Greek Word 11/2022

Greek Word 11/2022

κακαρώνω especially preceded by τα as in τα κακαρώνω = to die

It is not very respectful, however. The biggest current news story in Greece concerns a woman, Roula Pispiringou, who is accused of murdering her oldest daughter with ketamine. She is also under suspicion of murdering her other two daughters and maybe her landlady, of whom she allegedly asked a neighbour “Πότε θα τα κακαρώσει΄;” – “When will she cark it?” or “When will she snuff it?”

The normal Greek word for ‘die’ is πεθαίνω. It is unusual in that it can be used both intransitively and transitively, the latter meaning to bring about or cause the death of someone. “Οι γιατροί τον πέθαναν τον άνθρωπο θα ζούσε ακόμα αν δεν αν δεν είχε πέσει σε ατζαμήδες.” = “The doctors killed the guy. He’d still be alive if he hadn’t fallen into the hands of amateurs/cowboys.”

Greek also has a separate verb, ψοφώ, which is specific to the death of animals, and a ψοφίμι is a dead animal. Of course. ψοφώ can be used – again disrespectfully – for humans. “Πότε θα ψοφήσει ο παλιόγερος;” = “When will the old bastard cark it?”

And like πεθαίνω, ψοφώ can be used transitively meaning to exhaust or bring about the death of a person or animal. “Μας ψόφησε στο τρεξιμο.” = “He/She ground us down with too much running.”

Finally, one more expression. Έμεινε στον τόπο = He/She died suddenly.