Proverb
A proverb (from Latin: proverbium) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic language.[1][2] A proverbial phrase or a proverbial expression is a type of a conventional saying similar to proverbs and transmitted by oral tradition.[1] The difference is that a proverb is a fixed expression, while a proverbial phrase permits alterations to fit the grammar of the context.[3][4] Collectively, they form a genre of folklore.[5]
"Proverbs" redirects here. For the biblical text, see Book of Proverbs. For other uses, see Proverb (disambiguation).Some proverbs exist in more than one language because people borrow them from languages and cultures with which they are in contact.[1] In the West, 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.[1] Not all Biblical proverbs, however, were distributed to the same extent: one scholar has gathered evidence to show that cultures in which the Bible is the major spiritual book contain "between three hundred and five hundred proverbs that stem from the Bible,"[6] whereas another shows that, of the 106 most common and widespread proverbs across Europe, 11 are from the Bible.[7] However, almost every culture has its own unique proverbs.[8]
Definitions[edit]
Lord John Russell (c. 1850) observed poetically that a "proverb is the wit of one, and the wisdom of many."[9][10] But giving the word "proverb" the sort of definition theorists need has proven to be a difficult task, and although scholars often quote Archer Taylor's argument that formulating a scientific "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.[11][12][13] Hence no definition will enable us to identify positively a sentence as proverbial,"[14] many students of proverbs have attempted to itemize their essential characteristics.[10]
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".[15][16] To distinguish proverbs from idioms, cliches, etc., Norrick created a table of distinctive features, an abstract tool originally developed for linguistics.[17] 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, Wellerisms, maxims, quotations, and proverbial comparisons."[18] 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."[19]
There are many sayings in English that are commonly referred to as "proverbs", such as weather sayings.[20] Alan Dundes, however, rejects including such sayings among truly proverbs: "Are weather proverbs proverbs? I would say emphatically 'No!'"[21][20] 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".[22] The changing of the definition of "proverb" is also noted in Turkish.[23]
In other languages and cultures, the definition of "proverb" also differs from English.[24] In the Chumburung language of Ghana, "aŋase are literal proverbs and akpare are metaphoric ones".[25] 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".[26] Among the Balochi of Pakistan and Afghanistan, there is a word batal for ordinary proverbs and bassīttuks for "proverbs with background stories".[27]
There are also language communities that combine proverbs and riddles in some sayings, leading some scholars to create the label "proverb riddles".[28][29][30]
Another similar construction is an idiomatic phrase. Sometimes it is difficult to draw a distinction between idiomatic phrase and proverbial expression. In both of them the meaning does not immediately follow from the phrase. The difference is that an idiomatic phrase involves figurative language in its components, while in a proverbial phrase the figurative meaning is the extension of its literal meaning. Some experts classify proverbs and proverbial phrases as types of idioms.[31]
Interpretations[edit]
Interpreting proverbs is often complex, but is best done in a context.[57] Interpreting proverbs from other cultures is much more difficult than interpreting proverbs in one's 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 the proverb as praising people that keep moving and developing, seeing moss as a negative thing, such as negative habits.[58]
Similarly, among Tajik speakers, the proverb "One hand cannot clap" has two significantly different interpretations. Most see the proverb as promoting teamwork. Others understand it to mean that an argument requires two people.[59] In an extreme example, one researcher working in Ghana found that for a single Akan proverb, twelve different interpretations were given.[60] Proverb interpretation is not automatic, even for people within a culture: Owomoyela tells of a Yoruba radio program that asked people to interpret an unfamiliar Yoruba proverb, "very few people could do so".[61] Siran found that people who had moved out of the traditional Vute-speaking area of Cameroon were not able to interpret Vute proverbs correctly, even though they still spoke Vute. Their interpretations tended to be literal.[62]
Children will sometimes interpret proverbs in a literal sense, not yet knowing how to understand the conventionalized metaphor.[63] Interpretation of proverbs is also affected by injuries and diseases of the brain, "A hallmark of schizophrenia is impaired proverb interpretation."[64]
Use[edit]
In conversation[edit]
Proverbs are used in conversation by adults more than children, partially because adults have learned more proverbs than children.[107][108][109] Also, using proverbs well is a skill that is developed over years.[108] Additionally, children have not mastered the patterns of metaphorical expression that are invoked in proverb use. Proverbs, because they are indirect, allow a speaker to disagree or give advice in a way that may be less offensive.[110][107][108] Studying actual proverb use in conversation, however, is difficult since the researcher must wait for proverbs to happen.[111] An Ethiopian researcher, Tadesse Jaleta Jirata, made headway in such research by attending and taking notes at events where he knew proverbs were expected to be part of the conversations.[112]
Variations[edit]
Counter proverbs[edit]
There are often proverbs that contradict each other, such as "Look before you leap" and "He who hesitates is lost", or "Many hands make light work" and "Too many cooks spoil the broth". These have been labeled "counter proverbs"[237] or "antonymous proverbs".[238] Stanisław Lec observed, "Proverbs contradict each other. And that, to be sure, is folk wisdom."[239]
When there are such counter proverbs, each can be used in its own appropriate situation, and neither is intended to be a universal truth.[240][241]
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..."[242] In Nepali, there is a set of totally contradictory proverbs: "Religion is victorious and sin erodes" and "Religion erodes and sin is victorious".[243]
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".[244] From Lugbara language (of Uganda and Congo), there are a pair of counter proverbs: "The elephant's tusk does not ovewhelm the elephant" and "The elephant's tusks weigh the elephant down".[245] 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,[246] 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".[240]
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."[247] Comparing Korean proverbs, "when you compare two proverbs, often they will be contradictory." They are used for "a particular situation".[248]
"Counter proverbs" are not the same as a "paradoxical proverb", a proverb that contains a seeming paradox.[249]
Metaproverbs[edit]
In many cultures, proverbs are so important and so prominent that there are proverbs about proverbs, that is, "metaproverbs". The most famous one is from Yoruba of Nigeria, "Proverbs are the horses of speech, if communication is lost we use proverbs to find it", used by Wole Soyinka in Death and the King's Horsemen. In Mieder's bibliography of proverb studies, there are twelve publications listed as describing metaproverbs.[250] Other metaproverbs include:
