'ēṯ hā'āreṣ " ). The Hebrew name of the book reflects its first words: "In the beginning" (בְרֵאשִית Bereshit ).

The title Genesis, on the other hand, comes from the Greek translation of the Tanakh, the Septuagint. The Greek noun γένεσις genesis means “birth”, “origin” (to γίγνεσθαι gignesthai “to become”).

The German term Genesis follows the ecclesiastical usage, which emphasizes Moses as the author.

Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος.

Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος.
En archē ēn ho logos.
"In the beginning was the word."

These are the first words of the Gospel of John in which, following on from the Stoa , the Logos ( λόγος ) becomes the "Word of God" :

Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word."
Eugène Delacroix : "Faust in his study"

In Goethe's drama Faust I , Faust tries to translate this beginning of the Gospel of John and finds himself faced with the difficulty of transferring the Greek word λόγος (logos) appropriately:

We long for revelation,
which burns nowhere more dignified and more beautiful than
in the New Testament.
I
feel the urge to open the basic text, with an honest feeling, to translate the
holy original
into my beloved German.
        (He opens a
volume and prepares for it.)
It is written: “In the beginning was the word!”
Here I stop! Who will help me further?
I cannot possibly value the word so highly,
I have to translate it differently,
When I am properly enlightened by the spirit.
It is written: In the beginning there was the meaning.
Remember the first line,
That your pen don't rush!
Is it the sense that works and creates everything?
It should say: In the beginning there was strength!
But, even by writing this down,
something already warns me that I won't stick with it.
The spirit helps me! Suddenly I see advice
and confidently write: In the beginning was the deed!

ἓν διὰ δυοῖν

ἓν διὰ δυοῖν
hen dia dyoin
"One by two"

The Hendiadyoin is a stylistic figure in rhetoric and linguistics in which a term for intensification and intensification is reproduced by two words with approximately the same meaning:

  • criss-cross (overall meaning confused )
  • Fire and Flame (overall meaning enthusiastic )
  • frank and free (overall meaning direct )
  • Grund und Boden (legal pair formula)
  • Belongings (overall meaning of all possessions )
  • desolate and empty (overall meaning nothing exists )

Ἐν οἴνῳ ἀλήθεια.

Cork of a wine bottle with the well-known Latin version "In vino veritas."
Ἐν οἴνῳ ἀλήθεια.
En oinō alētheia.
"The truth (lies) in wine."

In this version the saying comes from Erasmus of Rotterdam . The connection between wine and truth goes back to the poet Alkaios of Lesbos :

" Οἶνος, ὦ φίλε παῖ, καὶ ἀλάθεα " oinos, ō phile pai, kai alāthea ("Wine, dear child, and truth.")

Alkaios also made other statements on the same subject:

" Οἶνος […] ἀνθρώπω δίοπτρον. "( " ... the wine gives an insight into people. " [Literally: " ... is a window into people. " ])

The better-known Latin version is: " in vino veritas ." Pliny the Elder also expressed this in his natural history :

Vulgoque veritas iam attributa vino est. ”(“ And in general the truth has long been connected with wine. ”)

A similar saying is quoted in Plato's banquet (symposium): According to the proverb, wine reveals the truth, whether without children or with children.

The German proverb claims quite similar: "Children and fools tell the truth."

Ἐν τούτῳ νίκα.

Cross with the inscription “ Ἐν τούτῳ νίκα. "( " In this (sign) win! " ) On Crete
Ἐν τούτῳ νίκα.
En toutō nika.
"In this (sign) win!"

According to legend, these words appeared to Emperor Constantine either in a dream or under a shining cross in the sky when he fought against his counter-emperor Maxentius in the battle of the Milvian Bridge .

Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea , Constantine's court theologian, reports of a cross with a corresponding Greek inscription that Constantine saw in the sun and describes the event similar to the conversion of the Apostle Paul in the Acts of the Apostles (22, 6).

In 313 , at a meeting in Milan in Milan , Constantine and Licinius , the ruler in the east of the empire, agreed the Edict of Milan, which granted freedom of religion to Christians and everyone else.

The better known Latin version of this saying is In hoc signo vinces . " ( " In this sign you will win. " )

ἐξ ὄνυχος τὸν λέοντα

ἐξ ὄνυχος τὸν λέοντα
ex onychos ton leonta
"After the claw (paint) the lions"
Latin " ex ungue leonem pingere " or " ex ungue leonem cognoscere " .

The poet Alkaios of Lesbos claimed that the sculptor Phidias could have inferred the size of the whole animal from the claw of a lion. This has been handed down by the historian Plutarch

Later it means the representation of the human over the thumb as it is shown in the book Ex ungue hominem , which shows a method of anthropometric sketching of the human with the help of a grid, as it was also shown by Albrecht Dürer .

While Alkäus wanted to express with this idiom that the whole could be deduced from a given part, the Swiss mathematician Johann I Bernoulli used the Latin equivalent ex ungue leonem in the sense that one can recognize the writer by the handwriting or the style. In the specific case, he was referring to the physicist Isaac Newton , who anonymously published a solution to the brachistochron problem in the Philosophical Transactions of 1697 . But Bernoulli identified him with the words ex ungue leonem ( “the lion from the paw” ), since Newton had betrayed himself through his method.

ἔξω βελῶν

ἔξω βελῶν
exo belon
"Far from the shot"
"Extra telorum iactum"

The humanist Erasmus von Rotterdam writes in his collection of proverbs Adagia about this idiom:

“Far from the shot means: safe, out of danger. The picture comes from wartime life, where those who do not want to be hit retreat so far that the shots can no longer reach them, or stay in cover in a place that has not been shot. That is why historians often say: They were already within javelin throw. "

ἔπεα πτερόεντα

ἔπεα πτερόεντα
epea pteroenta
" Winged words "

Winged words are the epitome of a widely used phrase in German. For Homer , however, winged words meant " words that hurry quickly from the lips of the speaker to the ear of the listener" . This expression occurs 104 times in Homer's oeuvre.

For example, Canto 15 of the Iliad says:

"... and spoke the winged words: ..."

In the 16th Canto of the Odyssey , Telemachus says:

"Turned quickly to Eumaeus, and spoke the winged words: ..."

In 1864 the quote collector Georg Büchmann became the author of the transferred meaning of this word. The German name comes from the Homer re-poems by Johann Heinrich Voss . It is the loan translation of ἔπεα πτερόεντα "words with wings" . Even before this translation, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock used this expression in his epic The Messiah :

"He spoke winged words to them, then he sent them out among the retreating people."

Büchmann's successor Walter Robert-Tornow specified the term more precisely in the 14th edition published by him in 1884 as follows:

"A winged word is a phrase, expression or name that is constantly cited in wider circles of the fatherland, regardless of the language, its historical author or its literary origin can be proven."

Επέτειος του 'Οχι

Greek flag and shield with the word 'Οχι on Ochi day
Επέτειος του «'Οχι»
Epétios tou "Ochi"
"Anniversary of the" No ""

The Ochi Day is celebrated annually in Greece on October 28 and recalls the rejection of by Benito Mussolini ultimatum made on 28 October 1940 Greece. The Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas allegedly refused to accept it with only the one word "No".

The ultimatum was given by the Italian Ambassador Emanuele Grazzi and included demands that Greece should allow the Axis powers to enter Greek territory, a rejection of this demand would be answered with war. According to legend, Metaxa answered this ultimatum with a simple "No" ( όχι ochi ).

However, as Grazzi writes in his memoirs, the answer, formulated in French, was in reality:

Alors, c'est la guerre. " (" Well, then there is war. ")

Grazzi then replied:

Pas necessaire, mon excellence. " ( " Not necessarily, Your Excellency . ")

To which Metaxas replied:

Non, c'est necessaire. (For example:“ Yes, it has to be like that ”).

In response to Metaxa's refusal, Italian troops invaded northern Greece from Albania.

Ἐπιδαυρίοις δέ ἐστι θέατρον ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ μάλιστα ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν θέας ἄξιον.

Theater in Epidaurus
Ἐπιδαυρίοις δέ ἐστι θέατρον ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ μάλιστα ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν θέας ἄξιον.
Epidauriois de esti theatron en tō hierō malista emoi doken theas axion.
"The Epidaurs have what I believe to be a theater that is well worth seeing in the sanctuary."

According to Pausanias , the Greek architect Polyklet had built the theater in the ancient spa town of Epidaurus , which would surpass all Roman theaters.

Pausanias was of the opinion that no one could compete with Polyklet and equated the architect Polyklet with the sculptor of the same name, Polyklet, but this can be ruled out for chronological reasons.

The large theater built into a slope with a grandiose view of the mountain landscape of the Argolis dates from the 3rd century BC. Today's visitors are particularly impressed by the large, semicircular auditorium, which can accommodate up to 14,000 people.

The theater has excellent acoustics so that every word can be heard from the top rows. This is presumably achieved by the downwardly curved shape of the seat stones. A popular "acoustic test" is dropping a coin on the stone slab in the center of the stage ring, which can also be heard by the top tier.

ἐπιστήμη τῶν τοῦ σώματος ἐρωτικῶν πρὸς πλησμονὴν καὶ κένωσιν

ἐπιστήμη τῶν τοῦ σώματος ἐρωτικῶν πρὸς πλησμονὴν καὶ κένωσιν
epistēmē tōn tou sōmatos erōtikōn pros plēsmonēn kai kenōsin
"Science of the instinctual needs of the body for filling and emptying"

Ancient definition of the art of healing. The whole sentence, as Plato had the doctor Eryximachus explain in his symposium :

" Ἔστι γὰρ ἰατρική, ὡς ἐν κεφαλαίῳ εἰπεῖν, ἐπιστήμη τῶν τοῦ σώματος ἐρωτικῶν πρὸς πλέησμονὴν κωα κ. "
"Because the art of healing is, to roughly sketch it, the knowledge of the instinctual needs of the body for filling and emptying."

The Greek medicine away from the idea that disease was a punishment from God, and studied medicine as a science. The harmony of temperaments , analogous to the bodily fluids and elements, was also of great importance .

ἔργον δ 'οὐδὲν ὄνειδος.

ἔργον δ 'οὐδὲν ὄνειδος.
Ergon d'ouden oneidos.
"Work does not violate."

Quoting from the works of the poet Hesiod which reads fully as follows:

" Ἔργον δ᾽ οὐδὲν ὄνειδος, ἀεργίη δέ τ᾽ ὄνειδος. "
"Work does not violate us, but indolence dishonors us."

Ancient Greece saw work as a matter for slaves and women, while leisure was reserved for free men. Greeks, Romans and Christians found that work is a curse and was imposed on man because of his imperfection. Although the bourgeoisie first ennobled work (Schiller: Das Lied von der Glocke , “Work is the citizen's ornament.” ), Hesiod gave work a special meaning with these verses.

Ἔρρωσο.

Ἔρρωσο.
Errōso.
"Goodbye!"
Latin " Vale. "

A popular antique letter ending with the original meaning “be strong” , which corresponds to the Latin vale .

As an example, the letter of a philomenon to her Crito is given, which ends with this formula:

"What do you struggle with writing a lot? I need fifty gold pieces and I don't need any letters. So if you love, give! But if you love money, don't be a burden. Goodbye! "

ἔρως οὐρανιός

ἔρως οὐρανιός
erōs ouranios
"Heavenly love"

The “heavenly” or “spiritual love” is in contrast to the “earthly love” ἔρως πάνδημος (erōs pandēmos) . The former is sacred, the latter profane. These two archetypes of the dual god of love Eros , which in Latin take the feminine form Venus Urania and Venus Pandemos .

Aphrodite Urania had more masculine traits than Aphrodite Pandemos , who carries children and is more feminine. She was perfectly ideal and never gave birth to children.

These ideas are the background for the development of the concept of Platonic love , a love on a purely spiritual level. According to Plato , true love free of “sexual” interest is only possible among “equals” . Women in ancient Athens were not. Thus, platonic love was reserved exclusively for men among themselves.

ἔσσεται ἧμαρ.

Hector says goodbye to his family for the last time
ἔσσεται ἧμαρ ὅτ 'ἄν ποτ' ὀλώλῃ Ἴλιος ἱρὴ.
Essetai hēmar, hot 'an pot' olōlē Ilios hirē.
"One day the day will come when the holy Ilios will sink." (This is the classic formulation in the Iliad translation by Johann Heinrich Voss .)

Hector uttered these famous words when he said goodbye to his wife Andromache and his young son Astyanax. Ilios is another name for the city of Troy , the downfall of which Hector foretells here, and he is saddened by the thought that Andromache will be the slave of a Greek.

The Roman general Scipio , weeping in the face of the burning Carthage, cited these words forebodingly.

Essetai ämar ΕΣΣΕΤΑΙ ΗΜΑΡ is also the title of a poem by Georg Herwegh against the counter-revolution, in which every stanza ends with the words “The day will come” . The poem describes events from 1862 and begins with the following stanza:

Defeated, the rebel captured,
Defeated by the son of Verhuel,
The best man of the worst,
Ormuz defeated by Ahriman!
This is what the mourning lore sounded like this -
But someone in Paris was happy.
The day will come.

This phrase can also be found several times in the speech of the journalist Philipp Jakob Siebenpfeiffer at the Hambach Festival in 1832:

“And the day will come, the day of the noblest pride in victory, when the German from the Alpine mountains and the North Sea, from the Rhine, the Danube and the Elbe embraces brother within brother, where the rulers and barriers, where all emblems of separation and inhibition and oppression disappears, along with the little constitutions that were given as toys to several sullen children of the large family; where free roads and free rivers testify to the free turnaround of all national forces and juices; ... where 34 towns and cities, receiving alms from 34 courtyards, do not wrestle for the price of patriotic action; where each tribe, internally free and independent, develops into civil freedom and a strong, self-woven brotherhood encompasses all of them to political unity and strength ... "

ἕτεροι δὲ τῶν αὐτῶν τούτων τὰς ἀρχὰς δέκα λέγουσιν εἶναι.

Taiji , the Chinese equivalent of yin and yang
ἕτεροι δὲ τῶν αὐτῶν τούτων τὰς ἀρχὰς δέκα λέγουσιν εἶναι.
heteroi de tōn toutōn tas archas deka legousin einai.
"Others in the same group claim there are ten causes."

The ten principles of the so-called Pythagoreans , as they are listed by Aristotle in his Metaphysics. The sentence reads completely:

"Ἕτεροι δὲ τῶν αὐτῶν τούτων τὰς ἀρχὰς δέκα λέγουσιν εἶναι τὰς κατὰ συστοιχίαν λεγομένας, πέρας [καὶ] ἄπειρον, περιττὸν [καὶ] ἄρτιον, ἓν [καὶ] πλῆθος, δεξιὸν [καὶ] ἀριστερόν, ἄρρεν [καὶ] θῆλυ, ἠρεμοῦν [καὶ] κινούμενον, εὐθὺ [καὶ] καμπύλον, φῶς [καὶ] σκότος, ἀγαθὸν [καὶ] κακόν, τετράγωνον [καὶ] ἑτερόησ ”

“Others from the same group claim that there are ten causes that they count in pairs: limit and unlimited, odd and even, one and multiplicity, right and left, male and female, calm and moving, straight and crooked, light and dark, good and bad, square and rectangular. "

original translation
πέρας [καὶ] ἄπειρον Limit and the unlimited
περιττὸν [καὶ] ἄρτιον Odd and Even
ἓν [καὶ] πλῆθος One and multiplicity
δεξιὸν [καὶ] ἀριστερόν right and left
ἄρρεν [καὶ] θῆλυ male and female
ἠρεμοῦν [καὶ] κινούμενον resting and moving
εὐθὺ [καὶ] καμπύλον straight and crooked
φῶς [καὶ] σκότος Light and dark,
ἀγαθὸν [καὶ] κακόν good and bad
τετράγωνον [καὶ] ἑτερόμηκες square and rectangular

The Pythagoreans were members of a religious-philosophical school, the Pythagoras of Samos in the twenties of the 6th century BC. In southern Italy and which continued for several decades after his death. The perfect ten was considered fundamental to the world order.

ἔτος ἱερόν

ἔτος ἱερόν
etos hieron
"Holy vintage"

In times of need, for some ancient peoples, the following year was declared the “holy vintage” , Latin Ver Sacrum ( holy spring ). This meant that all children and pets born in March or April were sacrificed to the gods. In later times, as soon as they were 21, children born that spring were evicted or the custom was restricted entirely to domestic animals.

In his poem Ver Sacrum , the poet Ludwig Uhland tells the background of this custom. The third stanza says that after this vow the power of the Etruscans was broken:

“Spring is holy to him! - shouted the army -
and whatever spring brings, be brought to it! ”
Then the wings rustled, the spear sounded
, the Etruscan power was established.

Εὐκοπώτερόν ἐστι κάμηλον διὰ τρυπήματος ῥαφίδος διελθεῖν

Εὐκοπώτερόν ἐστι κάμηλον διὰ τρυπήματος ῥαφίδος διελθεῖν ἢ πλούσιον εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλίῦαν τοεο.
Eukopōteron esti kamēlon dia trypēmatos rhaphidos dielthein ē plousion eiselthein eis tēn basileian tou theou.
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Passage from the Gospel according to Matthew , 19.24 EU .

Probably the comparison is due to a transmission error in Greek, where the terms for camel and knitting differ only in a single letter: καμ iota λος ( "knitting") and καμ .eta λος ( "Camel"), by virtue of iotacism were identical .

Since the original reading of kamilos was long unknown to textual criticism, various explanations were sought, of which the most common interpretation persists even today, according to which a hypothetical narrow alley in Jerusalem with a small gate at its end is meant, which is supposedly popular was called "Nadelöhr". According to this now generally rejected assumption, a camel could only pass the gate if it kneeled and was not packed with too many goods.

In the meantime, cases of the original reading have become known as "rope", including the translations of the Armenian and Georgian Bibles.

Εὕρηκα.

Archimedes in the bathtub
Εὕρηκα.
Eureka .
"I have it!"

Older version " ηὕρηκα ".

The exclamation became famous after an anecdote handed down by Plutarch and Vitruvius , according to which Archimedes of Syracuse walked naked through the city shouting “Eureka!” After he discovered the Archimedes' principle named after him in the bathtub .

Hieron II , the tyrant of Syracuse wanted to know whether his crown was really made of pure gold and asked Archimedes to check the gold content of the crown. Archimedes thought for a long time, but found no solution. But when he noticed in the bathroom that bath water sloshed over the edge of the bathtub and that the amount of water that had flowed out of the bathtub corresponded to the volume of his body, Archimedes ran enthusiastically naked through Syracuse and shouted: "Got it!"

The crown was actually largely made of base metal and the goldsmith was executed.

Plato tells a similar anecdote about an absent-minded scholar about the natural philosopher Thales , who is said to have fallen into a well while observing the stars. A maid then mocked him that he wanted to get to know the things in heaven, but had no idea what was at his feet:

" Σὺ τὰ ἐν οὐρανῷ βλέπειν πειρώμενος τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς οὐχ ὁρᾷς; "
"You try to know what is in heaven, but what is on earth you do not see?"

Eureka , derived from Heureka , is the motto of the US state of California and refers - in a completely different context - to the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in January 1848, which triggered the California gold rush .

Individual evidence

  1. http://www.welt-der-bibel.de/bibliographie.1.2.erste_Brief_Paulus_Korinther.48.html
  2. Epictetus : Handbook of Morals in the Gutenberg-DE project
  3. Bruno Snell : Lives and Opinions of the Seven Wise Men . ISBN 3-7765-2104-X
  4. Hans Poeschel: The Greek language. Munich: dtv, 1975. ISBN 3-423-04174-9
  5. English translation: Census Edict for Roman Egypt ( Memento of May 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  6. Albert Schweitzer : Conversations about the New Testament . Esslingen: Bechtle Verlag, 1988. ISBN 3-7628-0480-X
  7. Boethius : De institutione arithmetica , 1.1
  8. Hans Poeschel: The Greek language. Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 1975. ISBN 3-423-04174-9
  9. ^ Terence : Brothers ( Adelphi ) 537
  10. http://viamus.uni-goettingen.de/fr/e_/schule/ue/03/04/index_html
  11. 2. Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians , 3.10 EU
  12. Digitized in the Google book search
  13. ^ German translation: Mikis Theodorakis ( Memento from February 16, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  14. Gospel according to Luke , 24.36 EU
  15. http://www.bibel-online.net/buch/42.lukas/24.html#24,36
  16. Iliad 2, 204 and 205
  17. a b Gustav Schwab : The most beautiful sagas of classical antiquity
  18. ^ Diogenes Laertios, Lives and Opinions of Famous Philosophers , IX 2.
  19. ^ Suetonius : Kaiserbiografien
  20. Gospel according to Matthew , 26.14
  21. Gospel according to John , 20.25
  22. ^ Gottwein.de: Alkman - Greek poetry
  23. Gottwein.de: Vergil, ecloge 3: Palaemon (Latin, German)
  24. ^ Arat: Phainomena. Constellations and weather signs . Greek-German. Ed .: Manfred Erren. Heimeran , Munich 1971, ISBN 3-7765-2106-6 .
  25. http://ivv7srv15.uni-muenster.de/mnkg/pfnuer/Eckbriefe/N096.html
  26. Archived copy ( Memento of May 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  27. Alc. fr. 366 Voigt
  28. Alcaios of Lesbos : Fragment 16
  29. ^ Plato, Symposium 217 e
  30. Plutarch : Moralia, The Decay of the Oracle , Chapter 3
  31. http://did.mat.uni-bayreuth.de/~karin/bernoulli/
  32. Erasmus of Rotterdam : Selected Writings . Volume 7. Scientific Book Society. 1972
  33. Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock : The Messiah , verse 222
  34. http://www.ovimagazine.com/art/969
  35. Pausanias , 2,27,5
  36. Plato : Symposium , 186c-187a
  37. http://www.gottwein.de/Hell2000/epid001.php
  38. Hesiod : Works and Days , 311
  39. Archived copy ( Memento from March 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  40. Hans Poeschel: The Greek language
  41. Iliad 6.448
  42. Appian , Roman History 8,132
  43. Speech by Dr. Philipp Jakob Siebenpfeiffer at the Hambach Festival in 1832 (PDF; 133 kB)
  44. ^ Aristotle: Metaphysics, A 5.985 b 23
  45. http://www.gottwein.de/Grie/vorsokr/VSPythag01.php
  46. Cf. Plutarch , Leben des Flavius ​​Maximus, chap. 4 ; Strabon , Geografica, V.4.12 ; Livy , Ab urbe condita, XXXIII.44 and XXXIV.44
  47. Archived copy ( Memento of April 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  48. Earliest creation in the 9th century; first recorded by Archbishop Theophylactus of Bulgaria († around 1107)