Leonidas-"Μολών Λαβέ"

[Ray E.]

Yet another new member here...What a great Forum.

I am attempting to find out the correct (Ancient Greek) version of the phrase stated by Leonidas- "Molon Labe".

I have seen two versions and was wondering if one was more correct that the other. In the first version "Molon" is spelled with the omikron followed by the omega. In the second version, the word is spelled with two omega symbols. Are they both correct or is it a form of pronunciation? TIA

[Ray E.]

It appears that Vicky (Wings) has already answered this question.

So then, how about the correct translation of the word "justice", as in the law.

[wings]

Hello Ray.

"Μολών" (omikron - omega) is the participle of the past simple tense of the Ancient Greek verb "βλώσκω" (vlosko) = go, come, proceed.

The tenses of this verb (all irregular) are:

Present Simple - βλώσκω
Future Simple - μολούμαι
Past Simple B' - έμολον & έβλων
Past Simple A' - έβλωξα (regular)
Present Perfect - μέμβλωκα

As for "justice" you can use "δικαιοσύνη" in both Ancient and Modern Greek.

All the best for the new week,

Vicky

[banned8]

Mind you, Ray E., I never thought I needed to know these things when I was in school, this is probably the first time I set my eyes on all these forms (what? έβλωξα is regular?), and I will promptly forget them the moment I press 'Post'. It's all Doric to me. Now I know why I dropped out of university.

[Ray E.]

Wings:

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question in such detail.

With respect to "justice", can you give me the phonetic and transliterated versions. Would this be considered a derivative of the word "divkh"?

Nickel:

Yes, I understand what you mean. Wouldn't it be amazing if you could remember everything you learned last week? I would be amazed to be able to remember absolutely everything I did yesterday. ;o)

[wings]

Hello Ray.

It is "dikaiosini" ("dikaiosynh) and you are right - it derives from "dikaios" (=just, fair) and "diki" (trial).

Also "δίκη" (diki) can be used in the sense of "divine justice".

As for Nick, he is getting older and older and older every day, so no surprise he is forgetting things. :-)

[banned8]

We're all getting older (I just seem to be doing this with conjecutive comparative adjectives).

But I still feel very young. Probably because I never wasted any time learning the forms of βλώσκω.

[wings]

Lucky you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

[Ray E.]

Vicky:

You're fantastic, thank you for the quick reply.

Then if I were to spell it in upper case, would it look like this- "ΔΙΚΑΙΟΣΥΝΗ".

[wings]

Exactly!!!

[Ray E.]

Perfect. :o)