2.1 The history of origin of English proverbs and sayings.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Meaning

It's better to have a lesser but certain advantage than the possibility of a greater one that may come to nothing.

Origin

This proverb refers back to mediaeval falconry where a bird in the hand (the falcon) was a valuable asset and certainly worth more than two in the bush (the prey).

The first citation of the expression in print in its currently used form is found in John Ray's A Hand-book of Proverbs, 1670, in which he lists it as:

A [also 'one'] bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

By how long the phrase predates Ray's publishing isn't clear, as variants of it were known for centuries before 1670. The earliest English version of the proverb is from the Bible and was translated into English in Wycliffe's version in 1382, although Latin texts have it from the 13th century:

Ecclesiastes IX - A living dog is better than a dead lion.

Alternatives that explicitly mention birds in hand come later. The earliest of those is in Hugh Rhodes' The Boke of Nurture or Schoole of Good Maners, circa 1530:

"A byrd in hand - is worth ten flye at large."

John Heywood, the 16th century collector of proverbs, recorded another version in his ambitiously titled A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue, 1546:

"Better one byrde in hande than ten in the wood."

The expression fits well into the catalogue of English proverbs, which are often warnings, especially warnings about hubris or risk taking. Some of the better known examples that warn against getting carried away by that exciting new prospect are: 'All that glitters is not gold', 'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread', 'Look before you leap', 'Marry in haste, repent at leisure', 'The best-laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley'.

The Bird in Hand was adopted as a pub name in England in the Middle Ages and many of this name still survive.

English migrants to America took the expression with them and 'bird in hand' must have been known there by 1734 as this was the year in which a small town in Pennsylvania was founded with that name.

Other languages and cultures have their own version of this proverb, notably the Czech 'Lepsi vrabec v hrsti nez holub na strese' (A sparrow in the first is better than a pigeon on the roof.).

A fish rots from the head down.

Meaning

When an organization or state fails, it is the leadership that is the root cause.

Origin

This proverb is of ancient origin but precisely which of the ancients coined it is probably beyond our ken at this distant remove.

Many countries lay claim to it. I've seen sources that place it in China, Russia, Poland, England, Greece and so on..., but usually with no evidence to substantiate those claims. A correspondent of mine has asserted that it was written in a Greek text by Erasmus, who died in 1546. That may be the case, but I've not been able to substantiate that claim.

All of the early examples of the phrase in print in English prefer the 'a fish stinks from the head down' variant to 'a fish rots from the head down', which is more popular nowadays. Those early examples all ignore the nations mentioned above and credit the term to the Turks. Sir James Porter's Observations on the religion, law, government, and manners of the Turks, 1768, includes this:

The Turks have a homely proverb applied on such occasions: they say "the fish stinks first at the head", meaning, that if the servant is disorderly, it is because the master is so.[25]

The early date of this citation and the fact Porter was in a position to be authoritative on the Turkish custom, being as he was British ambassador to the Sublime Porte of the Ottoman Empire for 15 years in the second half of the 18th century, gives Turkey a strong claim to be the birthplace of this proverb.

Of course, the proverb isn't a lesson in piscine biology. The phrase appears to have been used in Turkey in a metaphorical rather than literal sense from the outset. That's just as well as, in reality, it is the guts of fish that rot and stink before the head.

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Meaning

Almost always it is the origin of a phrase or saying that requires the most research; the meaning being well understood. This phrase is interesting because there are various interpretations of its meaning.

Firstly, is it 'a friend in need is a friend indeed' or 'a friend in need is a friend in deed'? Secondly, is it 'a friend (when you are) in need' or 'a friend (who is) in need'? If the former, then the phrase means: 'someone who helps you when you are in need is a true friend'. If the latter, it is 'someone who needs your help becomes especially friendly in order to obtain it'.

So, that gives us four options:

1. A friend, (when you are) in need, is indeed a true friend. ('indeed')

2. A friend, (when you are) in need, is someone who is prepared to act to show it ('in deed')

3. A friend, (who is) in need, is indeed a true friend. ('indeed')

4. A friend, (who is) in need, is someone who is prepared to act to show it ('in deed')

The original meaning can be resolved to some degree by the documentary evidence - see below. Nevertheless, there is no unambiguous right or wrong here and this is a phrase that we probably infer the meaning of from context when we first hear it. Whichever of the above options we initially opt for will cement our understanding of the phrase; probably forever, if the vehemence of the mutually contradictory mails I get on this subject are anything to go by.

Origin

A version of this proverb was known by the 3rd century BC. Quintus Ennius wrote: 'Amicu certus in re incerta cernitur'. This translates from the Latin as 'a sure friend is known when in difficulty'.

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations lists it as existing in English from the 11th century. The earliest version I can find is from Caxton's Sonnes of Aymon, 1489:

"It is sayd, that at the nede the frende is knowen."

The morality play Everyman also contains similar lines. The play's date is uncertain and scholars place it as 'late 15th century', which could be before Caxton's work:

Fellowship: Sir, I say as I will do in deed.

Everyman: Then be you a good friend at need;

By the 16th century, when the proverb was recorded in John Heywood's A Dialogue Conteynyng Prouerbes and Epigrammes, 1562:

Prove [that is, test] thy friend ere [before] thou have need; but, in-deed

A friend is never known till a man have need.

Before I had need, my most present foes

Seemed my most friends; but thus the world goes

So, what does that evidence indicate in terms of original meaning? Ennius' text is ambiguous and, being a later translation, can't be considered the original source of the phrase in English. Caxton's version is also unhelpful. The Everyman play is clearer in its intent and supports interpretation 2. Heywood's verse can't be considered the original meaning as the other citations predate it. It is worth considering though as Heywood was an indefatigable recorder of proverbs as understood in England in the 16th century. It is safe to say that, whatever view we have now, in 1562 either 1 or 2 was the accepted meaning.

Neither 3 nor 4 appears to be supported by early texts and, as they aren't widely held today either, it seems safe to discount them. On the balance of evidence, interpretation 2 has the best claim to be the original meaning of the phrase, that is, 'a friend, when you are in need, is someone who is prepared to prove their friendship by their deeds' .

A search of web-based material shows that 'a friend in need is a friend indeed' has about twice the public currency as 'a friend in need is a friend in deed'. Those who stand up for the latter are probably correct, but they will have a hard time changing the mind of the 'indeed' contingent.

Little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Meaning

A small amount of knowledge can mislead people into thinking that they are more expert than they really are.

Origin

'A little knowledge is a dangerous thing' and 'a little learning is a dangerous thing' have been used synonymously since the 18th century.

The version 'a little learning' is widely attributed to Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744). It is found in An Essay on Criticism, 1709, and I can find no earlier example of the expression in print:

A little learning is a dangerous thing;

drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:

there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,

and drinking largely sobers us again.

The similarity of the two phrases is demonstrated by what appears to be an impromptu coining of 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing' in a piece in The monthly miscellany; or Gentleman and Lady's Complete Magazine, Vol II, 1774, in which the writer misquoted Pope:

Mr. Pope says, very truly, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing."

Both Pope's original verse and the misquotation of it were predated by an anonymous author, signing himself 'A B', in the collection of letters published in 1698 as The mystery of phanaticism:

"Twas well observed by my Lord Bacon, That a little knowledge is apt to puff up, and make men giddy, but a greater share of it will set them right, and bring them to low and humble thoughts of themselves.

Again, there is a degree of misquotation here; what 'my Lord Bacon', the English politician and philosopher Francis Bacon, Viscount St Alban, actually said, in The Essays: Of Atheism, 1601, was:

"A little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion."

So, who coined the phrase? It appears to have been a group effort. Bacon can be credited with the idea, Pope with the 'learning' version and the mysterious 'A B' with the 'knowledge' version.

A leopard cannot change its spots.

Meaning

The notion that things cannot change their innate nature.

Origin

From the Bible, Jeremiah 13:23 (King James Version):

"Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil."[9]

All that glitters is not gold.

Meaning

Not everything that is shiny and superficially attractive is valuable.

Origin

The original form of this phrase was 'all that glisters is not gold'. The 'glitters' version long ago superseded the original and is now almost universally used.

Shakespeare is the best-known writer to have expressed the idea that shiny things aren't necessarily precious things. The original editions of The Merchant of Venice, 1596, have the line as 'all that glisters is not gold'. 'Glister' is usually replaced by 'glitter' in modern renditions of the play:

O hell! what have we here?

A carrion Death, within whose empty eye

There is a written scroll! I'll read the writing.

All that glitters is not gold;

Often have you heard that told:

Many a man his life hath sold

But my outside to behold:

Gilded tombs do worms enfold.

Had you been as wise as bold,

Young in limbs, in judgment old,

Your answer had not been inscroll'd:

Fare you well; your suit is cold.

Various different ways of expressing the idea that 'all that glitters/glisters is not gold' were in general circulation well before Shakespeare's day and it was a common enough notion to have been called proverbial by the 16th century. The 12th century French theologian Alain de Lille wrote "Do not hold everything gold that shines like gold". Geoffrey Chaucer also expressed the same idea in Middle English in the poem The House of Fame, 1380 - "Hit is not al gold, that glareth". Nevertheless, it is Shakespeare who gave us the version we now use.

The 'glitters' version of this phrase is so long established as to be perfectly acceptable - especially as 'glisters' and 'glitters' mean the same thing. Only the most pedantic insist that 'all that glisters is not gold' is correct and that 'all that glitters is not gold', being a misquotation, however cobweb-laden, should be shunned. John Dryden was quite happy to use 'glitters' as long ago as 1687, in his poem The Hind and the Panther:

For you may palm upon us new for old:

All, as they say, that glitters, is not gold.

Don't change horses in midstream.

Meaning

Don't change your leader or your basic position when part-way through a campaign or a project.

Origin

From an 1864 speech by Abraham Lincoln, in reply to Delegation from the National Union League who were urging him to be their presidential candidate. 'An old Dutch farmer, who remarked to a companion once that it was not best to swap horses when crossing streams."[27]

Better late than never.

Meaning

To arrive or do something later than expected isn't good, but it is better than not at all.

Origin

This proverb is often expressed with a degree of sarcasm, apparently saying something positive but in fact merely remarking on someone's lateness. A teacher might say it to a child arriving late for school, for example. Geoffery Chaucer appears to have been the first person to have put the proverb into print, in The Yeoman's Prologue and Tale, Canterbury Tales, circa 1386:

For bet than never is late. [Better than never is late.]

Every dog has its day.

Meaning

Every dog, and by implication every person, has a period of power or influence.

Origin

This phrase is recorded as being first uttered by no less a notable as Queen Elizabeth I. As Princess Elizabeth, in a letter to her brother and in response to his request for a picture of her, she wrote:

Notwithstanding, as a dog hath a day, so may I perchance have time to declare it in deeds.

The letter was published by John Strype in Ecclesiastical Memorials, 1550. It appears that Elizabeth was merely quoting what was in her day already a well-known proverb, although no record of it has been found that predates her writing it down.

John Heywood recorded the proverb in the 1562 edition of Proverbs and Epigrams and Shakespeare used it in Hamlet, 1603:

Let Hercules himself do what he may,

The cat will mew and dog will have his day.

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day: show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetimes.

Meaning

A proverbial saying which suggests that the ability to work is of greater benefit than a one-off handout.

Origin

This proverb has fallen foul of the spurious etymological rule: 'if you don't know the origin of an enigmatic proverb, say it is ancient Chinese'. May you live in interesting times and a picture is worth a thousand words suffer the same fate. There's no evidence to link 'Give a man a fish...' with China. A further confusion over the origin is that the authoritative and generally trustworthy Oxford Dictionary of Quotations says it is of mid-20th century origin.[21]

The expression actually originated in Britain in the mid 19th century.

Anne Isabella Ritchie, the daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray, (who, if her photograph is any guide, was a studious young woman) wrote a story titled Mrs. Dymond, sometime in the 1880s and it includes this line.

"He certainly doesn't practise his precepts, but I suppose the patron meant that if you give a man a fish he is hungry again in an hour; if you teach him to catch a fish you do him a good turn."

The book was published in 1890 but the story was put into print a few years earlier. The American magazine Littell's Living Age printed the story in its September 1885 issue and it was taken from an earlier but undated issue of the British Macmillan's Magazine.

So, the proverb dates from 1885 or shortly before and there's every reason to suppose that it was coined by Anne Ritchie.

The source of the mid-20th century and Chinese origin theories are various US magazines from the 1960s, for example The Rotarian, June 1964:

...the Chinese axiom "Give a man a fish, and you have fed him once. Teach him how to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime."

Publications of that sort were what brought the proverb into general use but, as we have seen, weren't the actual source.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Meaning

The idea that something is easily forgotten or dismissed as unimportant if it is not in our direct view.

Origin

The use of 'in mind' for 'remembered' and 'out of mind' for 'forgotten' date back to the at least the 13th century. The earliest printed citation of a link with memory and the sight of something is in John Heywood's Woorkes. A dialogue conteynyng prouerbes and epigrammes, 1562, as reprinted by the Spenser Society, 1867:

"Out of sight out of minde."

The phrase is used as an example of the supposed comic results that early computer translation and speech recognition programmes came up with. The phrase 'out of sight, out of mind' was supposed to have been translated by a computer as 'invisible idiot', 'blind and insane' etc. This is on a par with 'computers can wreck a nice peach' (computers can recognise speech), which is also used as an example of how computers lack the general knowledge to compare with humans at speech recognition.[26]

These reports lack consistency and are too neat to be anything other than inventions. There's no evidence to support the stories but they do illustrate that although 'anyone can make a mistake, but to really foul things up you need a computer'. Even using recent (2007) programs to translate 'out of sight, out of mind' into Russian and then back to English the best they could do was 'from the sighting, from the reason'.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Meaning

It is polite, and possibly also advantageous, to abide by the customs of a society when one is a visitor.

Origin

Why should an English proverb single out Rome and Roman values as especially to be emulated? Couldn't we have had a 'when in Ipswich, do as the Ipswichians do' for example? As it turns out, it's all to do with the travel arrangements of a couple of early Christian saints.

St Augustine: Letters Volume I was translated from the Latin by Sister W. Parsons and published in 1951. Letter 54 to Januarius contains this original text, which date from circa 390AD:

Cum Romanum venio, ieiuno Sabbato; cum hic sum, non ieiuno: sic etiam tu, ad quam forte ecclesiam veneris, eius morem serva, si cuiquam non vis esse scandalum nec quemquam tibi.

which was translated as:

When I go to Rome, I fast on Saturday, but here [Milan] I do not. Do you also follow the custom of whatever church you attend, if you do not want to give or receive scandal.

Januarius, who was later canonised as a martyr saint, was Bishop of Naples at the time.

The above dates the source of the proverb to at least as early as the beginnings of the Christian church. The implied flexibility on dogma and acceptance of the religious and social practices of other cultures seems to be more akin to the contemporary Buddhist teachings of the Dalai Lama than those of present day Christian authorities.

The use of the proverb in English isn't recorded until much later - well into the Middle Ages.

Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy was first published in 1621. Burton makes oblique reference to the phrase, without using it explicitly:

...like Mercury, the planet, are good with good, bad with bad. When they are at Rome, they do there as they see done, puritans with puritans, papists with papists

He was slightly predated by Henry Porter, who came a little nearer to the present day version of the proverb in his play The pleasant history of the two angry women of Abington, 1599:

Nay, I hope, as I have temperance to forbear drink, so have I patience to endure drink: Ile do as company dooth; for when a man doth to Rome come, he must do as there is done.

The Interesting letters of Pope Clement XIV [a.k.a. Lorenzo Ganganelli] were published in 1777. Letter XLIV [to Prior Dom Galliard] contains the earliest version of the proverb as currently used in English that I have found in print:

The siesto, or afternoon's nap of Italy, my most dear and reverend Father, would not have alarmed you so much, if you had recollected, that when we are at Rome, we should do as the Romans do - cum Romano Romanus eris.

The proverb is so clichéd as to have been adapted to suit many other locations - this web search brings up thousands. Its familiarity, and the expectation that everyone knows the ending, has caused it also to be used in the shortened version - 'when in Rome...'. This dates back to at least the 1930s when a play of that title, written by Charles Faber, was performed in New York.

Conclusion.

Proverbs are interesting, important, and complex to study. That is why so many different views have evolved to analyze them: the personal, formal, religious, literary, practical, cultural and cognitive views. These views have different goals that have been persuaded with different techniques, so they provide us with different information. Proverbs have been and remain most powerful and effective instrument for the transmission of culture, social morality, manners and ideas of a people from one generation to another. The reason behind the efficacy of them has been and remains a most powerful and effective instrument for the transmission of culture, social morality, manners and ideas of a people from one generation to another. The reason behind the efficacy of the proverb is that it is an aphorism, a wise saying based upon people's experience, and is a reflection of the social values and sensibility of the people. As proverbs are universal, there are analogous proverbs in different nations that have related cultural patterns. Proverbs are therefore useful in the students’ discussions of cultural ideas when they compare the proverbs’ equivalents in different languages.

Proverbs are basically conversational, but occur commonly in both spoken and written communication, e.g. lectures, newspapers, speeches, books, fables and poetry. Proverbs are used in a wide range of situations and there are no limits to the use of the proverb.

Also proverbs, besides being an important part of culture, are an important tool for effective communication and for the comprehension of different spoken and written discourses. The person who does not acquire competence in using proverbs will be limited in conversation, will have difficulty comprehending a wide variety of printed matter, radio, television, songs etc., and will not understand proverb parodies which presuppose a familiarity with a stock proverb.

Work with proverbs and sayings at the lessons not only helps to diversify educational process and to make its brighter and interesting. Moreover it helps to solve a number of very important educational problems: proverbs in the classroom can improve students’ learning experiences, their language skills, and their understanding of themselves and the world.

The list used literature.

1. Arora, Shirley L. (1994). "The perception of proverbiality". In Wolfgang Mieder (Ed.) Wise Words. Essays on the Proverb. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 3-29.

2. Harnish, Robert M. (2003). "Communicating with proverbs". In Wolfgang Mieder (Ed.), Cognition, Comprehension and Communication. A Decade of North American Proverb Studies (1990-2000). Hohengehren: Schneider-Verlag.

3. Mieder (Ed.) Wise Words. Essays on the Proverb. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 297-316.

4. Mieder, Wolfgang. (1993). Proverbs Are Never Out of Season. Popular Wisdom in the Modern Age. New York: Oxford University Press.

5. Mieder, Wolfgang. (2004). Proverbs - A Handbook. Westport, CT; Greenwood Press.

6. Rowland, Durbin. (1926). "The use of proverbs in beginners' classes in the modern languages". Modern Language Journal 11:89-92.

7. Nippold, Marilyn A., and Uhden, Linda D., and Schwarz, Ilsa E. (2003). "Proverb explanation through the lifespan: A development study of adolescents and adults". In Wolfgang Mieder (Ed.), Cognition, Comprehension and Communication. A Decade of North American Proverb Studies (1990-2000). Hohengehren: Schneider-Verlag., 367-383.

8. Raymond, Joseph. (1948). "Proverbs and language teaching". Modern Language Journal 32:522-523.

9. Obelkevich, James. (1994). "Proverbs and social history". In Wolfgang Mieder (Ed.) Wise Words. Essays on the Proverb. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 211-252.

10. Logan Smith. Words and Idioms. London, (1928). Word-Groups and Phraseological Units', § 1, p. 64.

11. The Advanced Learner's Dictionary by A. Hornby, E. Gatenby, H. Wake-Field; The Universal English Dictionary by H. Wild and General Service List of English Words with Semantic Frequencies by M. West.

12. V.I. Dal "Dictionary of vivid Russian language".

13. V.I. Dal "The proverbs of Russian nation".

14. Англо-русский фразеологический словарь. М,. 1995.

15. А.И. Смирницкий. Лексикология английского языка. М., 1956.

16. Honeck, R. (1997). A proverb in mind: the cognitive science of proverbial wit and wisdom. USA: Lawrence Erlbaum.

17. Marvin, D.E. (1922). Antiquity of Proverbs. New York and London.

18. Mieder, W. (2004). Proverbs: A Handbook. London: Greenwood Press.

19. Mieder, W. Dundes, A. (1995). The Wisdom of Many: Essays on the Proverb, (Ed.). New York: Garland.

20. Mollanazar, H. (2001). Principles and methodology of translation.

21. Norrick, N.R. (1985). How Proverbs Mean? Semantic Studies in English Proverbs. Amesterdom: Mouton.

22. Schuster. E. (1998). Proverbs: A Path to Understanding Different Cultures. Journal of Extension, 36.1, 18-23.

23. Samover, Larry A., Richard E. Porter, and Lisa A. Stefani. (2009). Communication between Cultures. Edited by Randall.

24. http://www.bilingual.ru

25. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/proverbs.html

26. http://www.cogweb.com

27. http://www.proverbs.com