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. Any suggestions for improvement?Ĭulturally-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. But no ancient Greek used twitter either. To be sure, it is highly unlikely that any Ancient Greek ever said this. I also like the rhythm of this one: μακάριον γενέθλιον ἦμαρ.īut with the parallel καλά γενέθλια from PlatoSparks, perhaps καλὸν γενέθλιον ἦμαρ is good tooĪnd we can add particles for flavor and force:
Of the three, I think I like this combination the most: γενέθλιον ἦμαρ εὐτυχὲς 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….): (which doesn’t mean that there isn’t one somewhere!) We know then that a birthday gift was a thing that birthday sacrifices and eventually feasts were also culturally recognized phenomena.
#Happy birthday song in greek how to#
See also Hermotimus 11.12 for a daughter’s birthday feast.īut nowhere could I find an indication of how to wish good fortune on the birthday. Plato ( Alcibiades 121c7) notes that all of Asia celebrates the birthday of the great King: The historian Appian gives us the kernel of the phrase ‘birthday’ (γενέθλιον ἦμαρ) as well:
λέγειν οὖν δεῖ τὰς γενεθλίους ἡμέρας ἢ γενέθλια.īut, 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. It is better to call them days of birth or birth-day sacrifices.” Among the Athenians, the genesia are a festival. “Genesia are not strictly speaking on the day of birth. Phrynichus tells us a little about the Athenian practice–but not enough ( Eklogai, 75.1-3): But multiple respondents have reported something like the following for modern Greek modern Greeks use Χρόνια Πολλά and not Καλά Γενέθλια as a benedictionĪll of which is good to know. Our friend, Platosparks, tells me that modern Greeks use καλά γενέθλια as a benediction, which seems like a nice derivation from the sacrifice. 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):Įuripides also mentions birthday sacrifices ( Ion 805): παιδὸς προθύσων ξένια καὶ γενέθλια. The Romans seem to have celebrated birthdays from an early period. Birthdays, according to this entry, became more significant along with ruler-cults and biographical traditions. Birthday): γενέθλιος ἡμέρα: The ancient Greeks celebrated the birthdays of some of the Olympian gods during the days of the month. Auden’s Greek Phrase Book provides a phrase for observing birthday sacrifices: τὰ γενέθλια ἑστιᾶν (1963, 44) I sent some emails and then started in two logical places: a Greek phrase book and the Oxford Classical Dictionary. Help? #ClassicsProblemsĪfter 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). Shame: studied Ancient Greek 20 years but cannot say "Happy Birthday" or even know whether it was said.
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