Expert: Maria - 11/15/2011

Question
Dear Maria,

How would I write, "nature knows best," in ancient Greek?  I have a friend who is a student of ancient Greek.  I believe he studied Attic Greek, but is also familiar with other dialects.  

To put the question into context:  I am giving him a houseplant as a gift.  My friend does not take care of plants very well and is a bit worried about accidentally killing it.  I chose a plant that requires very little interference from people - the less we do to it, the more it thrives.  Putting it on the porch and letter nature take care of the rest is actually the best for this plant.  That is why I wanted to give an inscription on the pot that reads, "nature knows best," in ancient Greek.

Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Alex D

Answer
Dear Alex,

First of all I have to tell you that the sentence “Nature knows best” just in the sense you say cannot  be literally translated as a literal translation would sound quite inappropriate in  ancient Greek.

So the best  translation is the following:

-“Σοφή ἐστι ἡ φύσις  “ (literally, “Nature is wise”)
[See below for parsing].

I’ve written this phrase in ancient Greek letters just because your friend  who is a student of ancient Greek is certainly able to read it. Anyway, here’s its transliteration: “Sofé esti he fúsis”.

As for Attic Greek, please note that Attic Greek or Ionic-Attic Greek, aka Koiné  Greek (meaning “Common Greek”), is nothing but Ancient Greek, since the differences among the three most important Greek dialects, i.e. Ionic, Attic and Doric, according to the regions where they were spoken, disappeared  over the centuries so that the ancient Greek we learn today is Ionic-Attic Greek, aka Koiné  Greek, i.e. the standard Greek spoken in Greece as well as in the empire following  the conquests of Alexander the Great (died in 323 BC).

Hope the phrase I have translated can help your friend not to kill the houseplant  you are giving him as a gift.

Best regards,
Maria
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Note that:

Σοφή ( nominative feminine of the adjective σοφός agreed with φύσις) = wise

ἐστι (3rd.person singular, present indicative of εἰμί, I am) = is

ἡ φύσις (subject in the nominative case, 3rd.declension) = nature

As you can see, ancient Greek word order can be different from English for Ancient greek is an inflected language where syntactical relationships are indicated by the endings, not by the order of the words.