Everyday phrases with the word υγεία
In this lesson we will talk about the Greek word υγεία (η υγεία)/health. Υγεία was an ancient Greek goddess, the goddess of health. She was Asclepius’ daughter. Asclepius was the father of medicine. Obviously he was a doctor. A very good doctor. The god of gods, Zeus, Ζευς or Δίας in Greek was able to treat all the illnesses, either mental or physical but he was very busy with so many women around that he decided to make Asclepius god of medicine. While Asclepius was the god of medicine, his daughter, Υγεία, was the goddess of health. Health was always the most valuable asset, this is why Greeks until now use the word υγεία/health in many phrases they use every day from morning till night. Let’s see!
1. You already know that when Greeks meet someone or leave someone, they say γεια. It is probably the most common Greek greeting because we use it both as “hello” and “goodbye”. Γεια σου when we informally talk to one person, γεια when we informally talk to one person or to many people and γεια σας when we talk to many people or to one but we want to be polite. The word γεια comes from the word υγεία, so when Greeks say hello to someone, they wish him to have health, to be healthy. Another greeting is γεια χαρά. In this case we wish to the other person health and happiness.
2. The second very popular phrase is στην υγειά μας. It is the Greek way to say “cheers” before we drink something and it means “to our health”. When we are with our friends or with our family and we all together drink something, we say στην υγειά μας, but when we go somewhere and the host offers to us something to drink we can say στην υγειά σου if we informally talk to one person or στην υγειά σας if we talk to many people or to one person but we want to be polite. Another way, a little bit more formal, to say cheers is εις υγείαν and again we drink to health.
3. The next phrase that we almost every day use is γεια στα χέρια σου and the formal way is γεια στα χέρια σας. It means “health to your hands” and we use this phrase when someone makes something very good using his hands, most often when we eat a very delicious food, then we wish to the woman or to the man who cooked the food γεια στα χέρια σου/health to your hands.
4. Next phrase. Με γεια! It is what we wish to someone who wears new clothes or he has bought something new or he has a new haircut. Με γεια!it is like “it looks good on you” but we actually wish to him or to her to use what he bought with health/to be healthy to use it. Of course we can informally say to one person με γεια σου, or με γεια σας to many people or to be polite. We also use the following phrases: με γεια τα μάτια. We say this phrase to someone who didn’t see that we wear something new or something important and με γεια τα αφτιά to someone who didn’t hear what we have told him.
5. Next one. What do we say to someone who sneezes. The most popular wish we use is γείτσες. The word comes from the word υγεία and of course we wish to the other person to be healthy. Another way is to say με τις υγείες σου to one person and με τις υγείες σας to many. From the 6th century people started wishing to someone who was sneezing to be healthy, because sneezing was plague’s first symptom.
6. Another phrase, not so popular but my favorite is και εις άλλα με υγεία. We use this phrase either when we are in a bad situation or when we something very good has happen, we wish και εις άλλα με υγεία. It means that we are ready to go on with health. We want to be healthy and have new experiences.
7. The next phrase is έχε γεια! It is a greeting we mainly use when we leave someone but it is not often used. People use this phrase to say goodbye to someone they will not meet again for a long time. It is possible to listen this phrase if you watch a Greek film. It is often used by the actors to say goodbye to their friends and family members before ending their life. They wish to people they love to have health.
8. And the last phrase βρήκα την υγειά μου/I found my health. It can be used either literally or metaphorically. For example when we get well after a long time we were sick, we can say: Επιτέλους, βρήκα την υγειά μου./finally I found my health/I am fine again. We use it metaphorically too when we want to say that something changed in our life and we feel so good, we don’t have problems anymore. For example, I wake up every morning at 6 o’clock to take the bus and go to my work. Then, I buy a car and I can say: Από τότε που πήρα το αυτοκίνητο βρήκα την υγειά μου./since I bought the car, I found my health/everything is better/I have no problems any more.
