ΧΑΙΡΕ ΚΑΙ ΕΥΨΥΧΕΙ and ΑΞΙΟΣ ΕΣΤΙ

Question

In a cemetery, I found a memorial obelisk with these words inscribed on the front: ΧΑΙΡΕ ΚΑΙ ΕΥΨΥΧΕΙ. And these words were inscribed on the back: ΑΞΙΟΣ ΕΣΤΙ. What do those words translate to in English?

Answer 1

ΧΑΙΡΕ is "Hail!" as in "Hail, Mother Mary". It is the Ancient Greek greeting!

"ΕΥΨΥΧΕΙ" is imperative from the verb  "εὐψυχέω - εὐψυχῶ"= "I have a brave heart".  But, when it written on a tomb, it means "Farewell".

So, the translation of "ΧΑΙΡΕ ΚΑΙ ΕΥΨΥΧΕΙ" is: "Hail and Farewell".

Also, in Ancient Greek "ἄξιος" means "worthy" and  "ἐστί" is the third person from the verb "εἰμί" = "I am".

So, from the back of the tomb (ΑΞΙΟΣ ΕΣΤΙ), it is like saying"He is (a) worthy (man)", even now in death.

Comments

Thank you so much for your answer! It makes sense given the context in which the inscriptions appear — the monument that marks the grave of Lucas Miltiadis Miller (who died in A.D. 1902 and who was the adopted son of Colonel Jonathan P. Miller) and which was erected in April 2013 by the American Philhellenes Society, according to other inscriptions appearing in English. Since that is a recent date, I had assumed that the Greek words were in modern Greek rather than in ancient Greek.