What is the meaning of the idiom 'A Greek Gift'?

Question

please and thank you,

Answer 1

it probably relates to the greek horse which was a gift to the city of troy . .

solidiers were hidden in the horse and let the Greeks into the castle during the night, and the greeks eventually won the war.

Answer 2

Greek Gift

Answer 3

It refers to the Trojan war when, as the myth goes, the greeks "surrendedered" and offered a large wooden horse as a gift to the trojans, believing it to be a legit gift to the gods, the trojans brought it in. Later that night soldiers came out from inside the horse, and let in the Greek army. Hence the term, beware of greeks bearing gifts.

Answer 4

I think the saying goes "beware of greeks bearing gifts" and is a reference to the Trojan Horse, given as a gift from the Greeks to the Trojans, that ended up causing Troy to lose the war, when the Greeks snuck out of the trojan horse at night and killed everybody.

Answer 5

The full saying is " Beware a Greek bearing Gifts" see below.
A treacherous gift. The reference is to the Wooden Horse said to be a gift or offering to the gods for a safe return from Troy, but in reality a ruse for the destruction of the city.

Answer 6

Both German and English have expressions related to “Greeks bearing gifts” (i.e., the Trojan horse), but they don't use the same idioms. While English concentrates on warning against Greeks with gifts, German emphasizes the gift itself. Ein Danaergeschenk is a “fatal gift” that brings misfortune or causes problems. For some reason, English doesn't normally speak of a “Greek gift” and German doesn't warn against “Greeks bearing gifts.”

The common English expression “beware of Greeks bearing gifts” is derived from Virgil's Aeneid. Although many people think that the story of the Trojan horse comes from Homer, his Iliad ends before Odysseus comes up with the Trojan horse deception. The Odyssey takes place after the fall of Troy. It is Virgil's Aeneid, written in Latin, that fills the gap between those two events earlier described by the Greek Homer.

While “beware of Greeks bearing gifts” is the usual English phrasing, the original quotation from Virgil is quite different: “Whatever it is, I fear Greeks even when they bring gifts.” (Spoken by Laocoon, “Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.”) The popular English “beware” idiom shortens the original and gives the phrase a bit more punch. German has no equivalent warning based on Virgil, although the German saying, “Vorsicht vor falschen Freunden,” comes closest to the English. (“Beware of false friends.”)

Caesar Augustus commissioned Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 BC) to author a national epic for Rome. Virgil's Aeneid was written sometime between 29 BC and the poet's death in 19 BC. It tells the story of a minor character from Homer's Iliad who founded a “New Troy” (Rome). It is in the Aeneid that we find the Trojan horse and Laocoon's warning about Greeks and gifts: “I fear Dardanians [Greeks] even when they bear gifts.“ It is these Dardanians, the Greeks, from which German gets the word Danaergeschenk (Dardanian gift).

The Trojan horse wasn't Trojan
In reality, the “Trojan” horse was a Greek horse. It was the Trojans who fell for the ruse by the Greeks. The Greeks' wooden horse was filled with Greek fighters who overpowered the drunken Trojans. German and English both use the expression for that horse, ein Trojanisches Pferd in German.

Answer 7

It means basically "Beware! There's something besides the gift you don't see! A catch, a trap...!"

Think "Trojan horse" where the Greeks hid inside the hollow body of the horse given to the Trojans...

God bless!!

D

Answer 8

A Yahoo Search: define "a greek gift"

may obtain your answer.

Answer 9

A gift which has dire consequences. A gift which brings trouble. A gift which causes grief.

Answer 10

trojan horse - beware of greeks baring gifts

i.e. there might be more trouble accepting the gift so beware.