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proverb is a shoet saying that is not real or used as an adivice eg.cheats goes far |
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[[File:Study proverb.PNG|thumb|Chinese proverb. It says, "Learn till old, live till old, and there is still three-tenths not learned," meaning that no matter how old you are, there is still more learning or studying left to do.]] |
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A '''proverb''' (from {{lang-la|proverbium}}) is a simple and concrete [[saying]], popularly known and repeated, that expresses a truth based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often [[metaphorical]]. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a [[maxim (philosophy)|maxim]]. |
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Proverbs are often borrowed from similar languages and cultures, and sometimes come down to the present through more than one language. Both the Bible (including, but not limited to the [[Book of Proverbs]]) and medieval Latin (aided by the work of [[Erasmus]]) have played a considerable role in distributing proverbs across Europe. Mieder has concluded that cultures that treat the Bible as their "major spiritual book contain between three hundred and five hundred proverbs that stem from the Bible."<ref>p. 12, Wolfgang Mieder. 1990. ''Not by bread alone: Proverbs of the Bible''. New England Press.</ref> However, almost every culture has examples of its own unique proverbs. |
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== Examples == |
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{{see also|List of proverbial phrases}} |
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* [[wikt:haste makes waste|Haste makes waste]] |
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* [[wikt:a stitch in time saves nine|A stitch in time saves nine]] |
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* [[wikt:ignorance is bliss|Ignorance is bliss]] |
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* Mustn't cry over spilled milk. |
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* You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. |
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*You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. |
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* Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. |
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* A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. |
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* [[Fortune favours the bold]] |
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* Well begun is half done. |
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* [[An Essay on Criticism|A little learning is a dangerous thing]] |
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* [[A rolling stone gathers no moss]]. |
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* It is better to be smarter than you appear than to appear smarter than you are. |
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* Good things come to those who wait. |
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* A poor workman blames his tools. |
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* A dog is a man's best friend. |
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* An apple a day keeps the doctor away. |
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* If the shoe fits, wear it! |
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* Honesty is the best policy |
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* Slow and steady wins the race |
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== Paremiology == |
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{{main|Paremiology}} |
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The study of proverbs is called '''paremiology''' which has a variety of uses in the study of such topics as [[philosophy]], [[linguistics]], and [[folklore]]. |
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There are several types and styles of proverbs which are analyzed within Paremiology as is the use and misuse of familiar expressions which are not strictly 'proverbial' in the dictionary definition of being fixed sentences. |
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"A proverb is a short sentence based on long experiences"== Definitions of "proverb" == |
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Defining a “proverb” is a difficult task. Proverb scholars often quote Archer Taylor’s classic “The definition of a proverb is too difficult to repay the undertaking... An incommunicable quality tells us this sentence is proverbial and that one is not. Hence no definition will enable us to identify positively a sentence as proverbial”.<ref>p. 3 Archer Taylor. 1931. ''The Proverb''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.</ref> Another common definition is from [[Lord John Russell]] (c. 1850) “A proverb is the wit of one, and the wisdom of many.” <ref>p. 25. Wolfgang Mieder. 1993. “The wit of one, and the wisdom of many: General thoughts on the nature of the proverb. ''Proverbs are never out of season: Popular wisdom in the modern age'' 3-40. Oxford University Press.</ref> |
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More constructively, Mieder has proposed the following definition, “A proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed, and memorizable form and which is handed down from generation to generation.”<ref>p. 5. Wolfgang Mieder. 1993. “The wit of one, and the wisdom of many: General thoughts on the nature of the proverb. Proverbs are never out of season: Popular wisdom in the modern age 3-40. Oxford University Press.</ref> Norrick created a table of [[distinctive feature]]s to distinguish proverbs from idioms, cliches, etc.<ref>p. 73. Neil Norrick. 1985. ''How Proverbs Mean: Semantic Studies in English Proverbs''. Amsterdam: Mouton.</ref> Prahlad distinguishes proverbs from some other, closely related types of sayings, “True proverbs must further be distinguished from other types of proverbial speech, e.g. proverbial phrases, [[Wellerism]]s, maxims, quotations, and proverbial comparisons.”<ref>p. 33. Sw. Anand Prahlad. 1996. ''African-American Proverbs in Context''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.</ref> Based on Persian proverbs, Zolfaghari and Ameri propose the following definition: "A proverb is a short sentence, which is well-known and at times rhythmic, including advice, sage themes and ethnic experiences, comprising simile, metaphor or irony which is well-known among people for its fluent wording, clarity of expression, simplicity, expansiveness and generality and is used either with or without change"<ref>p. 107, Hassan Zolfaghari & Hayat Ameri. "Persian Proverbs: Definitions and Characteristics". ''Journal of Islamic and Human Advanced Research'' 2(2012) 93-108.</ref> |
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There are many sayings in English that are commonly referred to as “proverbs”, such as weather sayings. [[Alan Dundes]], however, rejects including such sayings among truly proverbs: “Are weather proverbs proverbs? I would say emphatically 'No!'”<ref>p. 45. Alan Dundes. 1984. On whether weather 'proverbs' are proverbs. ''Proverbium'' 1:39-46. Also, 1989, in ''Folklore Matters'' edited by Alan Dundes, 92-97. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.</ref> The definition of “proverb” has also changed over the years. For example, the following was labeled “A Yorkshire proverb” in 1883, but would not be categorized as a proverb by most today, “as throng as Throp's wife when she hanged herself with a dish-cloth.”<ref>A Yorkshire proverb. 1883. ''The Academy''. July 14, no. 584. p.30.</ref> The changing of the definition of "proverb" is also noted in Turkish.<ref>Ezgi Ulusoy Aranyosi. 2010. "Atasözü neydi, ne oldu?" [“What was, and what now is, a 'proverb'?”]. ''Millî Folklor: International and Quarterly Journal of Cultural Studies'' 11.88: 5-15.</ref> |
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In other languages and cultures, the definition of “proverb” also differs from English. In the [[Chumburung language]] of Ghana, "''aŋase'' are literal proverb and ''akpare'' are metaphoric ones.”<ref>p. 64. Gillian Hansford. 2003. Understanding Chumburung proverbs. ''Journal of West African Languages'' 30.1:57-82.</ref> Among the Bini of Nigeria, there are three words that are used to translate "proverb": ''ere, ivbe'', and ''itan''. The first relates to historical events, the second relates to current events, and the third was “linguistic ornamentation in formal discourse”.<ref>p. 4,5. Daniel Ben-Amos. Introduction: Folklore in African Society. ''Forms of Folklore in Africa'', edited by Bernth Lindfors, pp. 1-36. Austin: University of Texas.</ref> Among the [[Balochi language|Balochi]] of Pakistan and Afghanistan, there is a word ''batal'' for ordinary proverbs and ''bassīttuks'' for "proverbs with background stories".<ref>p. 43. Sabir Badalkhan. 2000. “Ropes break at the weakest point”: Some examples of Balochi proverbs with background stories. ''Proverbium'' 17:43-69.</ref> |
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All of this makes it difficult to come up with a definition of "proverb" that is universally applicable, which brings us back to Taylor's observation, "An incommunicable quality tells us this sentence is proverbial and that one is not.". |
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"A proverb is a short sentence based on long experiences"== Definitions of "proverb" == |
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Defining a “proverb” is a difficult task. Proverb scholars often quote Archer Taylor’s classic “The definition of a proverb is too difficult to repay the undertaking... An incommunicable quality tells us this sentence is proverbial and that one is not. Hence no definition will enable us to identify positively a sentence as proverbial”.<ref>p. 3 Archer Taylor. 1931. ''The Proverb''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.</ref> Another common definition is from [[Lord John Russell]] (c. 1850) “A proverb is the wit of one, and the wisdom of many.” <ref>p. 25. Wolfgang Mieder. 1993. “The wit of one, and the wisdom of many: General thoughts on the nature of the proverb. ''Proverbs are never out of season: Popular wisdom in the modern age'' 3-40. Oxford University Press.</ref> |
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More constructively, Mieder has proposed the following definition, “A proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed, and memorizable form and which is handed down from generation to generation.”<ref>p. 5. Wolfgang Mieder. 1993. “The wit of one, and the wisdom of many: General thoughts on the nature of the proverb. Proverbs are never out of season: Popular wisdom in the modern age 3-40. Oxford University Press.</ref> Norrick created a table of [[distinctive feature]]s to distinguish proverbs from idioms, cliches, etc.<ref>p. 73. Neil Norrick. 1985. ''How Proverbs Mean: Semantic Studies in English Proverbs''. Amsterdam: Mouton.</ref> Prahlad distinguishes proverbs from some other, closely related types of sayings, “True proverbs must further be distinguished from other types of proverbial speech, e.g. proverbial phrases, [[Wellerism]]s, maxims, quotations, and proverbial comparisons.”<ref>p. 33. Sw. Anand Prahlad. 1996. ''African-American Proverbs in Context''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.</ref> Based on Persian proverbs, Zolfaghari and Ameri propose the following definition: "A proverb is a short sentence, which is well-known and at times rhythmic, including advice, sage themes and ethnic experiences, comprising simile, metaphor or irony which is well-known among people for its fluent wording, clarity of expression, simplicity, expansiveness and generality and is used either with or without change"<ref>p. 107, Hassan Zolfaghari & Hayat Ameri. "Persian Proverbs: Definitions and Characteristics". ''Journal of Islamic and Human Advanced Research'' 2(2012) 93-108.</ref> |
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There are many sayings in English that are commonly referred to as “proverbs”, such as weather sayings. [[Alan Dundes]], however, rejects including such sayings among truly proverbs: “Are weather proverbs proverbs? I would say emphatically 'No!'”<ref>p. 45. Alan Dundes. 1984. On whether weather 'proverbs' are proverbs. ''Proverbium'' 1:39-46. Also, 1989, in ''Folklore Matters'' edited by Alan Dundes, 92-97. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.</ref> The definition of “proverb” has also changed over the years. For example, the following was labeled “A Yorkshire proverb” in 1883, but would not be categorized as a proverb by most today, “as throng as Throp's wife when she hanged herself with a dish-cloth.”<ref>A Yorkshire proverb. 1883. ''The Academy''. July 14, no. 584. p.30.</ref> The changing of the definition of "proverb" is also noted in Turkish.<ref>Ezgi Ulusoy Aranyosi. 2010. "Atasözü neydi, ne oldu?" [“What was, and what now is, a 'proverb'?”]. ''Millî Folklor: International and Quarterly Journal of Cultural Studies'' 11.88: 5-15.</ref> |
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In other languages and cultures, the definition of “proverb” also differs from English. In the [[Chumburung language]] of Ghana, "''aŋase'' are literal proverb and ''akpare'' are metaphoric ones.”<ref>p. 64. Gillian Hansford. 2003. Understanding Chumburung proverbs. ''Journal of West African Languages'' 30.1:57-82.</ref> Among the Bini of Nigeria, there are three words that are used to translate "proverb": ''ere, ivbe'', and ''itan''. The first relates to historical events, the second relates to current events, and the third was “linguistic ornamentation in formal discourse”.<ref>p. 4,5. Daniel Ben-Amos. Introduction: Folklore in African Society. ''Forms of Folklore in Africa'', edited by Bernth Lindfors, pp. 1-36. Austin: University of Texas.</ref> Among the [[Balochi language|Balochi]] of Pakistan and Afghanistan, there is a word ''batal'' for ordinary proverbs and ''bassīttuks'' for "proverbs with background stories".<ref>p. 43. Sabir Badalkhan. 2000. “Ropes break at the weakest point”: Some examples of Balochi proverbs with background stories. ''Proverbium'' 17:43-69.</ref> |
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All of this makes it difficult to come up with a definition of "proverb" that is universally applicable, which brings us back to Taylor's observation, "An incommunicable quality tells us this sentence is proverbial and that one is not.". |
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"A proverb is a short sentence based on long experiences"== Definitions of "proverb" == |
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Defining a “proverb” is a difficult task. Proverb scholars often quote Archer Taylor’s classic “The definition of a proverb is too difficult to repay the undertaking... An incommunicable quality tells us this sentence is proverbial and that one is not. Hence no definition will enable us to identify positively a sentence as proverbial”.<ref>p. 3 Archer Taylor. 1931. ''The Proverb''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.</ref> Another common definition is from [[Lord John Russell]] (c. 1850) “A proverb is the wit of one, and the wisdom of many.” <ref>p. 25. Wolfgang Mieder. 1993. “The wit of one, and the wisdom of many: General thoughts on the nature of the proverb. ''Proverbs are never out of season: Popular wisdom in the modern age'' 3-40. Oxford University Press.</ref> |
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More constructively, Mieder has proposed the following definition, “A proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed, and memorizable form and which is handed down from generation to generation.”<ref>p. 5. Wolfgang Mieder. 1993. “The wit of one, and the wisdom of many: General thoughts on the nature of the proverb. Proverbs are never out of season: Popular wisdom in the modern age 3-40. Oxford University Press.</ref> Norrick created a table of [[distinctive feature]]s to distinguish proverbs from idioms, cliches, etc.<ref>p. 73. Neil Norrick. 1985. ''How Proverbs Mean: Semantic Studies in English Proverbs''. Amsterdam: Mouton.</ref> Prahlad distinguishes proverbs from some other, closely related types of sayings, “True proverbs must further be distinguished from other types of proverbial speech, e.g. proverbial phrases, [[Wellerism]]s, maxims, quotations, and proverbial comparisons.”<ref>p. 33. Sw. Anand Prahlad. 1996. ''African-American Proverbs in Context''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.</ref> Based on Persian proverbs, Zolfaghari and Ameri propose the following definition: "A proverb is a short sentence, which is well-known and at times rhythmic, including advice, sage themes and ethnic experiences, comprising simile, metaphor or irony which is well-known among people for its fluent wording, clarity of expression, simplicity, expansiveness and generality and is used either with or without change"<ref>p. 107, Hassan Zolfaghari & Hayat Ameri. "Persian Proverbs: Definitions and Characteristics". ''Journal of Islamic and Human Advanced Research'' 2(2012) 93-108.</ref> |
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There are many sayings in English that are commonly referred to as “proverbs”, such as weather sayings. [[Alan Dundes]], however, rejects including such sayings among truly proverbs: “Are weather proverbs proverbs? I would say emphatically 'No!'”<ref>p. 45. Alan Dundes. 1984. On whether weather 'proverbs' are proverbs. ''Proverbium'' 1:39-46. Also, 1989, in ''Folklore Matters'' edited by Alan Dundes, 92-97. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.</ref> The definition of “proverb” has also changed over the years. For example, the following was labeled “A Yorkshire proverb” in 1883, but would not be categorized as a proverb by most today, “as throng as Throp's wife when she hanged herself with a dish-cloth.”<ref>A Yorkshire proverb. 1883. ''The Academy''. July 14, no. 584. p.30.</ref> The changing of the definition of "proverb" is also noted in Turkish.<ref>Ezgi Ulusoy Aranyosi. 2010. "Atasözü neydi, ne oldu?" [“What was, and what now is, a 'proverb'?”]. ''Millî Folklor: International and Quarterly Journal of Cultural Studies'' 11.88: 5-15.</ref> |
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In other languages and cultures, the definition of “proverb” also differs from English. In the [[Chumburung language]] of Ghana, "''aŋase'' are literal proverb and ''akpare'' are metaphoric ones.”<ref>p. 64. Gillian Hansford. 2003. Understanding Chumburung proverbs. ''Journal of West African Languages'' 30.1:57-82.</ref> Among the Bini of Nigeria, there are three words that are used to translate "proverb": ''ere, ivbe'', and ''itan''. The first relates to historical events, the second relates to current events, and the third was “linguistic ornamentation in formal discourse”.<ref>p. 4,5. Daniel Ben-Amos. Introduction: Folklore in African Society. ''Forms of Folklore in Africa'', edited by Bernth Lindfors, pp. 1-36. Austin: University of Texas.</ref> Among the [[Balochi language|Balochi]] of Pakistan and Afghanistan, there is a word ''batal'' for ordinary proverbs and ''bassīttuks'' for "proverbs with background stories".<ref>p. 43. Sabir Badalkhan. 2000. “Ropes break at the weakest point”: Some examples of Balochi proverbs with background stories. ''Proverbium'' 17:43-69.</ref> |
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All of this makes it difficult to come up with a definition of "proverb" that is universally applicable, which brings us back to Taylor's observation, "An incommunicable quality tells us this sentence is proverbial and that one is not.". |
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"A proverb is a short sentence based on long experiences"== Definitions of "proverb" == |
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Defining a “proverb” is a difficult task. Proverb scholars often quote Archer Taylor’s classic “The definition of a proverb is too difficult to repay the undertaking... An incommunicable quality tells us this sentence is proverbial and that one is not. Hence no definition will enable us to identify positively a sentence as proverbial”.<ref>p. 3 Archer Taylor. 1931. ''The Proverb''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.</ref> Another common definition is from [[Lord John Russell]] (c. 1850) “A proverb is the wit of one, and the wisdom of many.” <ref>p. 25. Wolfgang Mieder. 1993. “The wit of one, and the wisdom of many: General thoughts on the nature of the proverb. ''Proverbs are never out of season: Popular wisdom in the modern age'' 3-40. Oxford University Press.</ref> |
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More constructively, Mieder has proposed the following definition, “A proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed, and memorizable form and which is handed down from generation to generation.”<ref>p. 5. Wolfgang Mieder. 1993. “The wit of one, and the wisdom of many: General thoughts on the nature of the proverb. Proverbs are never out of season: Popular wisdom in the modern age 3-40. Oxford University Press.</ref> Norrick created a table of [[distinctive feature]]s to distinguish proverbs from idioms, cliches, etc.<ref>p. 73. Neil Norrick. 1985. ''How Proverbs Mean: Semantic Studies in English Proverbs''. Amsterdam: Mouton.</ref> Prahlad distinguishes proverbs from some other, closely related types of sayings, “True proverbs must further be distinguished from other types of proverbial speech, e.g. proverbial phrases, [[Wellerism]]s, maxims, quotations, and proverbial comparisons.”<ref>p. 33. Sw. Anand Prahlad. 1996. ''African-American Proverbs in Context''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.</ref> Based on Persian proverbs, Zolfaghari and Ameri propose the following definition: "A proverb is a short sentence, which is well-known and at times rhythmic, including advice, sage themes and ethnic experiences, comprising simile, metaphor or irony which is well-known among people for its fluent wording, clarity of expression, simplicity, expansiveness and generality and is used either with or without change"<ref>p. 107, Hassan Zolfaghari & Hayat Ameri. "Persian Proverbs: Definitions and Characteristics". ''Journal of Islamic and Human Advanced Research'' 2(2012) 93-108.</ref> |
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There are many sayings in English that are commonly referred to as “proverbs”, such as weather sayings. [[Alan Dundes]], however, rejects including such sayings among truly proverbs: “Are weather proverbs proverbs? I would say emphatically 'No!'”<ref>p. 45. Alan Dundes. 1984. On whether weather 'proverbs' are proverbs. ''Proverbium'' 1:39-46. Also, 1989, in ''Folklore Matters'' edited by Alan Dundes, 92-97. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.</ref> The definition of “proverb” has also changed over the years. For example, the following was labeled “A Yorkshire proverb” in 1883, but would not be categorized as a proverb by most today, “as throng as Throp's wife when she hanged herself with a dish-cloth.”<ref>A Yorkshire proverb. 1883. ''The Academy''. July 14, no. 584. p.30.</ref> The changing of the definition of "proverb" is also noted in Turkish.<ref>Ezgi Ulusoy Aranyosi. 2010. "Atasözü neydi, ne oldu?" [“What was, and what now is, a 'proverb'?”]. ''Millî Folklor: International and Quarterly Journal of Cultural Studies'' 11.88: 5-15.</ref> |
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In other languages and cultures, the definition of “proverb” also differs from English. In the [[Chumburung language]] of Ghana, "''aŋase'' are literal proverb and ''akpare'' are metaphoric ones.”<ref>p. 64. Gillian Hansford. 2003. Understanding Chumburung proverbs. ''Journal of West African Languages'' 30.1:57-82.</ref> Among the Bini of Nigeria, there are three words that are used to translate "proverb": ''ere, ivbe'', and ''itan''. The first relates to historical events, the second relates to current events, and the third was “linguistic ornamentation in formal discourse”.<ref>p. 4,5. Daniel Ben-Amos. Introduction: Folklore in African Society. ''Forms of Folklore in Africa'', edited by Bernth Lindfors, pp. 1-36. Austin: University of Texas.</ref> Among the [[Balochi language|Balochi]] of Pakistan and Afghanistan, there is a word ''batal'' for ordinary proverbs and ''bassīttuks'' for "proverbs with background stories".<ref>p. 43. Sabir Badalkhan. 2000. “Ropes break at the weakest point”: Some examples of Balochi proverbs with background stories. ''Proverbium'' 17:43-69.</ref> |
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All of this makes it difficult to come up with a definition of "proverb" that is universally applicable, which brings us back to Taylor's observation, "An incommunicable quality tells us this sentence is proverbial and that one is not.". |
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== Interpretations of proverbs == |
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Interpreting proverbs is often complex. Interpreting proverbs from other cultures is much more difficult than interpreting proverbs in ones own culture. Even within English-speaking cultures, there is difference of opinion on how to interpret the proverb [[A rolling stone gathers no moss]]. Some see it as condemning a person that keeps moving, seeing moss as a positive thing, such as profit; others see it the proverb as praising people that keep moving and developing, seeing moss as a negative thing, such as negative habits. |
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In an extreme example, one researcher working in Ghana found that for a single Akan proverb, twelve different interpretations were given.<ref>Sjaak van der Geest. 1996. The Elder and His Elbow: Twelve Interpretations of an Akan Proverb. ''Research in African Literatures'' Vol. 27, No. 3: 110-118.</ref> Though this is extreme, proverbs can often have multiple interpretations. |
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Children will sometimes interpret proverbs in a literal sense, not yet knowing how to understand the conventionalized metaphor. Interpretation of proverbs is also affected by injuries and diseases of the brain, "A hallmark of schizophrenia is impaired proverb interpretation."<ref name="Michael Kiang 2007">Michael Kiang, et al, Cognitive, neurophysiological, and functional correlates of proverb interpretation abnormalities in schizophrenia. ''Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society'' (2007), 13, 653–663.</ref> |
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== Counter proverbs == |
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There are often proverbs that contradict each other, such as "Look before you leap" and "He who hesitates is lost." These have been labeled "counter proverbs" <ref name="Charles Clay Doyle 2012">Charles Clay Doyle. 2012. Counter proverbs. In ''Doing proverbs and other kinds of folklore'', by Charles Clay Doyle, 32-40. (Supplement series of ''Proverbium'' 33.) Burlington: University of Vermont.</ref> When there are such counter proverbs, each can be used in its own appropriate situation, and neither is intended to be a universal truth. |
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The concept of "counter proverb" is more about pairs of contradictory proverbs than about the use of proverbs to counter each other in an argument. For example, from the [[Tafi language]] of Ghana, the following pair of proverbs are counter to each other but are each used in appropriate contexts, "A co-wife who is too powerful for you, you address her as your mother" and "Do not call your mother’s co-wife your mother..."<ref>p. 425, 421. Mercy Bobuafor. 2013. ''The Grammar of Tafi.'' University of Leiden doctoral dissertation. [https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/20916/bookpart.pdf?sequence=23 link to dissertation]</ref> In Nepali, there is a set of totally contradictory proverbs: "Religion is victorious and sin erodes" and "Religion erodes and sin is victorious".<ref>p. 378. Valerie Inchley. 2010. ''Sitting in my house dreaming of Nepal.'' Kathmandu: EKTA.</ref> |
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Also, the following pair are counter proverbs from the Kasena of Ghana "It is the patient person who will milk a barren cow" and "The person who would milk a barren cow must prepare for a kick on the forehead" <ref>p. 52, Helen Atawube Yitah. 2006. ''Saying Their Own 'truth': Kasena Women's (de)construction of Gender Through Proverbial Jesting.'' Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern California.</ref> The two contradict each other, whether they are used in an argument or not (though indeed they were used in an argument). But the same work contains an appendix with many examples of proverbs used in arguing for contrary positions, but proverbs that are not inherently contradictory,<ref>p. 157-171, Helen Atawube Yitah. 2006. ''Saying Their Own 'truth': Kasena Women's (de)construction of Gender Through Proverbial Jesting.'' Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern California.</ref> such as "One is better off with hope of a cow's return than news of its death" countered by "If you don't know a goat [before its death] you mock at its skin". Though this pair was used in a contradictory way in a conversation, they are not a set of "counter proverbs". |
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Discussing counter proverbs in the [[Badaga language]], Hockings explained that in his large collection "a few proverbs are mutually contradictory... we can be sure that the Badagas do not see the matter that way, and would explain such apparent contradictions by reasoning that proverb ''x'' is used in one context, while ''y'' is used in quite another."<ref>Paul Hockings. 1988. ''Counsel from the ancients: A study of Badaga proverbs, prayers, omens, and curses.'' Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.</ref> Comparing Korean proverbs, "when you compare two proverbs, often they will be contradictory." They are used for "a particular situation".<ref>p. 76. Jeyseon Lee. 2006. In ''Korean language in culture and society,'', ed. by Ho-min Sohn, 74-85. University of Hawai'i Press.</ref> |
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"Counter proverbs" are not the same as a "paradoxical proverb", a proverb that contains a seeming paradox.<ref>Bendt Alster. 1975. Paradoxical Proverbs and Satire in Sumerian Literature. ''Journal of Cuneiform Studies'' 27.4: 201-230.</ref> |
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== Proverbs in drama and film == |
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Similarly to other forms of literature, proverbs have also been used as important units of language in drama and films. This is true from the days of classical Greek works<ref>Russo, Joseph. 1983. The Poetics of the Ancient Greek Proverb. ''Journal of Folklore Research'' |
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Vol. 20, No. 2/3, pp. 121-130</ref> to old French <ref>Wandelt, Oswin. 1887. Sprichwörter und Sentenzen des altfranzösischen Dramas (1100-1400. Dissertation at Marburg Fr. Sömmering.</ref> to Shakespeare,<ref>Wilson, F.P. 1981. The proverbial wisdom of Shakespeare. In ''The Wisdom of Many: Essays on the Proverb'', ed. by Wolfgang Mieder and Alan Dundes, p. 174-189. New York: Garland.</ref> to 19th Century Spanish,<ref>Françoise Cazal. 2012. Los refranes en el Auto de Caín y Abel, de Jaime Ferruz: frontera entre texto dramático y enunciado proverbial. ''Paremia'' 21: 21-32.[http://www.paremia.org/wp-content/uploads/02-CAZAL.pdf Electronic form]</ref> to today. The use of proverbs in drama and film today is still found in languages around the world, such as [[Yoruba language|Yorùbá]].<ref>Akíntúndé Akínyemi. 2007. The use of Yorùbá proverbs in Alin Isola's historical drama ''Madam Tinubu: Terror in Lagos''. ''Proverbium'' 24:17-37.</ref> |
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A film that makes rich use of proverbs is ''[[Forrest Gump]]'', known for both using and creating proverbs.<ref>Stephen David Winick. 1998. "The proverb process: Intertextuality and proverbial innovation in popular culture". University of Pennsylvania dissertation.</ref><ref>Stephen David Winick. 2013. Proverb is as proverb does. ''Proverbium''30:377-428.</ref> Other studies of the use of proverbs in film include work by Kevin McKenna on the Russian film ''[[Aleksandr Nevsky]]'',<ref>Kevin McKenna. 2009. “Proverbs and the Folk Tale in the Russian Cinema: The Case of Sergei Eisenstein’s Film Classic Aleksandr Nevsky.” ''The Proverbial «Pied Piper» A Festschrift Volume of Essays in Honor of Wolfgang Mieder on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth Birthday'', ed. by Kevin McKenna, pp. 277-292. New York, Bern: Peter Lang.</ref> Haase's study of an adaptation of [[Little Red Riding Hood]],<ref>Donald Haase. 1990. Is seeing believing? Proverbs and the adaptation of a fairy tale. ''Proverbium'' 7: 89-104.</ref> Elias Dominguez Barajas on the film ''[[Viva Zapata!]]'',<ref>Elias Dominguez Baraja. 2010. ''The function of proverbs in discourse'', p. 66, 67. Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton.</ref> and Aboneh Ashagrie on ''[[The Athlete]]'' (a movie in Amharic about [[Abebe Bikila]]).<ref>Aboneh Ashagrie. 2013. The Athlete: a movie about the Ethiopian barefooted Olympic champion. ''Journal of African Cultural Studies'' Vol. 25, No. 1, 119–121.</ref> |
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[[File:Dog in manger poster.jpg|thumb|Play poster from 1899.]] |
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In the case of ''[[Forrest Gump]]'', the screenplay by [[Eric Roth]] had more proverbs than the novel by [[Winston Groom]], but for ''[[The Harder They Come]]'', the reverse is true, where the novel derived from the movie by [[Michael Thelwell]] has many more proverbs than the movie.<ref>Coteus, Stephen. 2011. "Trouble never sets like rain": Proverb (in)direction in Michael Thelwell's ''The Harder They Come''. ''Proverbium'' 28:1-30.</ref> |
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[[Éric Rohmer]], the French film director, directed a series of films, the "Comedies and Proverbs", where each film was based on a proverb: ''[[The Aviator's Wife]]'', ''[[Le Beau mariage|The Perfect Marriage]]'', ''[[Pauline at the Beach]]'', ''[[Full Moon in Paris]]'' (the film's proverb was invented by Rohmer himself: "The one who has two wives loses his soul, the one who has two houses loses his mind."), ''[[The Green Ray]]'', ''[[Boyfriends and Girlfriends]]''.<ref>Pym, John. 1986/1987. Silly Girls. ''Sight and Sound'' 56.1:45-48.</ref> |
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Movie titles based on proverbs include ''[[Murder Will Out (1939 film)]]'', ''Try, Try Again'', and ''[[The Harder They Fall]]''. The title of an award-winning Turkish film, [[Three Monkeys]], also invokes a proverb, though the title does not fully quote it. |
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They have also been used as the titles of plays: ''Baby with the Bathwater'' by [[Christopher Durang]], ''Dog Eat Dog'' by [[Mary Gallagher]], and ''[[The Dog in the Manger]]'' by [[Charles Hale Hoyt]]. The use of proverbs as titles for plays is not, of course, limited to English plays: ''Il faut qu'une porte soit ouverte ou fermée'' (A door must be open or closed) by [[Paul de Musset]]. Proverbs have also been used in musical dramas, such as ''The Full Monty'', which has been shown to use proverbs in clever ways.<ref>Konstantinova, Anna. 2012. Proverbs in an American musical: A cognitive-discursive study of "The Full Monty". ''Proverbium'' 29:67-93.</ref> |
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== Proverbs and music == |
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[[File:Spilt Milk albumcover.jpg|left|thumb|"Spilt Milk" album by Jellyfish.]] |
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Proverbs are often poetic in and of themselves, making them ideally suited for adapting into songs. Proverbs have been used in music from opera to country to hip-hop. Proverbs have also been used in music in other languages, such as the [[Akan language]]<ref>p. 95 ff. Kwesi Yankah. 1989. ''The Proverb in the Context of Akan Rhetoric.'' Bern: Peter Lang.</ref> the [[Igede language]],<ref>Ode S. Ogede. 1993. Proverb usage in the praise songs of Igede: ''Adiyah'' poet Micah Ichegbeh. ''Proverbium'' 10:237-256.</ref> and Spanish.<ref>Raúl Eduardo GONZÁLEZ HERNÁNDEZ. Refranes en las canciones de [[Chava Flores]]. ''Paremia'' 20: 2011, pp. 139-148. [http://www.paremia.org/wp-content/uploads/13.GONZALEZ.pdf Electronic access]</ref> |
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English examples of using proverbs in music include [[Elvis Presley]]'s ''Easy come, easy go'', Harold Robe's ''Never swap horses when you're crossing a stream'', Arthur Gillespie's ''Absence makes the heart grow fonder'', [[Bob Dylan]]'s ''Like a rolling stone'', [[Cher]]'s ''Apples don't fall far from the tree''. [[Lynn Anderson]] made famous a song full of proverbs, ''[[Rose Garden (Lynn Anderson song)|I never promised you a rose garden]]'' (written by [[Joe South]]). In choral music, we find [[Michael Torke]]'s ''Proverbs'' for female voice and ensemble. A number of [[Blues]] musicians have also used proverbs extensively.<ref>Taft, Michael. 1994. Proverbs in the Blues. ''Proverbium'' 12: 227-258.</ref><ref>Prahlad, Sw. Anand. 1996. ''African-American Proverbs in Context''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. See pp. 77ff.</ref> The frequent use of proverbs in Country music has led to published studies of proverbs in this genre.<ref>Steven Folsom. 1993. ''A discography of American Country music hits employing proverb: Covering the years 1986-1992. Proceedings for the 1993.'' Conference of the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association, ed. by Sue Poor, pp. 31-42. Stillwater, Oklahoma: The Association.</ref><ref>Florian Gutman. 2007. "Because you're mine, I walk the line" Sprichwörliches in auswegewählten Liedern von Johnny Cash." ''Sprichwörter sind Goldes Wert'', ed. by Wolfgang Mieder, pp. 177-194. (Supplement series of ''Proverbium'' 25). Burlington, VT: University of Vermont.</ref> The [[Reggae]] artist Jahdan Blakkamoore has recorded a piece titled ''Proverbs Remix''. The opera ''Maldobrìe'' contains careful use of proverbs.<ref>V. Dezeljin. 1997. Funzioni testuali dei proverbi nel testo di ''Maldobrìe''. Linguistica (Ljubljana) 37: 89-97.</ref> An extreme example of many proverbs used in composing songs is a song consisting almost entirely of proverbs performed by [[Bruce Springsteen]], "My best was never good enough".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqJeHXifgLk |title=Bruce Springsteen - My Best Was Never Good Enough - Live 2005 (opening night) video |publisher=YouTube |date= |accessdate=2012-09-20}}</ref> [[The Mighty Diamonds]] recorded a song called simply "Proverbs". |
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[[File:Fleet foxes.jpg|thumb|"Fleet Foxes" album cover with ''Netherlandish Proverbs''.]] |
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The band [[Fleet Foxes]] used the proverb painting [[Netherlandish Proverbs]] for the cover of their eponymous album [[Fleet Foxes (album)|Fleet Foxes.]] |
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In addition to proverbs being used in songs themselves, some rock bands have used parts of proverbs as their names, such as the [[Rolling Stones]], [[Bad Company]], [[The Mothers of Invention]], Feast or Famine, [[Of Mice and Men (band)|Of Mice and Men]]. There have been at least two groups that called themselves "The Proverbs". In addition, many albums have been named with allusions to proverbs, such as ''Spilt milk'' (a title used by [[Jellyfish (band)|Jellyfish]] and also [[Kristina Train]]), ''The more things change'' by [[Machine Head (band)|Machine Head]], ''Silk purse'' by [[Linda Ronstadt]], ''Another day, another dollar'' by DJ Scream Roccett, ''The blind leading the naked'' by Vicious Femmes, ''What's good for the goose is good for the gander'' by [[Bobby Rush (musician)|Bobby Rush]], ''Resistance is Futile'' by [[Steve Coleman]], ''Murder will out'' by [[Fan the Fury]]. The proverb ''Feast or famine'' has been used as an album title by [[Feast or Famine (Chuck Ragan album)|Chuck Ragan]], [[Feast or Famine (Reef the Lost Cauze album)|Reef the Lost Cauze]], Indiginus, and DaVinci. [[Whitehorse (band)|Whitehorse]] mixed two proverbs for the name of their album ''Leave no bridge unburned''. The band Splinter Group released an album titled ''When in Rome, Eat Lions''. The band Downcount used a proverb for the name of their tour, ''[[Come and take it]]''. |
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== Sources of proverbs == |
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[[File:Conseil Tenu par les Rats.jpg|left|thumb|"Who will bell the cat?", comes from the end of a story.]] |
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Proverbs come from a variety of sources. Some are, indeed, the result of people pondering and crafting language, such as some by [[Confucius]], [[Plato]], [[Baltasar Gracián]], etc. Others are taken from such diverse sources as poetry,<ref>Korosh Hadissi. 2010. A Socio-Historical Approach to Poetic Origins of Persian Proverbs. ''Iranian Studies'' 43.5: 599-605.</ref> songs, commercials, advertisements, movies, literature, etc.<ref>Doyle, Charles Clay, Wolfgang Mieder, [[Fred R. Shapiro]]. 2012. ''The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs.'' New Haven: Yale University Press.</ref> A number of the well known sayings of Jesus, Shakespeare, and others have become proverbs, though they were original at the time of their creation, and many of these sayings were not seen as proverbs when they were first coined. Many proverbs are also based on stories, often the end of a story. For example, the proverb "[[Belling the cat|Who will bell the cat]]?" is from the end of a story about the mice planning how to be safe from the cat. |
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[[File:Not all who wander are lost.png|thumb|thumb|Created proverb from [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''Lord of the Rings'', now used in society, on a bumper sticker.]] |
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Some authors have created proverbs in their writings, such a J.R.R. Tolkien,<ref name="Michael Stanton 1996">Michael Stanton. 1996. Advice is a dangerous gift. ''Proverbium'' 13: 331-345</ref><ref name="Trokhimenko, Olga 2003">Trokhimenko, Olga. 2003. “If You Sit on the Doorstep Long Enough, You Will Think of Something”: The Function of Proverbs in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Hobbit.” ''[[Proverbium (journal)]]''20: 367-378.</ref> and some of these proverbs have made their way into broader society, such as the bumper sticker pictured here. Similarly, C.S. Lewis' created proverb about a lobster in a pot, from the ''Chronicles of Narnia'', has also gained currency.<ref>Peter Unseth. 2014. A created proverb in a novel becomes broadly used in society: “‛Easily in but not easily out’, as the lobster said in his lobster pot.” ''Crossroads: A Journal of English Studies'' [http://www.crossroads.uwb.edu.pl/category/issue-22014/page/2/ online access]</ref> In cases like this, deliberately created proverbs for fictional societies have become proverbs in real societies. In a fictional story set in a real society, the movie ''Forrest Gump'' introduced "Life is like a box of chocolates" into broad society. |
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Though many proverbs are ancient, they were all newly created at some point by somebody. Sometimes it is easy to detect that a proverb is newly coined by a reference to something recent, such as the Haitian proverb "The fish that is being microwaved doesn't fear the lightning".<ref>p. 325, Linda Tavernier-Almada. 1999. Prejudice, power, and poverty in Haiti: A study of a nation's culture as seen through its proverbs. ''Proverbium'' 16:325-350.</ref> Also, there is a proverb in the [[Kafa language]] of Ethiopia that refers to the forced military conscription of the 1980s, "...the one who hid himself lived to have children."<ref>Mesfin Wodajo. 2012. ''Functions and Formal and Stylistic Features of Kafa Proverbs''. LAP Lambert Academic Publishing.</ref> A Mongolian proverb also shows evidence of recent origin, "A beggar who sits on gold; Foam rubber piled on edge."<ref>p. 22, Janice Raymond. ''Mongolian Proverbs: A window into their world.'' San Diego: Alethinos Books.</ref> A political candidate in Kenya popularised a new proverb in his 1995 campaign, ''Chuth ber'' "Immediacy is best". "The proverb has since been used in other contexts to prompt quick action."<ref>p. 68. Okumba Miruka. 2001. ''Oral Literature of the Luo''. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers.</ref> Over 1,400 new English proverbs are said to have been coined in the 20th century.<ref>Charles Clay Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, Fred R. Shapiro. 2012. ''The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs.'' Yale University Press.</ref> This process of creating proverbs is always ongoing, so that possible new proverbs are being created constantly. Those sayings that are adopted and used by an adequate number of people become proverbs in that society. |
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== Paremiological minimum == |
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Grigorii Permjakov<ref>[http://www2.arnes.si/~bridges/proverb_wisdom.htm Photo and Web page about Permjakov]</ref> developed the concept of the core set of proverbs that full members of society know, what he called the "paremiological minimum" (1979). For example, an adult American is expected to be familiar with "Birds of a feather flock together", part of the American paremiological minimum. However, an average adult American is not expected to know "Fair in the cradle, foul in the saddle", an old English proverb that is not part of the current American paremiological minimum. Thinking more widely than merely proverbs, Permjakov observed "every adult Russian language speaker (over 20 years of age) knows no fewer than 800 proverbs, proverbial expressions, popular literary quotations and other forms of cliches".<ref>p. 91 Grigorii L'vovich Permiakov. 1989. On the question of a Russian paremiological minimum. ''Proverbium'' 6:91-102.</ref> Studies of the paremiological minimum have been done for a limited number of languages, including Russian,<ref>Grigorii L'vovich Permiakov. 1989. On the question of a Russian paremiological minimum. ''Proverbium'' 6:91-102.</ref> Hungarian,<ref>Katalin Vargha, Anna T. Litovkina. 2007. Proverb is as proverb does: A preliminary analysis of a survey on the use of Hungarian proverbs and anti-proverbs. ''Acta Ethnographica Hungarica'' 52.1: 135-155.</ref><ref>Forgács, Tomás. 2014. Über das Parömische minimum des Ungarischen. ''Proverbium'' 31:255-278.</ref> Czech,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ucnk.ff.cuni.cz/doc/parmin.rtf |title=Paremiological Minimum of Czech: The Corpus Evidence - 1. INTRODUCTION. DATA FOR PROVERB RESEARCH |publisher=Ucnk.ff.cuni.cz |accessdate=2012-09-20}}</ref> Somali,<ref>[http://kapchits.narod.ru/someresults.do]{{dead link|date=November 2011}}</ref> Nepali,<ref>pp. 389-490, Valerie Inchley. 2010. ''Sitting in my house dreaming of Nepal.'' Kathmandu: EKTA.</ref> Gujarati,<ref>Doctor, Raymond. 2005. Towards a Paremiological Minimum For Gujarati Proverbs. ''Proverbium'' 22:51-70.</ref> Spanish,<ref>Julia SEVILLA MUÑOZ. 2010. El refranero hoy. ''Paremia'' 19: 215-226.</ref> and [[Esperanto]].<ref>Fielder, Sabine. 1999. Phraseology in planned languages. ''[[Language Problems and Language Planning]]'' 23.2: 175-87, see p. 178.</ref> Two noted examples of attempts to establish a paremiological minimum in America are by Haas (2008) and [[E. D. Hirsch, Jr.|Hirsch]], Kett, and Trefil (1988), the latter more prescriptive than descriptive. There is not yet a recognized standard method for calculating the paremiological minimum, as seen by comparing the various efforts to establish the paremiological minimum in a number of languages. |
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== Proverbs in visual form == |
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[[Image:Hornets.nest.JPG|left|thumb|Thai ceramic, illustrating "Don't torch a stump with a hornet nest."]] |
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[[Image:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Dutch Proverbs - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[Netherlandish Proverbs]]'', 1559, with peasant scenes illustrating over 100 proverbs]] |
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[[File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1568) The Blind Leading the Blind.jpg|left|thumb|[[The Blind Leading the Blind]] painted by Bruegel]] |
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From ancient times, people around the world have recorded proverbs in visual form. This has been done in two ways. First, proverbs have been ''written'' to be displayed, often in a decorative manner, such as on pottery, cross-stitch, murals,<ref>Victor Khachan. 2012. Courtroom proverbial murals in Lebanon: a semiotic reconstruction of justice. ''Social Semiotics'' DOI:10.1080/10350330.2012.665262</ref><ref>Martin Charlot. 2007. ''Local Traffic Only: Proverbs Hawaiian Style.'' Watermark Publishing.</ref> [[Kanga (African garment)|kangas]] (East African women's wraps),<ref>Rose Marie Beck. 2000. Aesthetics of Communication: Texts on Textiles (Leso) from the East African Coast (Swahili). ''Research in African Literatures'' 31.4: 104-124)</ref> and [[quilt]]s.<ref>MacDowell, Marsha and Wolfgang Mieder. “‘When Life Hands You Scraps, Make a Quilt’: Quiltmakers and the Tradition of Proverbial Inscriptions.” ''Proverbium'' 27 (2010), 113-172.</ref> |
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[[File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder- Big Fish Eat Little Fish.JPG|thumb|Big Fishes Eat Little Fishes]] |
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Secondly, proverbs have often been visually depicted in a variety of media, including paintings, etchings, and sculpture. [[Jakob Jordaens]] painted a plaque with a proverb about drunkenness above a drunk man wearing a crown, titled ''The King Drinks''. Probably the most famous examples of depicting proverbs are the different versions of the paintings ''[[Netherlandish Proverbs]]'' by the father and son [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder]] and [[Pieter Brueghel the Younger]], the proverbial meanings of these paintings being the subject of a 2004 conference, which led to a published volume of studies (Mieder 2004a). The same father and son also painted versions of [[The Blind Leading the Blind]], a Biblical proverb. These and similar paintings inspired another famous painting depicting some proverbs and also idioms (leading to a series of additional paintings) ''[[Proverbidioms]]'' by [[T. E. Breitenbach]]. Another painting inspired by Bruegel's work is by the Chinese artist, Ah To, who created a painting illustrating 81 Cantonese sayings.<ref>[https://writecantonese8.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/cantonese-proverbs-in-one-picture/ Painting of Cantonese proverbs]</ref> Corey Barksdale has produced a book of paintings with specific proverbs and pithy quotations.<ref>Corey Barksdale. 2011. ''Art & Inspirational Proverbs''. Lulu.com.</ref> The British artist [[Chris Gollon]] has painted a major work entitled "Big Fish Eat Little Fish", a title echoing Bruegel's painting Big Fishes Eat Little Fishes. |
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[[File:Oliver Pelton - Benjamin Franklin - Poor Richard's Almanac Illustrated.jpg|thumb| Illustrations showing proverbs from Ben Franklin]] |
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[[Image:Three wise monkeys figure.JPG|thumb|[[Three wise monkeys]], invoking a proverb, with no text.]] |
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Sometimes well-known proverbs are pictured on objects, without a text actually quoting the proverb, such as the [[three wise monkeys]] who remind us "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil". When the proverb is well known, viewers are able to recognize the proverb and understand the image appropriately, but if viewers do not recognize the proverb, much of the effect of the image is lost. For example, there is a Japanese painting in the [[Ōmiya Bonsai Village|Bonsai museum]] in [[Saitama, Saitama|Saitama city]] that depicted flowers on a dead tree, but only when the curator learned the ancient (and no longer current) proverb "Flowers on a dead tree" did the curator understand the deeper meaning of the painting.<ref>p. 426. Yoko Mori. 2012. Review of ''Dictionary of Japanese Illustrated Proverbs''. ''Proverbium'' 29:435-456.</ref> |
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A bibliography on proverbs in visual form has been prepared by Mieder and Sobieski (1999). Interpreting visual images of proverbs is subjective, but familiarity with the depicted proverb helps.<ref>pp. 203-213. Richard Honeck. 1997. ''A Proverb in Mind''. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.</ref> |
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In an [[abstract art|abstract]] non-representational visual work, sculptor [[Mark di Suvero]] has created a sculpture titled "Proverb", which is located in Dallas, TX, near the [[Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center]]. |
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Some artists have used proverbs and anti-proverbs for titles of their paintings, alluding to a proverb rather than picturing it. For example, [[Vivienne LeWitt]] painted a piece titled "If the shoe doesn’t fit, must we change the foot?", which shows neither foot nor shoe, but a woman counting her money as she contemplates different options when buying vegetables.<ref>{{cite web|author=database and e-research tool for art and design researchers |url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/work/if-the-shoe-doesnt-fit-must-we-change-the-foot/ |title=If the shoe doesn’t fit, must we change the foot? |work=Design and Art Australia Online |publisher=Daao.org.au |date=2012-10-20 |accessdate=2013-08-30}}</ref> |
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== Proverbs in cartoons == |
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Cartoonists, both editorial and pure humorists, have often used proverbs, sometimes primarily building on the text, sometimes primarily on the situation visually, the best cartoons combining both. Not surprisingly, cartoonists often twist proverbs, such as visually depicting a proverb literally or twisting the text as an anti-proverb.<ref>Trokhimenko, Olga V. 1999.”Wie ein Elefant im Porzellanlande”: Ursprung, Überlieferung und Gebrauch der Redensart in Deutschen un im Englischen. ''Proverbium'' 16: 351-380</ref> An example with all of these traits is a cartoon showing a waitress delivering two plates with worms on them, telling the customers, "Two early bird specials... here ya go."<ref>The Argyle Sweater, May 1, 2011.</ref> |
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The traditional [[Three wise monkeys]] were depicted in [[Bizarro]] with different labels. Instead of the negative imperatives, the one with ears covered bore the sign “See and speak evil”, the one with eyes covered bore the sign “See and hear evil”, etc. The caption at the bottom read “The power of positive thinking.”<ref>June 26, 2011.</ref> Another cartoon showed a customer in a pharmacy telling a pharmacist, “I'll have an ounce of prevention.”<ref>p. 126. Wolfgang Mieder. 1993. ''Proverbs are never out of season.'' New York: Oxford University Press.</ref> The comic strip [[The Argyle Sweater]] showed an Egyptian archeologist loading a mummy on the roof of a vehicle, refusing the offer of a rope to tie it on, with the caption “A fool and his mummy are soon parted.”<ref>Aug 26, 2012.</ref> The comic [[One Big Happy (comic strip)|One Big Happy]] showed a conversation where one person repeatedly posed part of various proverb and the other tried to complete each one, resulting in such humorous results as “Don't change horses... unless you can lift those heavy diapers.”<ref>July 8, 2012</ref> |
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[[Editorial cartoon]]s can use proverbs to make their points with extra force as they can invoke the wisdom of society, not just the opinion of the editors.<ref>Weintraut, Edward James. 1999. “Michel und Mauer”: Post-Unification Germany as seen through Editorial Cartoons. Die Unterrichtspraxis 32.2: 143-150.</ref> In an example that invoked a proverb only visually, when a US government agency ([[General Services Administration|GSA]]) was caught spending money extravagantly, a cartoon showed a [[The pot calling the kettle black|black pot]] labeled “Congress” telling a black kettle labeled “GSA”, “Stop wasting the taxpayers' money!”<ref>Dana Summers, Orlando Sentinel, Aug 20, 2012.</ref> It may have taken some readers a moment of pondering to understand it, but the impact of the message was the stronger for it. |
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Cartoons with proverbs are so common that Wolfgang Mieder has published a collected volume of them, many of them [[editorial cartoons]]. For example, a German editorial cartoon linked a current politician to the Nazis, showing him with a bottle of swastika-labeled wine and the caption “[[In vino veritas]].” <ref>p. 389. Wolfgang Mieder. 2013. ''Neues von Sisyphus: Sprichwörtliche Mythen der Anike in moderner Literatur, Medien und Karikaturen.'' Bonn: Praesens.</ref> |
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One cartoonist very self-consciously drew and wrote cartoons based on proverbs for the University of Vermont student newspaper ''The Water Tower'', under the title "Proverb place".<ref>Brienne Toomey. 2013. Old wisdom reimagined: Proverbial cartoons for university students. ''Proverbium'' 30: 333-346.</ref> |
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== Applications of proverbs == |
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[[Image:Blood chit3.jpg|thumb|left|[[Blood chit]] used by WWII US pilots fighting in China, in case they were shot down by the Japanese. This leaflet to the Chinese depicts an American aviator being carried by two Chinese civilians. Text is "Plant melons and harvest melons, plant peas and harvest peas," a Chinese proverb equivalent to "[[As You Sow, So Shall You Reap]]".]] |
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[[File:Oak Ridge Wise Monkeys.jpg|thumb|right|Billboard outside defense plant during WWII, invoking the proverb of the [[three wise monkeys]] to urge security.]] |
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There is a growing interest in deliberately using proverbs to achieve goals, usually to support and promote changes in society. On the negative side, this was deliberately done by the Nazis.<ref>Mieder, Wolfgang. 1982. Proverbs in Nazi Germany: The Promulgation of Anti-Semitism and Stereotypes Through Folklore. ''The Journal of American Folklore'' 95, No. 378, pp. 435–464.</ref> On the more positive side, proverbs have also been used for constructive purposes. For example, proverbs have been used for teaching foreign languages at various levels.<ref>Wilson, April. 2004. Good Proverbs Make Good Students: Using Proverbs to Teach German Quickly. ''Proverbium: Yearbook of International Proverb Scholarship'' 21: 345-70.</ref><ref>Cieslicka, Anna. 2002. Comprehension and Interpretation of Proverbs in L2. Studia Anglica Posnaniensia: An International Review of English Studies 37: 173-200.</ref> In addition, proverbs have been used for public health promotion, such as promoting breast feeding with a shawl bearing a Swahili proverb “Mother’s milk is sweet”.<ref>[http://massbreastfeeding.org/aboutKanga.html] {{wayback|url=http://massbreastfeeding.org/aboutKanga.html |date=20130724213805 }}</ref> Proverbs have also been applied for helping people manage diabetes,<ref>Hendricks, Leo and Rosetta Hendricks. 1994. Efficacy of a day treatment program in management of diabetes for aging African Americans. In Vera Jackson, ed., ''Aging Families and the Use of Proverbs'', 41-52. New York: The Haworth Press.</ref> to combat prostitution,<ref>Grady, Sandra. 2006. Hidden in decorative sight: Textile lore as proverbial communication among East African women. ''Proverbium'' 23: 169-190.</ref> and for community development.,<ref>Chindogo, M. 1997. Grassroot development facilitators and traditional local wisdom: the case of Malawi. ''Embracing the Baobab Tree: The African proverb in the 21st century'', ed. by Willem Saayman, 125-135. (African Proverbs Series.) Pretoria: Unisa Press.</ref> to resolve conflicts,<ref>Aden Muktar Barre. 2010. ''Proverbs as artistic discourse strategy in conflict resolution among Kenya Somali''. Doctoral thesis, Kenyatta University.</ref> and to slow the transmission of HIV.<ref>Malinga-Musamba, Tumani and Poloko N. Ntshwarang. 2014. The Role of Cultural Proverbs and Myths in Shaping Sexual Worldviews of Adolescents in Botswana. ''Social Work in Public Health'' 29: 232-239.</ref> |
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The most active field deliberately using proverbs is Christian ministry, where [[Joseph G. Healey]] and others have deliberately worked to catalyze the [[Paremiography|collection of proverbs]] from smaller languages and the application of them in a wide variety of church-related ministries, resulting in publications of collections<ref>Atido , George Pirwoth. 2011. Insights from Proverbs of the Alur in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Collaboration with African Proverb Saying and Stories, www.afriprov.org. Nairobi, Kenya.</ref> and applications.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afriprov.org/ |title=African Proverbs, Sayings and Stories |publisher=Afriprov.org |date= |accessdate=2012-09-20}}</ref><ref>Moon, Jay. 2009. ''African Proverbs Reveal Christianity in Culture'' (American Society of Missiology Monograph, 5). Pickwick Publications.</ref> This attention to proverbs by those in Christian ministries is not new, many pioneering proverb collections having been collected and published by Christian workers.<ref>Christaller, Johann. 1879. ''Twi mmebuse̲m, mpensã-ahansĩa mmoaano: A collection of three thousand and six hundred Tshi proverbs, in use among the Negroes of the Gold coast speaking the Asante and Fante language, collected, together with their variations, and alphabetically arranged''. Basel: The Basel German Evangelical Missionary Society.</ref><ref>Bailleul, Charles. 2005. ''Sagesse Bambara - Proverbes et sentences''. Bamako, Mali: Editions Donniya.</ref><ref>Johnson, William F. 1892. ''Hindi Arrows for the Preacher's Bow''. (Dharma Dowali) Allahabad, India: Christian Literature Society.</ref><ref>Houlder, J[ohn]. A[lden] (1885-1960). 1960. ''Ohabolana ou proverbes malgaches''. Antananarivo: Imprimerie Luthérienne.</ref> |
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U.S. Navy Captain [[Edward Zellem]] pioneered the use of [[Afghan proverbs]] as a positive relationship-building tool during the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|war in Afghanistan]], and in 2012 he published two bilingual collections<ref>Zellem, Edward. 2012. {{cite web|url=http://www.afghanproverbs.com|title=''Zarbul Masalha: 151 Afghan Dari Proverbs''|publisher=Charleston: CreateSpace}}</ref><ref>Zellem, Edward. 2012. {{cite web|url=http://www.afghanproverbs.com|title=''Afghan Proverbs Illustrated''|publisher=Charleston: CreateSpace}}, now also available with translations into German, French, and Russian.</ref> of Afghan proverbs in [[Dari Persian|Dari]] and English, part of an effort of nationbuilding, followed by a volume of [[Pashto]] proverbs in 2014.<ref>Edward Zellem. 2014. ''Mataluna: 151 Afghan Pashto Proverbs.'' Tampa: Cultures Direct Press.</ref> |
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== Borrowing and spread of proverbs == |
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[[File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1568) The Blind Leading the Blind.jpg|thumb|"The blind leading the blind", a Biblical saying that has spread across Europe, but is also found in India's ''Upanishads''. First origin is indeterminate.]] |
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Proverbs are often and easily translated and transferred from one language into another. “There is nothing so uncertain as the derivation of proverbs, the same proverb being often found in all nations, and it is impossible to assign its paternity.”<ref>p. ii. Thomas Fielding. 1825. Select proverbs of all nations. New York: Covert.</ref> |
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Proverbs are often borrowed across lines of language, religion, and even time. For example, a proverb of the approximate form “No flies enter a mouth that is shut” is currently found in Spain, France, Ethiopia, and many countries in between. It is embraced as a true local proverb in many places and should not be excluded in any collection of proverbs because it is shared by the neighbors. However, though it has gone through multiple languages and millennia, the proverb can be traced back to an ancient Babylonian proverb (Pritchard 1958:146). |
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In the [[Alaba-K’abeena language|Alaaba]] and Gurage languages of south central Ethiopia, there is a proverb, “The she-dog [bitch], because she is in extreme hurry gives birth to blind (ones).”<ref>Gertrud Schneider-Blum. 2009. ''Máakuti t’awá shuultáa: Proverbs finish the problems: Sayings of the Alaaba (Ethiopia)''. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag and p. 36, Fekede Menuta. 2014. Discourses of Development in Gurage Proverbs. ''Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences and Language Studies'' 1(1), 25-40.</ref> It is also found in [[Pashto language]] of Afghanistan.<ref>p. 90. Bartlotti, Leonard and Raj Wali Shah Khattak. 2006. ''Rohi Mataluna'', revised and expanded ed. Peshawar, Pakistan: Interlit and Pashto Academy, Peshawar University.</ref> Erasmus also gave a Latin form of it in his ''Adagia'', "Canis festinans caecos parit catulos". This proverb is also well attested in ancient Greek and even Akkadian texts, where Moran gives it as “The bitch by her acting too hastily brought forth the blind”.<ref>p. 18, Moran, William L. 1978. An Assyriological gloss on the new Archilochus fragment. ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'' 82: 17-19.</ref> Alster, documenting an Akkadian inscription, classified this proverb as having “a longer history than any other recorded proverb in the world”, going back to “around 1800 BC”.<ref>p. 5, Alster, Bendt. 1979. An Akkadian and a Greek proverb. A comparative study. ''Die Welt des Orients'' 10:1-5.</ref> |
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Another example of a widely spread proverb is “A drowning person clutches at [frogs] foam”, found in Peshai of Afghanistan<ref>p. 67. Ju-Hong Yun and Pashai Language Committee. 2010. On a mountain there is still a road. Peshawar, Pakistan: InterLit Foundation.</ref> and Orma of Kenya,<ref>p. 24. Calvin C. Katabarwa and Angelique Chelo. 2012. Wisdom from Orma, Kenya proverbs and wise sayings. Nairobi: African Proverbs Working Group. http://www.afriprov.org/images/afriprov/books/wisdomofOrmaproverbs.pdf</ref> and presumably places in between. |
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Proverbs about one hand clapping are common across Asia,<ref>Kamil V. Zvelebil. 1987. The Sound of the One Hand. Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 107, No. 1, pp. 125-126.</ref> from Dari in Afghanistan <ref>p. 16, Edward Zellem. 2012. Zarbul Masalha: 151 Aghan Dari proverbs.</ref> to Japan.<ref>p. 164. Philip B. Yampolsky, (trans.). 1977. The Zen Master Hakuin: Selected Writings. New York, Columbia University Press.</ref> |
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Some studies have been done devoted to the spread of proverbs in certain regions, such as India and her neighbors<ref>Ludwik Sternbach. 1981. Indian Wisdom and Its Spread beyond India. Journal of the American Oriental Society Vol. 101, No. 1, pp. 97-131.</ref> and Europe.<ref>Matti Kuusi; Marje Joalaid; Elsa Kokare; Arvo Krikmann; Kari Laukkanen; Pentti Leino; Vaina Mālk; Ingrid Sarv. Proverbia Septentrionalia. ''900 Balto-Finnic Proverb Types with Russian, Baltic, German and Scandinavian Parallels''. Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia (1985)</ref> |
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An extreme example of the borrowing and spread of proverbs was the work done to create a corpus of proverbs for [[Esperanto]], where all the proverbs were translated from other languages.<ref>Fiedler, Sabine. 1999. Phraseology in planned languages. Language problems and language planning 23.2: ??.</ref> |
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It is often not possible to trace the direction of borrowing a proverb between languages. This is complicated by the fact that the borrowing may have been through plural languages. In some cases, it is possible to make a strong case for discerning the direction of the borrowing based on an artistic form of the proverb in one language, but a prosaic form in another language. For example, in Ethiopia there is a proverb “Of mothers and water, there is none evil.” It is found in [[Amharic]], [[Alaba-K’abeena language|Alaaba language]], and [[Oromo language|Oromo]], three languages of Ethiopia: |
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*Oromo: ''Hadhaa fi bishaan, hamaa hin qaban.'' |
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*Amharic: ''Käənnatənna wəha, kəfu yälläm.'' |
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*Alaaba" ''Wiihaa ʔamaataa hiilu yoosebaʔa''<ref>p. 92. Gertrud Schneider-Blum. 2009. ''Máakuti t’awá shuultáa: Proverbs finish the problems: Sayings of the Alaaba (Ethiopia)''. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.</ref> |
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The Oromo version uses poetic features, such as the initial ''ha'' in both clauses with the final ''-aa'' in the same word, and both clauses ending with ''-an''. Also, both clauses are built with the vowel ''a'' in the first and last words, but the vowel ''i'' in the one syllable central word. In contrast, the Amharic and Alaaba versions of the proverb show little evidence of sound-based art. Based on the verbal artistry of the Oromo, it appears that the Oromo form is prior to the Alaaba or Amharic, though it could be borrowed from yet another language. |
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== Are cultural values reflected in proverbs? == |
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There is a longstanding debate among proverb scholars as to whether the cultural values of specific language communities are reflected (to varying degree) in their proverbs. Many claim that the proverbs of a particular culture reflect the values of that specific culture, at least to some degree. Many writers have asserted that the proverbs of their cultures reflect their culture and values; this can be seen in such titles as the following: ''An introduction to Kasena society and culture through their proverbs'',<ref>Albert Kanlisi Awedoba. 2000. University Press Of America</ref> Prejudice, power, and poverty in Haiti: a study of a nation's culture as seen through its proverbs,<ref>Linda Tavernier-Almada. 1999. Prejudice, power, and poverty in Haiti: a study of a nation’s culture as seen through its proverbs. ''Proverbium: Yearbook of International Proverb Scholarship'' 16:325-350.</ref> Proverbiality and worldview in Maltese and Arabic proverbs,<ref>Ġorġ Mifsud-Chircop. 2001. Proverbiality and Worldview in Maltese and Arabic Proverbs. ''Proverbium: Yearbook of International Proverb Scholarship'' 18:247–55.</ref> Fatalistic traits in Finnish proverbs,<ref>Maati Kuusi. 1994. Fatalistic Traits in Finnish Proverbs. ''The Wisdom of Many. Essays on the Proverb'', Eds. Wolfgang Mieder and Alan Dundes, 275-283. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press. (Originally in ''Fatalistic Beliefs in Religion, Folklore and Literature'', Ed. Helmer Ringgren. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1967. 89-96.</ref> ''Vietnamese cultural patterns and values as expressed in proverbs'',<ref>Huynh Dinh Te. 1962. ''Vietnamese cultural patterns and values as expressed in proverbs''. Doctoral dissertation, Columbia University.</ref> ''The Wisdom and Philosophy of the Gikuyu proverbs: The Kihooto worldview'',<ref>Gerald J. Wanjohi. 1997. ''The Wisdom and Philosophy of the Gikuyu Proverbs: The Kihooto Worldview''. Nairobi, Paulines.</ref> and "How Russian Proverbs Present the Russian National Character".<ref>Gibian, George. How Russian Proverbs Present the Russian National Character. ''Russianness: Studies on a Nation’s Identity''. Ed. Robert L. Belknap. Ann Arbor (1990): 38-43.</ref> |
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However, a number of scholars argue that such claims are not valid. They have used a variety of arguments. Grauberg argues that since many proverbs are so widely circulated they are reflections of broad human experience, not any one culture's unique viewpoint.<ref>Walter Grauberg. 1989. Proverbs and idioms: mirrors of national experience? ''Lexicographers and their works'', ed. by Gregory James, 94-99. Exeter: University of Exeter.</ref> Related to this line of argument, from a collection of 199 American proverbs, Jente showed that only 10 were coined in the USA, so that most of these proverbs would not reflect uniquely American values.<ref>Richard Jente. 1931-1932. The American Proverb. ''American Speech'' 7:342-348.</ref> Giving another line of reasoning that proverbs should not be trusted as a simplistic guide to cultural values, Mieder once observed “proverbs come and go, that is, antiquated proverbs with messages and images we no longer relate to are dropped from our proverb repertoire, while new proverbs are created to reflect the mores and values of our time”,<ref>Wolfgang Mieder. 1993. ''Proverbs are never out of season: Popular wisdom in the modern age''. New York: Oxford University Press.</ref> so old proverbs still in circulation might reflect past values of a culture more than its current values. Also, within any language’s proverb repertoire, there may be “counter proverbs”, proverbs that contradict each other on the surface<ref name="Charles Clay Doyle 2012"/> (see section above). When examining such counter proverbs, it is difficult to discern an underlying cultural value. With so many barriers to a simple calculation of values directly from proverbs, some feel "one cannot draw conclusions about values of speakers simply from the texts of proverbs".<ref>p. 261. Sw. Anand Prahlad. 1996. ''African American Proverbs in Context''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.</ref> |
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Many outsiders have studied proverbs to discern and understand cultural values and world view of cultural communities.<ref>Niemeyer, Larry L., "Proverbs : tools for world view studies : an exploratory comparison of the Bemba of Zambia and the Shona of Zimbabwe" (1982). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 886. http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/886</ref> These outsider scholars are confident that they have gained insights into the local cultures by studying proverbs, but this is not universally accepted. |
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Seeking empirical evidence to evaluate the question of whether proverbs reflect a culture’s values, some have counted the proverbs that support various values. For example, Moon lists what he sees as the top ten core cultural values of the [[Builsa]] society of Ghana, as exemplified by proverbs. He found that 18% of the proverbs he analyzed supported the value of being a member of the community, rather than being independent.<ref>p. 134. W. Jay Moon. 2009. ''African Proverbs Reveal Christianity in Culture: A Narrative Portrayal of Builsa Proverbs''. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications.</ref> This was corroboration to other evidence that collective community membership is an important value among the Builsa. In studying Tajik proverbs, Bell notes that the proverbs in his corpus “Consistently illustrate Tajik values” and “The most often observed proverbs reflect the focal and specific values” discerned in the thesis <ref>p. 139 & 157. Evan Bell. 2009. ''An analysis of Tajik proverbs''. Masters thesis, Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics.</ref> |
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A study of English proverbs created since 1900 showed in the 1960s a sudden and significant increase in proverbs that reflected more casual attitudes toward sex.<ref>p. 120. Peter Unseth. Review of ''Dictionary of Modern Proverbs''. ''American Speech'' 90.1:117-121.</ref> Since the 1960s was also the decade of the [[Sexual revolution]], this shows a strong statistical link between the changed values of the decades and a change in the proverbs coined and used. |
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There are many examples where cultural values have been explained and illustrated by proverbs. For example, from India, the concept that birth determines one's nature "is illustrated in the oft-repeated proverb: there can be no friendship between grass-eaters and meat-eaters, between a food and its eater".<ref>p. 22, [[Patrick Olivelle]]. 2013. Talking Animals: Explorations in an Indian Literary Genre. ''Religions of South Asia'' 7.14-26.</ref> Proverbs have been used to explain and illustrate the [[Fula people|Fulani]] cultural value of ''pulaaku''.<ref>Rudolf Leger and Abubakar B. Mohammad. 2000. The concept of pulaaku mirrored in Fulfulde proverbs of the Gombe dialect. ''Berichte des Sonderforschungsbereichs 268, Band 14, Frankfurt a.M. 2000: 299-306.</ref> But using proverbs to ''illustrate'' a cultural value is not the same as using a collection of proverbs to ''discern'' cultural values. In a comparative study between Spanish and Jordanian proverbs it is defined the social imagination for the mother as an archetype in the context of role transformation and in contrast with the roles of husband, son and brother, in two societies which might be occasionally associated with sexist and /or rural ideologies.<ref>Sbaihat, Ahlam (2012). La imagen de la madre en el refranero español y jordano. Estudio de Paremiología comparada. España: Sociedad Española de Estudios Literarios de Cultura Popular, Oceanide, 5.</ref> |
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Some scholars have adopted a cautious approach, acknowledging at least a genuine, though limited, link between cultural values and proverbs: “The cultural portrait painted by proverbs may be fragmented, contradictory, or otherwise at variance with reality... but must be regarded not as accurate renderings but rather as tantalizing shadows of the culture which spawned them.”<ref>p. 173.Sheila K. Webster. 1982. Women, Sex, and Marriage in Moroccan Proverbs. ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'' 14:173-184.</ref> There is not yet agreement on the issue of whether, and how much, cultural values are reflected in a culture's proverbs. |
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It is clear that the Soviet Union believed that proverbs had a direct link to the values of a culture, as they used them to try to create changes in the values of cultures within their sphere of domination. Sometimes they took old Russian proverbs and altered them into socialist forms.<ref>p. 84ff. Andrey Reznikov. 2009. ''Old wine in new bottles: Modern Russian anti-proverbs.'' (Supplement Series of ''Proverbium'', 27.) Burlington, VT: University of Vermont</ref> These new proverbs promoted Socialism and its attendant values, such as atheism and collectivism, e.g. “Bread is given to us not by Christ, but by machines and collective farms” and “A good harvest is had only by a collective farm.” They did not limit their efforts to Russian, but also produced “newly coined proverbs that conformed to socialist thought” in Tajik and other languages of the USSR.<ref>Evan Bell. 2009. ''An analysis of Tajik proverbs''. Masters thesis, Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics.</ref> |
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== Proverbs and religion == |
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[[File:Proverb scroll.PNG|thumb|Scroll of the Biblical ''Book of Proverbs'']] |
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Many proverbs from around the world address matters of ethics and expected of behavior. Therefore, it is not surprising that proverbs are often important texts in religions. The most obvious example is the [[Book of Proverbs]] in the Bible. Additional proverbs have also been coined to support religious values, such as the following from [[Dari Persian|Dari]] of Afghanistan:<ref>p. 54, J. Christy Wilson, Jr. 2004. ''One hundred Afghan Persian proverbs'' 3rd, edition. Peshawar, Pakistan: InterLit Foundation.</ref> "In childhood you're playful, In youth you're lustful, In old age you're feeble, So when will you before God be worshipful?" |
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Clearly proverbs in religion are not limited to monotheists; among the Badaga of India (Sahivite Hindus), there is a traditional proverb "Catch hold of and join with the man who has placed sacred ash [on himself]."<ref>p. 601, Paul Hockings. 1988. ''Counsel from the Ancients: A study of Badaga proverbs, prayers, omens and curses''. Berlin: de Gruyter.</ref> Proverbs are widely associated with large religions that draw from sacred books, but they are also used for religious purposes among groups with their own traditional religions, such as the Guji Oromo.<ref name="Tadesse Jaleta Jirata 2009">Tadesse Jaleta Jirata. 2009. A contextual study of the social functions of Guji-Oromo proverbs. Saabruecken: DVM Verlag.</ref> The broadest comparative study of proverbs across religions is ''The eleven religions and their proverbial lore, a comparative study. A reference book to the eleven surviving major religions of the world'' by Selwyn Gurney Champion, from 1945. Some sayings from sacred books also become proverbs, even if they were not obviously proverbs in the original passage of the sacred book.<ref>Ziyad Mohammad Gogazeh and Ahmad Husein Al-Afif. 2007. Los proverbios árabes extraidos del ''Corán'': recopilación, traducción, y estudio. ''Paremia'' 16: 129-138.</ref> For example, many quote "Be sure your sin will find you out" as a proverb from the Bible, but there is no evidence it was proverbial in its original usage ([[Book of Numbers|Numbers]] 32:23). |
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Not all religious references in proverbs are positive, some are cynical, such as the Tajik, "Do as the mullah says, not as he does."<ref>p. 130, Evan Bell. 2009. ''The wit and wisdom of the Tajiks: An analysis of Tajik proverbs''. Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics, MA thesis.</ref> Also, note the Italian proverb, "One barrel of wine can work more miracles than a church full of saints". An Indian proverb is cynical about devotees of Hinduism, "[Only] When in distress, a man calls on Rama".<ref>p. 16, P. R. Gurdon. 1895. ''Some Assamese proverbs.'' Shillong, India: Assam Secretariat Printing Office.</ref> In the context of Tibetan Buddhism, some Ladakhi proverbs mock the lamas, e.g. "If the lama's own head does not come out cleanly, how will he do the drawing upwards of the dead?... used for deriding the immoral life of the lamas."<ref>p. 142. August Francke. 1901. A collection of Ladakhi proverbs. ''Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal'' 2: 135-148.</ref> |
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Dammann thought "The influence of Islam manifests itself in African proverbs... Christian influences, on the contrary, are rare."<ref>p. 46. Ernst Dammann. 1972. Die Religion in Afrikanischen Sprichwörter und Rätseln. ''Anthropos'' 67:36-48. Quotation in English, from summary at end of article.</ref> If widely true in Africa, this is likely due to the longer presence of Islam in many parts of Africa. Reflection of Christian values is common in Amharic proverbs of Ethiopia, an area that has had a presence of Christianity for well over 1,000 years. The Islamic proverbial reproduction may also be shown in the image of some animals such as the dog. Although dog is portrayed in many European proverbs as the most faithful friend of man, it is represented in some Islamic countries as impure, dirty, vile, cowardly, ungrateful and treacherous, in addition to link it to negative human superstitions such as loneliness, indifference and bad luck.<ref>Sharab, Moayad; Sbaihat, Ahlam; Al Duweiri, Hussein (2013). La imagen del perro en la paremiología jordana: traducción y contraste con el español. University of Granada: Language Design, Journal of Theoretical and Experimental Linguistics, vol. 14, n. 1.</ref> |
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== Proverbs and psychology == |
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Though much proverb scholarship is done by literary scholars, those studying the human mind have used proverbs in a variety of studies. One of the earliest studies in this field is the ''Proverbs Test'' by Gorham, developed in 1956. A similar test is being prepared in German.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/neuropsy/testsE/sprichwort.html |title=Institut für Kognitive Neurowissenschaft |publisher=Ruhr-uni-bochum.de |date=2011-03-22 |accessdate=2012-09-20}}</ref> Proverbs have been used to evaluate dementia,<ref>Yamaguchi, Haruyasu; Yohko Maki, Tomoharu Yamaguchi. 2011. A figurative proverb test for dementia: rapid detection of disinhibition, excuse and confabulation, causing discommunication. ''Psychogeriatrics'' Vol. 11.4: p. 205-211.</ref><ref>Natalie C. Kaiser. 2013. What dementia reveals about proverb interpretation and its neuroanatomical correlates. ''Neuropsychologia'' 51:1726–1733.</ref> study the cognitive development of children,<ref name="Richard P. Honeck 1997">Richard P. Honeck. A proverb in mind: the cognitive science of proverbial wit and wisdom. Routledge, 1997.</ref> measure the results of brain injuries,<ref>Pp. 123ff, C. Thomas Gualtieri. 2002. ''Brain Injury and Mental Retardation: Psychopharmacology and Neuropsychiatry''. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.</ref> and study how the mind processes figurative language.<ref name="Michael Kiang 2007"/><ref>Ulatowska, Hanna K., and Gloria S. Olness. "Reflections on the Nature of Proverbs: Evidence from Aphasia." ''Proverbium'' 15 (1998), 329-346. Schizophrenia has also been shown to affect the way people interpret proverbs.</ref> |
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== Proverbs in advertising == |
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[[Image:Good things come to those who dont wait.JPG|thumb|''[[Anti-proverb]]'' used in advertising [[Chick-Fil-A]]]] |
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[[Image:Glass half full kind of day.JPG|thumb|''Anti-proverb'' used in [[advertising]]]] |
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Proverbs are frequently used in advertising, often in slightly modified form.<ref>Wolfgang Mieder and Barbara Mieder. 1977. Tradition and innovation: Proverbs in advertising. ''Journal of Popular Culture'' 11: 308-319.</ref><ref>Stephen Winick. 2011. Fall into the (intertextual) gap: Proverbs, advertisements, and intertextual strategies. ''Proverbium'' 28:339-380.</ref><ref>Patricia Anne Audber de Baubeta. 2000. Bread, the staff of advertising. ''Paremia'' 9: 103-110. [http://www.paremia.org/wp-content/uploads/P9-12.pdf Online]</ref> |
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Ford once advertised its Thunderbird with, "One drive is worth a thousand words" (Mieder 2004b: 84). This is doubly interesting since the underlying proverb behind this, "One picture is worth a thousand words," was originally introduced into the English proverb repertoire in an ad for televisions (Mieder 2004b: 83). |
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A few of the many proverbs adapted and used in advertising include: |
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* "Live by the sauce, dine by the sauce" ([[Buffalo Wild Wings]]) |
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* "At D & D Dogs, you can teach an old dog new tricks" (D & D Dogs) |
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* "If at first you don't succeed, you're using the wrong equipment" ([[John Deere]]) |
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* "A pfennig saved is a pfennig earned." ([[Volkswagen]]) |
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* "Not only absence makes the heart grow fonder." ([[Godiva Chocolatier]]) |
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* "Where Hogs fly" ([[Grand Prairie AirHogs]]) baseball team |
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* "Waste not. Read a lot." ([[Half Price Books]]) |
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The [[GEICO]] company has created a series of television ads that are built around proverbs, such as "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush",<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mScDoJ2wnug |title=GEICO Commercial - Bird in Hand |publisher=YouTube |date=2010-08-13 |accessdate=2011-11-09}}</ref> and "The pen is mightier than the sword",<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcZd-ql7t1I |title=Is the Pen Mightier? - GEICO Commercial |publisher=YouTube |date= |accessdate=2011-11-09}}</ref> "Pigs may fly/When pigs fly",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-r4Z1K_LDc |title=When pigs fly |publisher=Youtube.com |date=2012-12-18 |accessdate=2013-08-30}}</ref> "If a tree falls in the forest...",<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pW2bE61Z9U If a tree falls- GEICO commercial]</ref> and "Words can never hurt you".<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCysb4_-4jU</ref> |
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Use of proverbs in advertising is not limited to the English language. Seda Başer Çoban has studied the use of proverbs in Turkish advertising.<ref>Seda Başer Çoban. 2010. Sözlü Gelenekten Sözün. Geleneksizliğine: Atasözü Ve Reklam [From Oral Tradition to the Traditionless of Speech: Proverb and Advertisement]. ''Millî Folklor''. pp. 22-27.</ref> Tatira has given a number of examples of proverbs used in advertising in Zimbabwe.<ref>Liveson Tatira. 2001. Proverbs in Zimbabwean advertisements. ''Journal of Folklore Research'' 38.3: 229-241.</ref> However, unlike the examples given above in English, all of which are anti-proverbs, Tatira's examples are standard proverbs. Where the English proverbs above are meant to make a potential customer smile, in one of the Zimbabwean examples "both the content of the proverb and the fact that it is phrased as a proverb secure the idea of a secure time-honored relationship between the company and the individuals". When newer buses were imported, owners of older buses compensated by painting a traditional proverb on the sides of their buses, "Going fast does not assure safe arrival". |
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== Conservative language == |
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Because many proverbs are both poetic and traditional, they are often passed down in fixed forms. Though spoken language may change, many proverbs are often preserved in conservative, even [[Archaism|archaic]], form. In English, for example, "betwixt" is not used by many, but a form of it is still heard (or read) in the proverb "There is many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip." The conservative form preserves the meter and the rhyme. This conservative nature of proverbs can result in archaic linguistic structures being preserved in individual proverbs, as has been documented in Amharic,<ref>p. 691. Michael Ahland. 2009. From topic to subject: Grammatical change in the Amharic possessive construction. ''Studies in Language'' 33.3 pp. 685-717.</ref> Greek,<ref>p. 72. Nikolaos Lazaridis. 2007. ''Wisdom in Loose Form: The Language of Egyptian and Greek Proverbs in Collections of the Hellenistic and Roman Periods.'' Brill</ref> and [[Nsenga language|Nsenga]].<ref>p. 64. Christopher J. Pluger. 2014. ''Translating New Testament proverb-like sayings in the style of Nsenga proverbs.'' |
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Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics MA thesis.</ref> |
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In addition, proverbs may still be used in languages which were once more widely known in a society, but are now no longer so widely known. For example, English speakers use some non-English proverbs that are drawn from languages that used to be widely understood by the educated class, e.g. "C'est la vie" from French and "Carpe diem" from Latin. |
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Proverbs are often handed down through generations. Therefore, "many proverbs refer to old measurements, obscure professions, outdated weapons, unknown plants, animals, names, and various other traditional matters."<ref>p. 33. Wolfgang Mieder. 2014. ''Behold the Proverbs of a People: Proverbial Wisdom in Culture, Literature, and Politics.'' Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi.</ref> |
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Therefore, it is common that they preserve words that become less common and archaic in broader society.<ref>Issa O. Sanusi and R.K. Omoloso. The role of Yoruba proverbs in preserving archaic lexical items and expressions in Yoruba. |
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[http://www.unilorin.edu.ng/publications/omoloso/THE%20ROLE%20OF%20YORUBA%20PROVERS%20IN%20PRESERVING%20ARCHAIC%20LEXICAL%20ITEMS%20AND%20EXPRESSIONS%20IN%20YORUBA.htm]</ref> For example, English has a proverb "The cobbler's children have no shoes". The word "cobbler", meaning a maker of shoes, is now unknown among many English speakers, but it is preserved in the proverb. |
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== Sources for proverb study == |
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[[File:Books on proverb study.jpg|left|thumb|A sample of books used in the study of proverbs]] |
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A seminal work in the study of proverbs is [[Archer Taylor]]'s ''The Proverb'' (1931), later republished by [[Wolfgang Mieder]] with Taylor's Index included (1985/1934). A good introduction to the study of proverbs is Mieder's 2004 volume, ''Proverbs: A Handbook''. Mieder has also published a series of bibliography volumes on proverb research, as well as a large number of articles and other books in the field. Stan Nussbaum has edited a large collection on proverbs of Africa, published on a CD, including reprints of out-of-print collections, original collections, and works on analysis, bibliography, and application of proverbs to Christian ministry (1998). Paczolay has compared proverbs across Europe and published a collection of similar proverbs in 55 languages (1997). Mieder edits an academic journal of proverb study, ''[[Proverbium (journal)|Proverbium]]'' (ISSN: 0743-782X), many back issues of which are available online.<ref>http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006930797?type%5B%5D=all&lookfor%5B%5D=Proverbium&ft=ft</ref> A volume containing articles on a wide variety of topics touching on proverbs was edited by Mieder and [[Alan Dundes]] (1994/1981). ''Paremia'' is a Spanish-language journal on proverbs, with articles available online.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.paremia.org/?lang=en |title=Paremia website |publisher=Paremia.org |date= |accessdate=2013-08-30}}</ref> There are also papers on proverbs published in conference proceedings volumes from the annual Interdisciplinary Colloquium on Proverbs<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.colloquium-proverbs.org/icp/en/ |title=Conference website |publisher=Colloquium-proverbs.org |date= |accessdate=2013-08-30}}</ref> in [[Tavira Municipality|Tavira]], Portugal. Mieder has published a two-volume ''International Bibliography of Paremiology and Phraseology'', with a topical, language, and author index.<ref>Wolfgang Mieder. 2008. ''International Bibliography of Paremiology and Phraseology''. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.</ref> Mieder has published a bibliography of collections of proverbs from around the world.<ref>Mieder, Wolfgang. 2011. ''International Bibliography of Paremiography''. (Supplement Series of Proverbium, 34.) Burlington, VT: University of Vermont.</ref> A broad introduction to proverb study, ''Introduction to Paremiology'', edited by Hrisztalina Hrisztova-Gotthardt and Melita Aleksa Varga has been published in both hardcover and free open access, with articles by a dozen different authors.<ref>''Introduction to Paremiology. A Comprehensive Guide to Proverb Studies'' edited by Hrisztalina Hrisztova-Gotthardt and Melita Aleksa Varga. Berlin: De Gruyter Open. Online: [http://www.degruyter.com/viewbooktoc/product/449649 Open Access version].</ref> |
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== Noteworthy proverb scholars (paremiologists and paremiographers) == |
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*[[Claude Buridant]] |
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*[[Alan Dundes]] |
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*[[Desiderius Erasmus]] |
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*[[Galit Hasan-Rokem]] |
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*[[Joseph G. Healey]] |
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*[[Arvo Krikmann]] |
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*[[Matti Kuusi]] |
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*[[Dimitrios Loukatos]] |
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*[[Juan de Mal Lara]] |
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*[[Wolfgang Mieder]] |
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*[[Mineke Schipper]] |
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*[[Archer Taylor]] |
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*[[Edward Zellem]] |
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== See also == |
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*[[Anti-proverb]] |
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*[[Blason Populaire]] |
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*[[Book of proverbs|Book of Proverbs]] |
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*''[[Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable]]'' |
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*[[List of proverbial phrases]] |
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*[[Old wives' tale]] |
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*[[Paremiology]] |
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*[[Paremiography]] |
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*[[Proverbial phrase]] |
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*[[Saw (saying)]] |
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*[[q:English proverbs|Wikiquote:English proverbs]] |
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*[[wikt:Wiktionary:Proverbs|Wiktionary:Proverbs]] |
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== Notes == |
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{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}} |
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== References == |
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*Bailey, Clinton. 2004. ''A Culture of Desert Survival: Bedouin Proverbs from Sinai and the Negev.'' Yale University Press. |
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*Borajo, Daniel, Juan Rios, M. Alicia Perez, and Juan Pazos. 1990. Dominoes as a domain where to use proverbs as heuristics. ''Data & Knowledge Engineering'' 5:129-137. |
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*Dominguez Barajas, Elias. 2010. ''The function of proverbs in discourse''. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. |
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*Grzybek, Peter. "Proverb." ''Simple Forms: An Encyclopaedia of Simple Text-Types in Lore and Literature'', ed. Walter Koch. Bochum: Brockmeyer, 1994. 227-41. |
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*Haas, Heather. 2008. Proverb familiarity in the United States: Cross-regional comparisons of the paremiological minimum. ''[[Journal of American Folklore]]'' 121.481: pp. 319–347. |
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*Hirsch, E. D., Joseph Kett, Jame Trefil. 1988. ''The dictionary of cultural literacy''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. |
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*Mac Coinnigh, Marcas. 2012. Syntactic Structures in Irish-Language Proverbs. ''Proverbium: Yearbook of International Proverb Scholarship'' 29, 95-136. |
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*Mieder, Wolfgang. 1982. Proverbs in Nazi Germany: The Promulgation of Anti-Semitism and Stereotypes Through Folklore. ''The Journal of American Folklore'' 95, No. 378, pp. 435–464. |
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*Mieder, Wolfgang. 1982; 1990; 1993. ''International Proverb Scholarship: An Annotated Bibliography, with supplements''. New York: Garland Publishing. |
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*Mieder, Wolfgang. 1994. ''Wise Words. Essays on the Proverb''. New York: Garland. |
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*Mieder, Wolfgang. 2001. ''International Proverb Scholarship: An Annotated Bibliography''. Supplement III (1990–2000). Bern, New York: Peter Lang. |
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*Mieder, Wolfgang. 2004a. ''The Netherlandish Proverbs''. (Supplement series of ''Proverbium'', 16.) Burlington: University of Vermont. |
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*Mieder, Wolfgang. 2004b. ''Proverbs: A Handbook''. (Greenwood Folklore Handbooks). Greenwood Press. |
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*Mieder, Wolfgang and Alan Dundes. 1994. ''The wisdom of many: essays on the proverb''. (Originally published in 1981 by Garland.) Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. |
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*Mieder, Wolfgang and Anna Tothne Litovkina. 2002. ''Twisted Wisdom: Modern Anti-Proverbs''. DeProverbio. |
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*Mieder, Wolfgang and Janet Sobieski. 1999. ''Proverb iconography: an international bibliography''. Bern: Peter Lang. |
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*Mitchell, David. 2001. ''Go Proverbs'' (reprint of 1980). ISBN 0-9706193-1-6. Slate and Shell. |
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*Nussbaum, Stan. 1998. ''The Wisdom of African Proverbs'' (CD-ROM). Colorado Springs: Global Mapping International. |
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*Obeng, S. G. 1996. The Proverb as a Mitigating and Politeness Strategy in Akan Discourse. ''Anthropological Linguistics'' 38(3), 521-549. |
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*Paczolay, Gyula. 1997. ''European Proverbs in 55 Languages''. Veszpre’m, Hungary. |
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*Permiakov, Grigorii. 1979. From proverb to Folk-tale: Notes on the general theory of cliche. Moscow: Nauka. |
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*Pritchard, James. 1958. ''The Ancient Near East'', vol. 2. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. |
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*Raymond, Joseph. 1956. Tension in proverbs: more light on international understanding. ''Western Folklore'' 15.3:153-158. |
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*Taylor, Archer. 1985. ''The Proverb'' and an index to "The Proverb", with an Introduction and Bibliography by Wolfgang Mieder. Bern: Peter Lang. |
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*Zellem, Edward. 2012. {{cite web|url=http://www.afghanproverbs.com|title=''Zarbul Masalha: 151 Afghan Dari Proverbs''|publisher=Charleston: CreateSpace}} |
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*Zellem, Edward. 2012. {{cite web|url=http://www.afghanproverbs.com|title=''Afghan Proverbs Illustrated''|publisher=Charleston: CreateSpace}} |
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== External links == |
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{{external links|date=December 2013}} |
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{{Wiktionary|Appendix:English proverbs}} |
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{{wikiquote|Proverbs}} |
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{{wikiquote|Category:Proverbs}} |
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{{Commons category|Proverbs}} |
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Serious websites related to the study of proverbs, and some that list regional proverbs: |
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*[http://www.aip-iap.org/en Associação Internacional de Paremiologia / International Association of Paremiology (AIP-IAP)] |
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*[http://www.colloquium-proverbs.org/ Interdisciplinary Colloquium on Proverbs] |
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*[http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Discourse/Proverbs/Bibliography.html Proverb Bibliography by Francis Steen] |
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*[http://www.deproverbio.com/index.php De Proverbio (electronic journal of international proverb studies)] |
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*[http://www.bartleby.com/89/ Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages: 20,500 selections from the classic reference work] |
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*[http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/OTeSources/20-Proverbs/Text/Bibliography/Proverbs-Bibliography.htm Proverbs: Rough and Working Bibliography by Ted Hildebrandt.] On Biblical Proverbs, Proverbial Folklore, and Psychology/Cognitive Literature |
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*[http://afriprov.org African Proverbs, Sayings and Stories] |
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*[http://www.folklore.ee/Folklore/ Folklore, particularly from the Baltic region, but many articles on proverbs] |
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*[http://www.usask.ca/english/icelanders/ Proverbs and Proverbial Materials in the Old Icelandic Sagas] |
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*[http://www.seckinnet.com/proverbs/ Select Proverbs (with Equivalents/Similars; English-American / Chinese / Turkish)] |
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*[http://www.seckinnet.com/islamic-proverbs/ Islamic Proverbs in World Languages] |
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*[http://content.answcdn.com/main/content/img/oxford/Oxford_Proverbs/Oxford_Proverbs_Bibliography.html Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs: Bibliography.] A bibliography of first edition publications (and modern editions where they ease understanding) of proverb collections |
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*[http://lauhakan.home.cern.ch/lauhakan/int/cerpint.html The Matti Kuusi international type system of proverbs] |
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*[http://www.listofproverbs.com Collection of international proverbs translated to English]. Grouped by origin. |
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{{Authority control}} |
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[[Category:Literature]] |
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[[Category:Oral tradition]] |
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[[Category:Cultural anthropology]] |
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[[Category:Proverbs| ]] |
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[[Category:Christian genres]] |
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[[Category:Jewish texts]] |
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Revision as of 00:34, 28 September 2015
proverb is a shoet saying that is not real or used as an adivice eg.cheats goes far