This is our first post from an airplane. And it is a re-post. It is my wife’s birthday. Thanks to the insanity of this site, I can now wish her happy birthday in Ancient Greek.
Shame: studied Ancient Greek 20 years but cannot say "Happy Birthday" or even know whether it was said. Help? #ClassicsProblems
— sententiae antiquae (@sentantiq) October 21, 2014
After tweeting in desperation last night, I awoke with a mission: to learn more about birthdays in ancient Greek (whether they observed them, how and what, if anything, they said). I sent some emails and then started in two logical places: a Greek phrase book and the Oxford Classical Dictionary.
H. W. Auden’s Greek Phrase Book provides a phrase for observing birthday sacrifices: τὰ γενέθλια ἑστιᾶν (1963, 44)
Oxford Classical Dictionary. 3rd Edition (s.v. Birthday): γενέθλιος ἡμέρα: The ancient Greeks celebrated the birthdays of some of the Olympian gods during the days of the month. Birthdays, according to this entry, became more significant along with ruler-cults and biographical traditions. The Romans seem to have celebrated birthdays from an early period.
Then the Homerist and all-around good-guy Erwin Cook told me via email that we know little about the birthday sacrifices held in the Archaic and early Classical periods, but he pointed me to Aeschylus’ mention in the Eumenides of giving a birthday gift to Apollo (8-9):
Φοίβη• δίδωσι δ’ ἣ γενέθλιον δόσιν
Φοίβῳ• τὸ Φοίβης δ’ ὄνομ’ ἔχει παρώνυμον.
Euripides also mentions birthday sacrifices (Ion 805): παιδὸς προθύσων ξένια καὶ γενέθλια. Our friend, Platosparks, tells me that modern Greeks use καλά γενέθλια as a benediction, which seems like a nice derivation from the sacrifice. But multiple respondents have reported something like the following for modern Greek usage:
@sentantiq modern Greeks use Χρόνια Πολλά and not Καλά Γενέθλια as a benediction
— Mia (@mia484) October 22, 2014
All of which is good to know. Phrynichus tells us a little about the Athenian practice–but not enough (Eklogai, 75.1-3):
“Genesia are not strictly speaking on the day of birth. Among the Athenians, the genesia are a festival. It is better to call them days of birth or birth-day sacrifices.”
Γενέσια οὐκ ὀρθῶς τίθεται ἐπὶ τῆς γενεθλίου ἡμέρας• Γενέσια γὰρ ᾿Αθήνησιν ἑορτή. λέγειν οὖν δεῖ τὰς γενεθλίους ἡμέρας ἢ γενέθλια.
But, as with many rituals from the ancient world, we know little about what they entailed and what they meant to the individuals who practiced them. The historian Appian gives us the kernel of the phrase ‘birthday’ (γενέθλιον ἦμαρ) as well:
εἰσὶ δ’ οἳ καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτὸν εἰσηγήσασθαι τὴν ἡμέραν θέσθαι τῇ πόλει γενέθλιον
Plato (Alcibiades 121c7) notes that all of Asia celebrates the birthday of the great King:
ὧν ἂν ἄρχῃ, εἶτα εἰς τὸν ἄλλον χρόνον ταύτῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ βασιλέως γενέθλια πᾶσα θύει καὶ ἑορτάζει ἡ ᾿Ασία• ἡμῶν
Lucian, Gallos 9.10 writes of gathering together to celebrate a daughter’s birthday:, “Μίκυλλε,” φησί, “θυγατρὸς τήμερον ἑστιῶ γενέθλια καὶ παρεκάλεσα τῶν φίλων μάλα πολλούς• ἐπεὶ δέ τινά φασιν αὐτῶν. See also Hermotimus 11.12 for a daughter’s birthday feast.
But nowhere could I find an indication of how to wish good fortune on the birthday. We know then that a birthday gift was a thing; that birthday sacrifices and eventually feasts were also culturally recognized phenomena. But no benediction was to be found. (which doesn’t mean that there isn’t one somewhere!)
So, using the Latin Felix Dies Natalis as a model (and the phrase γενέθλιον ἦμαρ from Appian, paralleled in the Greek Anthology as PlatoSparks notes in the comments) and choosing the neuter form to hedge as to whether this is accusative (in an absolute sense) or nominative, I decided to make it up myself (and I take Palaiophron’s comments below to heart, this is an anachronistic somewhat silly exercise, but once down the rabbit-hole….):
ὄλβιον
μακάριον γενέθλιον ἦμαρ [sc. εἴη σοι]
εὐτυχὲς
καλὸν (based on καλά γενέθλια)
Of the three, I think I like this combination the most: γενέθλιον ἦμαρ εὐτυχὲς
I also like the rhythm of this one: μακάριον γενέθλιον ἦμαρ.
But with the parallel καλά γενέθλια from PlatoSparks, perhaps καλὸν γενέθλιον ἦμαρ is good too
And we can add particles for flavor and force:
εἰ γὰρ μακάριον γενέθλιον ἦμαρ!
μακάριον δὴ γενέθλιον ἦμαρ!
or
εἰ γὰρ καλὸν γενέθλιον ἦμαρ!
καλὸν δὴ γενέθλιον ἦμαρ!
To be sure, it is highly unlikely that any Ancient Greek ever said this. But no ancient Greek used twitter either. Any suggestions for improvement?
Or Youtube:
I know modern Greek uses the expression χρονια πολα! which is short for “God grant you many years!” I suspect it has roots in Byzantium, but I don’t know for sure. This also might be more common on saints’ days than birthdays, but I have heard it used for both.
Athenians didn’t name their children until ten days after the birth (to give them time to expose them if they didn’t like the look of them??) so I wonder if they regarded the actual birthday as important. The modern Greek is καλά γενέθλια – maybe the ancients would have used a similar phrase. But of your versions I prefer μακαριον as it does sound more euphonic. I found this in the Greek anthology.
Crinagoras
χάλκεον ἀργυρέῳ με πανείκελον, Ἰνδικὸν ἔργον,
ὄλπην, ἡδίστου ξείνιον εἰς ἑτάρου,
ἦμαρ ἐπεὶ τόδε σεῖο γενέθλιον, υἱὲ Σίμωνος,
πέμπει γηθομένῃ σὺν φρενὶ Κριναγόρης.
Krinagoras with a joyful heart is sending me, a bronze flask like silver, a work of India, as a gift to the house of his dearest friend since this is your birthday, son of Simon
Anth. Gr. 6.261
Great catch!
I also think that καλά γενέθλια is great if we think about the sacrifices themselves serving as a metonym for the experience of a birthday and then the phrase growing from that metonym to a general blessing. Thanks for this again. I am going to edit the post to include it.
In a most un-scholarly fashion (sapere aude!), I am inclined to rely on intuition alone and suggest that perhaps the phrase we want (a general “happy birthday!”) would not be rendered into Greek with such a noun-dependent phrase accusative phrase. It is true that Latin would wish someone a felicem diem natalem, but they would also begin letters with “salutem plurimam dicit,” which I don’t imagine is consistent with the Greek epistolographic practice. More simply, I imagine that Greek and Latin might not have employed parallel constructions in this case, though I do like a lot of the suggestions here.
I propose that εὐτυχοίης or some verb of similar significance in the optative, perhaps coupled with a temporal expression. Consider Euripides’ Medea, line 688: ἀλλ’ εὐτυχοίης καὶ τύχοις ὅσων ἐρᾶις.
I think you are probably right. But I wanted it to be different so I tried to force it. Thus my emendation on Greek culture!
But isn’t most prose comp a similar act of violence?
Oh, and I am pretty sure that I am the one who runs the risk of being unscholarly in all of this!
Hardly! I just noticed the absurd amount of errors in my hastily-written comment; I forgot all of that stuff about carefully considering what you’re writing, and instead bought into all that Latin bis dat qui cito dat stuff.
That was just fun!
Culturally-speaking of course, and as ‘platosparks’ comments, birthdays may have been unimportant for the Ancient Greeks due to the possibility of child exposure (I have usually read the naming ceremony was done at eight days old, though) and, I would add, mortality rates. The birth of a god is much more likely to have been celebrated, and even that entailed research had to be push forward into the Hellenistic period and Roman domination of the world to find a possible example of the phrase.
I think we have concluded, and rightly so, that the Ancient Greeks did not celebrate children’s birthdays. However, ‘everydayasceticism’ makes a fantastic point as well; perhaps there is some extant record in late Byzantium that can provide us with an example, albeit somewhat ‘modern,’ of the phrase. In all honesty, I love your “καλόν δή γενέθλιον ήμαρ!” I think it is the more likely of the two if ever any one King or Tyrant decided to congratulate one of his sons for the fact of having been born – I suppose children of these individuals would have survived more often, giving rise to the possibility of the phrase even in the Ancient World.
All that aside, fun, fun!
OK, cool! So here we go in Latinized Linear B:(1) didosi de qeneterio dosi
(2) poiqe onoma qe eke paronumo. But there is no point my translating the commentaries, as the Linear B scribes never wrote commentaries on anything. But I love this post & I just have to reblog it to Linear B,Knossos & Mycenae: https://linearbknossosmycenae.wordpress.com And for the rest of you folks here at Sententiaae Antiquae, if you wish to see many more translations from Mycenaean Greek into English, check out our blog. SA and I follow one another assiduously. .
Reblogged this on Linear B, Knossos & Mycenae and commented:
This is really neat! I am going to post Happy New Year in Mycenaean Linerar B on our blog to complement this. Richard
ΚΑΛΗΝ ΕΣΠΕΡΑΝ ΦΙΛΤΑΤΕ!
I noticed that you want to learn more about Hellenic Wish of Birthday.I would like to help you with that.
First of all,i would advice you to use the words Hellas instead of Greece,Hellin instead of Greek[for person either male or female],Hellines instead of Greeks and Hellenic instead of Greek[non person].
So lets get to work……
When you just want to say Happy Birthday,you could use this phrase:”Καλήν γενέθλιαν ημέραν-ήμαρ”
Also there is a wish-hymn to Godess Artemis:
1.Ancient Hellenic,2.Latin wirting,3.Translation
“Ὢ Ὑπέροχη Θέαινα γενεθλῶν, Ἀκραία Ἄρτεμη καταδέχου τοῦτον σεμνὸν ὕμνον καὶ ἴστη μεγάδωρος εὐλογίας εἰς τὸν γεναθλιαζόμενος ὑπάρξεως αὐτοῦ ἐντὸς ὑλαίου πεδίου.
Oh Hyperohi Theaina[like Theos] yenethlon,Akraian Artemi katathehou[“the” sounds like the] touton semnon hymnon ke isti meyathoros[“y” sounds like in yellow” word] euloyias eis ton yenethliazomenos iparkseos aftou entos ilaiou pethiou[“th” like the].
Oh Great Godess of Birth,Extreme Artemis accept this kind hymn and give great blessing to this birth-celebrating being of this material cosmos.
Σὺ προσδωρεῖ κορυφαῖον δῶρον Ἀνυσιδώρα ἀφιείης δῶρον ὑγίειας, εὐδαιμονίας, νοητικῆς καὶ ὑλαίας βλαστημοσύνης, ἀγαλλιάματος, εὐθυμίας, καὶ παντὸς ἑτέρου ψυχικοῦ ἢ ὑλαίου δώρου Σὺ κρίνεις ὑπὲρ ἀρετοδρομίας ὑπάρξεως.
Si prosthorei korifeon thoron[like the] Anisithora afieis thoron iyias,evthemonias,noitikis ke ilaias vlastimosonis,ayaliamatos,efthimias[“th”like thesis],ke pantos eterou psychikou i ilaiou thorou[like the] Si krineis hyper aretothromias[“th” like the] iparkseos.
You who give the perfect gift Anisthora give gift of Health,prosperity,mind and material growth,tranquility,happiness,and any other psycic or material gift that You decide for the virtue of this being.
Ἴστη ἀρωγὸς ὑπάρξεως ταύτης καὶ Εὐπλόκαμος, ἐκτείνουσα ἄριστους ἀτραποὺς ἀρετῆς, ἄγουσι εἰς ἀριστεῖα αἰώνια ὡς ψυχὴ ἐξεικονίζοι Σὸν Εὐστέφανη χάριν.
Isti aroyos iparkseos taftis ke evplokamos,ektinousa aristous atrapoύs aretis,ayousi eis aristia eonia os psychi eksikonizi Son Efstephani charin[sound like Charos].
You may be Curare and Goodguide to this being,creating perfect paths of virtue,which lead to eternal achievements so that psychi looks like your’s Wellcrowned grace.
Καθαρὰ Θέαινα, φύλασσε ἄχραντη ψυχὴν ἐκ πάσας κακοσύνης.
Μεγαλώνυμη καὶ Ὀλβιόμοιρη Θέαινα, δωροφόρει ὕψιστη εὐδαιμονία μοίρας ὡς Περασὶα ἴστη ἀρωγὸς σκέψεως ἐλευσομένη ἀσφαλὴς ἐντὸς ἀναζητήσεων αὔτης.
Kathara Theaina[“th” like Theos],filase achranti psychin ek pasas kakosinis.
Meyalonimi and olviomiri Theaina,thorofori ipsisti evthemonia miras os Perasia isti aroyos skepseos elefsomeni asfalis entos anazitiseos aftis.
Pure Godess,keep unharmed psychi from any evil.
Majestic and Lifepather Godess,give great prosperity of destiny as Perennial that you are,be Curare of mind to its exploration.
Σαόφρων δωροφόρει ὑγιῆ σκέψην.
Saofron thorofori iyiei skepsin.
You Wise give healthy thinking.
Σεμνὴ Θέαινα δωροφόρει σεμνότητα καὶ σέβας εἰς τούτη ὕπαρξην.
Semni Theaina thorofori semnotita ke sevas eis touti iparksin.
Modest Godess give modesty and respect to this being.
Ὢ Ἔνδοξη Θέαινα ἐσὲ ὑμνωδῶ καὶ ἀφιερόω τοῦτον τὸν ὕμνον γενέθλης πρὸς Τέι.
Oh Enthoksi[“th” like the] Theaina[Theos] ese imnotho[“th” like the] ke afierono touton ton imnon yenethlis pros Tei.
Oh Glorious Godess i praise you and dedicate this hymn to you.”END
Hope you like it!May the Gods be by your side.