# παροιμία ην παις μεν παιδα τερπει γερων δε γεροντα



## melonidas

Hi,

i need help translating these sentence from old greek: παροιμια ην παισ μεν παιδα τερπει γερων δε γεροντα  , and also what is the case for γερων,

thx


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## Nikolaos_Kandidatos

melonidas said:


> Hi,
> 
> i need help translating these sentence from old greek: παροιμια ην παισ μεν παιδα τερπει γερων δε γεροντα  , and also what is the case for γερων,
> 
> thx




Hi,

παροιμία ἦν means "there was (ἦν) a saying (παροιμία)", and it's to be understood as the title. The rest goes literally "The young (person, probably to be understood as male due to the parallelism with γέρων, thus "boy, youth") is pleasing to the young, the old man to the old man". Γέρων is nominative singular, γέροντα accusative singular. The idea might perhaps be expressed in a free translation of the type "The young delight in the company of the young and the old in the company of the old".


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## melonidas

Nikolaos_Kandidatos said:


> Hi,
> 
> παροιμία ἦν means "there was (ἦν) a saying (παροιμία)", and it's to be understood as the title. The rest goes literally "The young (person, probably to be understood as male due to the parallelism with γέρων, thus "boy, youth") is pleasing to the young, the old man to the old man". Γέρων is nominative singular, γέροντα accusative singular. The idea might perhaps be expressed in a free translation of the type "The young delight in the company of the young and the old in the company of the old".



So παροιμια is in nominative and functions as an attribute? and what is the translation of παιδα  I really need  a more litteral translation, but thx anyway


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## Nikolaos_Kandidatos

Hi,
παροιμία is in the nominative, but it does not function as an attribute, rather it is the subject of ἦν (there was, 3. person singular of εἰμί). The nominative singular of γέροντα, as said, is γέρων; in the other, parallel, clause, παῖς is nominative singular and παῖδα accusative singular. The saying might be paraphrased in simpler form as παῖς τέρπει παῖδα καὶ γέρων τέρπει γέροντα. Hope this helps make it clearer


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## melonidas

So apart from, ἦν, τέρπει, what are the verbs that are omitted in the original text I brought. And furthermore, is παῖς the object (attribute) of the clause with the verb, ἦν, or it is the subject for the verb, τέρπει.

thank you


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## ireney

What is your take? Please provide your effort in understanding things through first.


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## melonidas

I dont understand how παροιμία is the subject of ἦν : there was a saying , is "a saying" the subject of " there was" To me it looks as the object that receives the action of the verb.


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## ireney

Aha! That's because the translation, while accurate, changes the syntax. Think of it as "A saying existed".


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