# Greek-speaking/classicist Dopers! Help me with this quote! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 23, 2004, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greek-speaking-classicist-dopers-help-me-with-this-quote/251739 "2004-06-23T01:46:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greek-speaking-classicist-dopers-help-me-with-this-quote/251739/1 "2004-06-23T01:46:01Z")
OK, so I’m at the Whole Foods doing my grocery shopping, and I end up in the express lane two places behind a _very_ attractive young lady who, I notice, has a quote tattooed on her shoulder, curling around towards the scapula from a place that, for modesty’s sake, was covered - but only barely. As discreetly as I could – aw, who am I kidding? I stared at it brazenly – I read, in what I assumed is a dialect of ancient Greek, > [@](#): > > …duo ginetai tria, ek ton triton en tetarton (I may be misremembering it slightly.) Best I can guess, it translates “…two makes three, and from a third, a fourth”. It was followed by an inverted triangle of six dots. So - what’s the quote, and where’s it from? I want to see if I can memorize the passage it’s in so as to maybe score some flirt points if I ever run across her again. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greek-speaking-classicist-dopers-help-me-with-this-quote/251739/2 "2004-06-23T03:28:56Z")
“One becomes two, two becomes three, and out of the third comes the one as the fourth.” Axiom of Maria (The Prophetess), a precept in alchemy ---
**Author:** ![Satyagrahi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f475e1/32.png) [@Satyagrahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satyagrahi)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greek-speaking-classicist-dopers-help-me-with-this-quote/251739/3 "2004-06-23T13:32:57Z")
OK, I see the sentence in English. Does anyone have any clue what this supposed to mean? And what motivation would someone have for tattooing it her shoulder? ---
**Author:** ![nocturnal\_tick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@nocturnal\_tick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nocturnal_tick)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greek-speaking-classicist-dopers-help-me-with-this-quote/251739/4 "2004-06-23T16:07:14Z")
WAG: > [@eunoia](#): > > Axiom of Maria (The Prophetess), a precept in alchemy Uuuummmm, alchemy? The four that it speaks of is probably the Four elements; fire, earth, air and water. Couldn’t tell you which two make three and from which comes the fourth though. ---
**Author:** ![PaulFitzroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greek-speaking-classicist-dopers-help-me-with-this-quote/251739/5 "2004-06-23T21:42:16Z")
> [@](#): > > OK, so I’m at the Whole Foods doing my grocery shopping, and I end up in the express lane two places behind a very attractive young lady… Why didn’t you ask her about the tattoo yourself? I could not possibly think of a more appropriate way to start flirting with this “attractive young lady.” ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greek-speaking-classicist-dopers-help-me-with-this-quote/251739/6 "2004-06-23T23:06:53Z")
I don’t pick up many women, but even _I_ know she probaby gets guys asking about it all the time, and that it would be a lot more impressive to show her you already know what it means. BTW, I wanted to ask if it was written in Greek characters or Roman. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2004, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greek-speaking-classicist-dopers-help-me-with-this-quote/251739/7 "2004-06-24T02:20:41Z")
> [@PaulFitzroy](#): > > Why didn’t you ask her about the tattoo yourself? I could not possibly think of a more appropriate way to start flirting with this “attractive young lady.” You’ll note that I said I was two people behind her instead of right next to her. It’s kinda crass to flirt with people in between you. At least in my opinion - although who knows? The young lady in between us was rather attractive as well… two might indeed have become three. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. **commasense** , you hit the nail on the head. I’m half tempted to say “Hello, Maria” if I see her again just to see if her name is Maria as well. It was written in Greek, but my iMac doesn’t seem to handle Greek characters very well so I had to transliterate it.