INTRODUCTION
The
genius, wit, and spirit of a nation are discovered in
its proverbs.
Francis Bacon .
1.
History of proverbs
Proverbs,
together with fables, folktales, folksongs and riddles,
are part of every spoken language. They have been handed
down by word of mouth from generation to generation,
until they were recorded and became a folklore treasure
for posterity.
The earliest collections
of proverbs can be traced as far back as ancient Egypt,
about 2500 B.C. The Old Testament attributed some 900
proverbs to King Solomon of Israel (10th century B.C.).
The first person, however, to engage more systematically
in the collation and classification of proverbs was
the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C.). According
to the neo-Platonic philosopher Synesius (A.D.370-413),
Aristotle considered proverbs a survival of an older
wisdom: 'Proverbs are... elements of old philosophy
which survived thanks to their brevity and dexterity.'
[ 1
]
Aristotle in his
Rhetoric gives the following definition:
A
proverb is a type of metaphor... If a man, for instance,
introduces into his house something from which he expects
to benefit, but afterwards finds himself injured instead,
he is reminded of the Carpathian and the hares; for
both have experienced the same misfortunes. [ 2
]
Aristotle
is here referring to the case of an inhabitant of the
island of Carpathos, who, in the hope of gain from it,
introduced a brace of hares on to the island. The hares,
however, multiplied so rapidly that they devoured all
the crops on the island!
Another ancient
writer who indulged in proverbs was Theophrastus (372-287
B.C.), a philosopher and collaborator of Aristotle,
who also wrote a work likewise called Rhetoric, but
this has not survived.
Diogenes Laertius,
a historian of philosophy who lived during the 3rd century
A.D., claims that Aristotle had written a work under
the title Παροιμίαι (Proverbs), which, however, has
also not survived. Demon, a historian of Attica and
an important paroemiographer (writer of proverbs) in
antiquity, is said to have written a treatise called
On Proverbs consisting of 40 books, at the end of the
4th century.
During the Hellenistic period proverbs were used by
rhetoricians to adorn their speeches, as is obvious
in the works of Lucian and Libanius. Collections were
made by Aristophanes of Byzantium, a famous scholar
(257-180 B.C.), who compiled six books of proverbs (two
in verse and four in prose) and undertook their correct
recording and interpretation; he found them mainly in
the texts of writers of comedy.
Other collectors
of proverbs were Didymus of Alexandria, a philologist
who was born about the year 80 B.C., whose collection
extended into thirteen books, and Lucius of Tarra, Crete,
who compiled three volumes.
Plutarch (c. A.D.45-125),
the famous biographer and essayist, in addition to his
many works, amongst which Parallel Lives is outstanding,
made a collection of Αποφθέγματα λακωνικά (Laconic sayings)
in which a number of proverbs appear.
In Roman times,
Zenobius, a Greek sophist who lived in Rome during the
2nd century A.D., composed a summary of the proverbs
in the books of Lucius of Tarra and Didymus of Alexandria.
The earliest edition of the proverbs of Zenobius and
Didymus appeared in print in Florence in 1487 under
the title Epitome proverbiorum Lucii Tarrhaei et Didymi
Alexandrini secundum ordinem alphabeticum graece. Editions
published by Aldus Manutius appeared in Venice in 1505,
followed by editions in the Hague in 1535 and in Antwerp
in 1612.
A much recent edition, Paroemiographi graeci, by T.
Gaisdorf appeared in Oxford in 1836. It is believed
that the work of Zenobius is based on the proverbs which
appeared in the Corpus paroemiographorum graecorum.
[ 3
] Diogenianus of Heracleion, who also studied proverbs,
lived at the same time as Zenobius. Both Plutarch and
Gregory of Cyprus derived their material from the former.
During the Byzantine period the monk and scholar Maximus
Planudis (1255-1305) recorded 275 proverbs; these proverbs
were published by the German scholar E. Kurtz in Leipzig
in 1886. [ 4
]
During the Middle
Ages, the use of proverbs in sermons, in homilies, and
in didactic works made them popular and widely known
throughout Europe and led to their preservation in manuscripts.
In early Middle English there are two presentations
of gnomic material, the Proverbs of Alfred, dating from
c.1150-80, in four versions, and later, the Proverbs
of Hendyng. The ascription of proverbial wisdom to King
Alfred is as legendary as that to King Solomon's Proverbs
in the Old Testament. These proverbs are often composed
in alliterative lines, rhymed couplets, and reflect
on the nature of life and human destiny. The Proverbs
of Hendyng is a shorter collection of about 300 lines,
dating from the middle of the 13th century. Both collections
concentrate on religious and moral precepts. [ 5
]
After the fall
of Constantinople, Michael Apostolis, [ 6
] a scholar who was born in that city in 1422, was forced
to take refuge in Crete where, apart from teaching and
copying various manuscripts, he collected many proverbs
which he recorded in a manuscript that bears the title
Ιωνία, ήτοι συλλογή ελληνικών παροιμιών (Ionia, a collection
of Greek proverbs). This collection was completed by
additions made by his son Arsenius, Bishop of Monemvasia.
These proverbs have been published by R. Walz. [ 7
]
The spread of ancient
Greek proverbs in various European countries is owed
to the well-known Dutch humanist Erasmus (1467-1536).
In his work Adagiorun collectanea, which was written
in late Latin and was published in 1500, Erasmus translated
about 3000 Greek and Roman proverbs. These proverbs
were widely read by educated people of Europe in Latin,
which was the international language of that time. Later
they were translated into the vernacular European languages
and were incorporated therein. [ 8
] This explains the phenomenon of ancient Greek proverbs
commonly found in many European languages. The ancient
Greek proverb Μία χελιδών έαρ ου ποιεί, for instance,
rendered in Latin is Una hirundo non efficit ver; in
Italian, Una rondine non fa primavera; in French, Une
hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps; in Spanish, Una
golondrina no hace verano; in German, Eine Schwalbe
macht keinen Sommer; in English, One swallow does not
make a summer. Naturally, to such proverbs many others
were gradually added, created by the people of each
nation.
In Erasmus's work
Adagia (London,1550) we read:
The first to dedicate
a work on the collection of proverbs was Aristotle.
After him came Chrysippos, Zenodotus, and Cleanthis.
There are some collections attributed to Plutarch. Athenaeus
mentions among the paroemiographers Clearchos of Soli
and Aristides, and then Zenodotus, who collected the
proverbs of Didymus and of Tarreus. In the comments
on Demosthenes mention is made of the proverbs of Theophrastus.
A certain Mychon is also mentioned as a paroemiographer,
also a Daemon. There exists the collection of Diogenianus
to which many were added by Hesychios and Suida, attributed
by some to Tzetzis. [ 9
]
At about the same
time the earliest English collection, Proverbs or adagies
with newe additions gathered out of the Chiliades of
Erasmus by J. Taverner (London, 1539) appeared. This
was followed by J. Hewood's Dialogue conteinyng the
nomber in effect of all the proverbes in the englishe
tongue (London, 1546), T.Draxe's A treasure of ancient
adagies (London, 1616), G.Herbert's Outlandish Proverbs
(1640), and D.Fergusson's Scottish Proverbs (1641).
[ 10
]
During the four-century
Turkish occupation of Greece (1453-1821), when learning
was restricted to the Greek centres of the Diaspora
in various European cities (Venice, Paris, Vienna, Moscow),
no book or important manuscript related to proverbs
appeared in Greece, except for a manuscript collection
made by the monk Parthenios Katzioulis in about the
year 1715. He recorded more than 700 proverbs originating
from Ioannina, Epirus, and the surrounding region. [
11
]
About the year
1650 the Dutch scholar Levinus Warner, who served as
a diplomat in Constantinople, gathered, through his
association with the educated Greeks living there, more
than 750 Modern Greek proverbs. These were edited by
D.C.Hesseling, and appeared in the monumental, four-volume
work on the proverbs of the Greek people, published
by Politis in Athens in 1899-1902. [ 12
]
G.N.Politis (1852-1921)
himself made an important contribution to the study
of Greek proverbs; he was also the first person to introduce
folklore studies into Greece at the end of the last
century. Other well known Greek folklore scholars were
Kyriakidis and Megas.
In America, the
name of Benjamin Franklin (1706-90), inventor, scholar
and politician, is closely linked to American proverbs.
Over a period of 25 years (1733-58) he published the
annual Poor Richard's Almanac, in which he included
a number of old proverbs as well as many of his own.
Two popular proverbs attributed to Franklin are: Three
removals are as bad as a fire and A house without a
woman and firelight is like a body without soule or
sprite. [ 13
]
Of the contemporary
foreign scholars who treated the Greek proverbs at great
length mention should be made of the Swedish paroemiographer
Reinhold Strömberg whose book on Greek proverbs
has been published in three languages in Göteborg:
in Swedish (Grekiska Ordsprök, 1949), in English
(Greek Proverbs, 1954), and in German (Griechische Sprichwörter,
1961).
During recent years
significant contributions to Greek folklore studies
and to proverbs in particular have been made by two
eminent scholars, Demetrios Loukatos and Michael Meraklis.
2.
Origin and importance of proverbs
Proverbs are short pithy statements of homely pieces
of wisdom, philosophy, or advice which have passed into
general use. They are often expressed in metaphor, rhyme
or alliteration, and refer to some common human experience.
These folk sayings are often satirical or mocking in
intention. Almost ninety-five percent of Modern Greek
proverbs are written in verse. Some of them are contradictory
and, in order to better understand them, one should
bear in mind that they express the outlook prevailing
some centuries ago. Some proverbs present slight grammatical
irregularities or are dialectal.
The word παροιμία,
paroemia (in Latin proverbium) is known from Aeschylus'
play Agamemnon (lines 264-5), written in 458 B. C. Hesychios
of Alexandria, the most important Greek lexicographer,
who lived during the 5th century A.D., wrote: ''A proverb
is a statement useful to life which is said along the
road, i.e., a by-the-way saying; for oimos means road''.
Commenting on this statement, Demetrios Loukatos, the
distinguished Folklore Professor at the University of
Ioannina, explains: 'The proverb was therefore something
of an accompaniment or auxiliary element for the people,
either in the course of their talking, or in the course
of their lives.' [ 14
]
Another theory about the etymology of the word paroemia
is that it is made up of the preposition παρά (near,
by) and the word οιμός (oimos), which in ancient Greek
meant way, road (cf. προοίμιον, preamble). In antiquity
there was a custom to engrave short, succinct slogans
on the marble under the ερμές (hermes), statuettes of
the god Hermes, protector of pedestrians. These statuettes
were posted in central spots, crossroads and other central
places of cities to guide strangers. Such slogans, and
brief, wise statements, gradually became popular and
passed from mouth to mouth as proverbs. [ 15
]
Proverbs contain
keen observations of everyday life, constitute popular
philosophy of life, and provide an insight into human
behaviour and character. They survived thanks to their
brevity, their rhyme and rhythm which delighted the
ear and helped the memory.
Of the many definitions of the proverb offered it is
worth citing here the one by the well-known paroemiographer
Archer Taylor:
A
proverb is a terse didactic statement that is current
in tradition or, as an epigram says, ''the wisdom of
many and the wit of one''. It ordinarily suggests a
course of action or passes a judgement on a situation.
[ 16
]
Taylor
goes on by illustrating his definition with examples:
A
proverb may be merely a statement of fact: Honesty is
the best policy, All's well that ends well, or a metaphor,
which one applies to the situation: Don't change horses
when crossing a stream. Don't cut off your nose to spite
your face. In many proverbs, and characteristically
in those dealing with medical or legal ideas or with
the weather, the didactic element is a condensation
of experience or a concisely formulated rule: Rain before
seven, fine before eleven; Two words to a bargain; Silence
means consent.
A
more exact and succinct definition was given by Demetrios
Loukatos:
A
proverb is a short verse or prose sentence that expresses
vividly and often allegorically a wise opinion, an ascertainment,
an advice, and which is repeated in everyday conversation
as an argument or example. [ 17
]
Proverbs are distinguished
from proverbial expressions since the latter have no
self-sufficiency and are not related to fables. The
proverbial expressions have been pronounced by certain
individuals in certain situations and since then they
have been repeated and gradually have become popular.
According to contemporary
Greek scholars proverbs originated:
(a) from a fable or tale, as
an extraction of a characteristic expression, i.e.,
Foxes, when they cannot reach the grapes, say they are
not ripe (Aesop's fable);
(b) from an historical event: I fear the Greeks even
bearing gifts (Virgil's Aeneid);
(c) from sayings of certain historical persons: Business
tomorrow! (Archias, Spartan commander);
(d) from sayings in the Bible:If any would not work,
neither should he eat (2 Thessalonians, iii, 10). [
18
]
Closely related to proverbs
are maxims or sayings, which differ from proper proverbs,
although the borderline between proverbs and maxims
is not clearly discernible. A pure proverb has a metaphorical
meaning. It says one thing and it means another. There
has been much discussion, and disagreement, among modern
paroemiographers on the subject, but Aristotle had already
clarified the point by stating laconically: 'Some of
the proverbs are also maxims.' (Art of Rhetoric, 1395a
19).
The use of proverbs in literature
Sporadic
use of proverbs was made both by the two great poets
of antiquity, Homer and Hesiod (8th century BC), and
by the comedy writers, Aristophanes and Menander. The
Fathers of the Church and the Byzantine writers used
proverbs in their writings. John Chrysostome, Archbishop
of Constantinople (398-404) called proverbs 'wise words'
adding 'one should not hold in contempt popular proverbs,
if they have something which is wise.' [ 19
]
The use of maxims and
proverbs in literature is a long established scholarly
feature. Impressive and thorough examinations have been
done and dissertations have been written on authors
of international reputation such as Aristophanes, Euripides,
Dante, Chaucher, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Rabelais and
Goethe.[ 20
] These authors, among their other literary devices,
have employed maxims, proverbs, especially proverbs,
proverbial expressions and proverbial comparisons either
integrating them into their texts or alluding to them.
In English literature
Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1340-1400), who is considered the
father of English poetry, made use of many proverbs
in his long poems. [ 21
] In particular, the use of proverbs was at its height
during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The
Elizabethan playwrights, John Lyly (c.1554-1606) [ 22
] and Ben Jonson (1572-1637) [ 23
] made abundant use of proverbs in their plays. Above
all, the great dramatist, William Shakespeare (1564-1616),
embellished his plays with proverbs. He used proverbs
to form the titles of two of his comedies: All's Well
that Ends Well and Measure for Measure. In his celebrated
tragedies, Romeo and Juliet and particularly in Hamlet
(Scene 5, Act I), he used a series of proverbs. [ 24
] His contemporary, Michael Drayton (1563-1631), under
the title 'To Proverbe' wrote a sonnet in dialogue form
into the text of which he incorporated ten proverbs.
[ 25
]
During the early nineteenth
century, after the revival of interest in folklore,
which was brought about by the Romantic Movement, two
eminent novelists, Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) [ 26
] and Charles Dickens (1812-70), [ 27
] incorporated a considerable number of proverbs into
their many and popular novels. Proverbs can be found
also in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (1865).
Reflecting on folk culture, the more systematic study
during the twentieth century shows renewed interest
in the proverbs. Lawrence Durrell in his Bitter Lemons
uses three Cypriot Greek proverbs. [ 28
]
In French literature François
Villon (1431-63?) among his famous ballads included
one under the title 'Ballade des Proverbes' consisting
of 36 proverbs, the first stanza of which reads:
Tant gratte chèvre que
mal gît,
Tant va le pot à l'eau qu'il brise,
Tant chauffe-on le fer qu'il rougit,
Tant le maille-on qu'il se débrise,
Tant vaut l'homme comme on le prise,
Tant s'élogne-il qu'il n'en souvient,
Tant mauvais est qu'on le déprise,
Tant crie-l'on Noël qu'il vient. [ 29
]
François
Rabelais (1494-1553) wrote a chapter of proverbs in
his Gargantua et Pantagruel (1532). Jean de la Fontaine
(1621-95) also made use of proverbs in his works.
In German literature the
most systematic collection of proverbs was made by Egbert
von Lüttich about the year 1023; proverbs, however,
can be traced down as early as the ninth century in
Hildebrandslied. The monk Notker Labeo, who lived during
the eleventh century, made use of a number of moralistic
proverbs. The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, however,
can be regarded as the heyday of German proverbs. Writers
and orators, like Sebastian Brant, Hans Sachs and Martin
Luther, made use of proverbs in their works. In the
seventeenth century two names are outstanding: Angelus
Silesius and the renowned medieval novelist Johann Grimmelshausen
(1622-76). In 1529 three hundred of the most common
proverbs collected by Johannes Agricola were published
in Hagenau. Although proverbs lost a lot of their reputation
in the Age of Enlightenment as a result of their overwhelmingly
medieval origin, they were by no means neglected by
classical authors such as Lessing, Schiller and Goethe.
[ 30
] In modern times, the most prominent literary figure
who made use of proverbs in his works is Bertold Brecht.
In Italian literature
proverbs are found in addition to Dante's La Divina
Comedia, completed shortly before the poet's death in
1321, also in Luigi Pulci's poem Il Morgante (1484).
The poet Giuseppe Giusti (1809-1850) collected 3,000
proverbs, Racolta dei proverbi toscani (Florence, 1853)
which were published posthumously. This collection was
followed by Niccolò Tommaseo's Proverbi italiani
(Milano, 1858). Stressing the importance of proverbs
Tommaseo placed them after the Bible. In his words:
Se
tutti si potessero raccogliere e sotto certi capi ordinarei
proverbi d'ogni popolo e d' ogni età, colle varianti
di voci, d'immagini e di concetti, questo, dopo la Bibbia,
sarebbe il libro più gravido di pensieri. [ 31
]
Many
proverbs can be found in Giovanni Verga's Sicilian novels.
Proverbs and sayings of this kind hold a high place
in Spanish language and literature. The refranes, adagios
and proverbios are very popular in Cervantes' (1547-1616)
masterpiece, Don Quixote (1605). When Sancho Panza began
a tale, Don Quixote interrupted him saying 'Leave off
your proverbs; go on with your story.' Sancho said 'All
tales must begin in this way.' Numerous are the refranes
in Lope de Vega's (1562-1635) La Dorotea (1634). Other
eminent Spanish writers who made use of proverbs are
Fernan Caballero (1796-1877), Benito Pérez Galdóz
(1843-1920), who is regarded as the best novelist after
Cervantes, Miguel Delibes (b. 1920) and Camilo José
Cela (b.1916), Nobel Prize winner, 1989. The Spaniards
take a warm pride in the numerous wise sayings that
abound in their language. [ 32
]
In Modern Greek literature
the presence of proverbs in the works of certain of
the most eminent poets and prose writers is marked.
The poet Costis Palamas (1851-1943), for instance, on
the occasion of the publication of Politis' great collection
of proverbs, recommended the study of proverbs and considered
them a kind of poetry. 'Proverbs deserve to be analysed
as linguistic monuments that one day will benefit the
philosopher and the poet,' he stated. [ 33
] Palamas, in a sonnet entitled 'The Fathers', praising
Politis' contribution to the study of proverbs, wrote:
And
you reveal the marble face of the brief, reticent proverb,
by giving it meaning and voice. [ 34
]
In
the poems of C. P. Cavafy (1863-1933), although there
are no proverbs used verbatim, there are many proverbial
re-echoes.
[ 35
]Nikos Kazantzakis (1883-1957) also used a number of
proverbs in his popular novels Alexis Zorbas and Captain
Michalis; in the latter at least 50 proverbs have been
identified and enumerated.
[ 36
] Finally, Giannis Ritsos (1909-90), in a poem based
on the proverb If there is fire in your neighbourhood,
wait for it in your own house, concludes: 'Nobody nowadays
is far from fire.' [ 37
]
This collection contains both ancient Greek maxims and
proverbs and modern Greek proverbs alike in order to
demonstrate the continuity of Greek tradition. Of the
recorded proverbs there are various versions, but the
most common variants have been selected. The entries
are arranged in alphabetical order including a key-word
index for each language at the end of the book.
It is hoped that this
bilingual collection of Greek maxims and proverbs will
interest the readers in general but be of special value
to students and translators of the main European languages.
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