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Definition 2024

owls_to_Athens

bring owls to Athens

English

Verb

bring owls to Athens ‎(third-person singular simple present brings owls to Athens, present participle bringing owls to Athens, simple past and past participle brought owls to Athens)

(idiomatic) To undertake a pointless venture, one that is redundant, unnecessary, superfluous, or highly uneconomical.
- Who brings owls to Athens? — Euelpides, in Aristophanes' Birds (English translation by Ian Johnston)
- Forgive me, then, for bringing owls to Athens as a thanks-offering. — Goethe, in a letter to Wilhelm von Humboldt (English translation by Louis H. Gray)
- Perhaps we have not been sufficiently aware that talking about access and its implications in Scandinavia is like bringing owls to Athens. — Herbert Burkert ()

Synonyms

coals to Newcastle

Translations

to undertake a pointless venture

Chinese:
Mandarin: 多此一舉 (zh)
Czech: nosit dříví do lesa (cs) (literally "bring wood into the forest")
Dutch: uilen naar Athene brengen, uilen naar Athene dragen, water naar de zee dragen
Georgian: ტყესი შეშის შეტანა ‎(ṭq̇esi šešis šeṭana)
German: Eulen nach Athen tragen (de)
Greek:
Ancient Greek: γλαῦκ’ εἰς Ἀθήνας ‎(glaûk’ eis Athḗnas)

Italian: portare nottole ad Atene
Latin: hoc est Athenas noctuam
Russian: е́здить в Ту́лу со свои́м самова́ром (ru) ‎(jézditʹ v Túlu so svoím samovárom) (lit.: to go to Tula with one's own samovar), в лес дрова́ вози́ть (ru) ‎(v les drová vozítʹ) (lit.: to take wood into the forest)

Etymology

A calque of the Ancient Greek proverb γλαῦκ’ εἰς Ἀθήνας ‎(glaûk’ eis Athḗnas). The owl, which roosted in the rafters of the old Parthenon (the one burnt by Xerxes I), was the symbol of the city of Athens, and was sacred to its patron goddess, Athena. It was featured on Athens’ silver coins, and as Athens both mined its own silver and minted its own coins, bringing owls (either the real birds, or the coins) to Athens would be pointless.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /brɪŋ ˈaʊlz tu ˈæ.θɪnz/