Introduction
Proverbs exist in a plethora of languages to express worldly wisdom, frequently in a metaphorical way. A number of proverbs are documented in more than one language since speakers adopt them from cultures they have been in contact with. The focus of the present study is on animal proverbs in English which have a foreign equivalent in another language, such as French, Latin, Greek, Japanese or Arabic. The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (henceforth referred to as the ODP), edited by Jennifer Speake in Reference Speake2015, is a valuable source for collecting the variety of animal proverbs which have become established in English over time.
For proverbs that are recorded in more than one language, it is often difficult to assess the direction of the borrowing process. For example, the introduction of a number of Latin and Greek proverbs into English and other languages was due to the publication of The Adages, a collection of classical proverbs compiled by the Dutch humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam during the Renaissance.
The present paper relies on a lexicographical sample of 42 animal proverbs listed in the ODP. The ODP developed from the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, first published in Reference Simpson1982 (see also Speake, Reference Speake2015: v). The ODP not only provides information about the etymology of the different proverbs, but also a number of illustrative quotations from a diversity of sources (e.g. novels, newspapers or the Internet) which illustrate the typical use of the proverbs over time. In the editor's preface to the ODP:
Research for this edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs has shown that the proverb in Britain and North America is as vital and varied as ever. The evolution of the present Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs from the Concise over more than three decades has paralleled the evolution of the Internet as a research tool of unique usefulness and scope . . . Online resources from around the world have provided invaluable evidence for the continued currency of an appreciable number of older sayings that had seemed, from the lack of print evidence, to be obsolescent at the end of the twentieth century (Speake Reference Speake2015: v).
The present study sets out to compare animal proverbs used in English with their equivalents in other languages. The comprehensive linguistic evidence in the ODP was taken into account, in order to obtain an overview of the origin, meaning and use of the various proverbs from their earliest recorded use until today. This has to date been neglected in existing investigations.
Animal proverbs with a foreign equivalent
As already mentioned, the ODP includes 42 animal proverbs which have a foreign equivalent. Of these, 17 have an equivalent in Latin and/or Greek, and 12 may go back to French. In addition, there are 13 proverbs from a variety of other languages, ranging from Japanese (3), (West) African languages (3), Chinese (2) and Arabic (1), to Russian (1), Inuit (1), Indian (1) and Native American (1). Figure 1 presents an overview of the chronological distribution of these animal proverbs in English.
Figure 1. Chronological distribution of the animal proverbs with an equivalent in a foreign language
Before the 13th century, there are no foreign-derived animal proverbs in the ODP. The earliest proverb in the sample of ODP entries is The cat would eat fish, but would not wet her feet, first recorded in English in about 1225. It corresponds to the medieval Latin Catus amat piscem, sed non vult tingere plantas, ‘the cat loves a fish, but does not wish to wet its feet’ (see ODP), used with reference to the need to endure anger or take risks to achieve a particular aim.
The French-derived proverbs studied mostly date from the Early Modern English period, with some from the Middle English period. The latest animal proverb with a French equivalent dates from 1666, which coincides with the main period of contact between French and English. The proverbs with a Latin equivalent were also borrowed from the Middle English period to the Renaissance, again with a climax in the 16th century, with the last proverb dating from 1616. This reflects the growing interest in antiquity and the classical languages in Early Modern English, which led to a high number of borrowings from Latin and Greek. The adoption of Latin and Greek proverbs reached its peak a little later than that of the proverbs originating from French.
The borrowing of proverbs from languages other than French, Latin or Greek started in the later decades of the 19th century, with a peak in the 20th century. The latest proverb among the ODP entries is the Japanese-derived A clever hawk hides its claws, implying that you should hide your best skills until the time is right. It has been documented in English since 1994.
Tables 1, 2 and 3 provide an overview of the English animal sayings with their corresponding expressions in Latin, Greek and French. The ODP also contains a number of proverbs for which no original saying has been identified. In these cases, only the possible source language or culture is indicated (see Table 4). The various ODP entries are arranged in chronological order. For each proverb, the first recorded use is given.
Table 1. English proverbs with a Latin equivalent
Table 2. English proverbs with a Greek equivalent
Table 3. English proverbs with a French equivalent
Table 4. English proverbs with equivalents in miscellaneous languages
The proverbs which date back to Latin or Greek include a variety of animals, such as bees, birds, fish, cats, cocks, chicken, dogs, eagles, flies and horses, as well as some animals that do not occur in Western Europe, such as a leopard. All the proverbs which ultimately date back to Greek were first recorded in the 16th century; all of them show a corresponding Latin translation equivalent in Erasmus’ Adages (see ODP).
In general, the proverbs with an equivalent expression in French include common (farm) animals of Europe, such as dogs, cats or horses. Examples are A barking dog never bites, When the cat's away, the mice will play and Three things are not to be trusted: a cow's horn, a dog's tooth, and a horse's hoof.
The proverbs in Table 4 tend to focus on local common animals of the relevant regions, such as a camel in the Arabic saying or a caribou in the Inuit proverb. These have mostly been documented in English since the 20th century, with only two earlier borrowings from 1882 and 1892. This might be due to the contact between English and other languages, which mainly started after the 18th century.
The horse sayings tend to be associated with freedom and loss. The fish is either eaten or stinks. Both bees and flies are associated with honey; the sweetness of honey is presented as attractive to insects. Sayings including animals that can be dangerous to humans (e.g. crocodiles, wolves, lions) usually focus on this association, and the corresponding proverbs therefore often reveal a warning tone.
Usually the proverbs under scrutiny portray relationships between animals or between animals and humans. Most of them are metaphorical in nature and reflect human behavior. From a semantic point of view, three overarching tendencies can be identified: firstly, the relationship ‘predator–prey’ seems to be a very frequent dichotomy explored in animal proverbs. Examples are The caribou feeds the wolf, but it is the wolf who keeps the caribou strong, which has its origins in Inuit, and It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice, a proverb of Chinese provenance that emphasizes pragmatism (see ODP). In the different proverbs, the cat is usually seen as a predator (of mice or fish). Muhammad and Rashid (Reference Muhammad and Rashid2014: 341) confirm that cat metaphors in proverbs tend to highlight the position of the cat in ‘the hierarchical order of the respective animals within the Great Chain’, i.e. as part of a hierarchy.
Humans can also be depicted as ‘predators’ of animals, as in If you run after two hares you will catch neither. It reflects the Latin duos insequens lepores, neutrum capit, ‘he who chases two hares catches neither’, meaning that if a person tries to do two things simultaneously, he or she will fail.
On the other hand, some proverbs in the ODP describe alliances or friendly relations between animals. An example is Dog does not eat dog, reflecting the Latin canis caninam non est, ‘a dog does not eat dog's flesh’. It implies that people of the same type or profession should not harm each other (see ODP). The Indian-derived If you have to live in the river, it is best to be friends with a crocodile, suggesting that it is advisable to get along well with the most influential person in the neighborhood, serves as an example of a proverb which describes alliances or friendly relations between humans and animals.
In addition, the opposition ‘large–strong’ versus ‘small–weak’ is often associated with the ‘predator–prey’ dichotomy. For example, a large animal can catch a small one; a strong animal can destroy a weak one. An example is When the cat's away, the mice will play, which corresponds to the French Ou chat ne rat regne, ‘where there is no cat the rat is king’ (see ODP).
‘Hunger–eating’ is another important dichotomy implied in the animal proverbs under review. The reader may observe that the proverbs in this category might in some cases overlap with those related to ‘predator–prey’, i.e. with proverbs describing animals eating each other or humans eating animals. A common motif is the search for food or imminent starvation, as is exemplified by Hunger drives the wolf out of the wood and When the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten, and the last stream poisoned, you will realize that you cannot eat money. The former reflects the French la fains enchace le louf dou bois, literally ‘hunger chases the wolf from the wood’, used with reference to the fact that ‘[n]ecessity compels people to take unaccustomed action’ (ODP). The latter is of Native American origin. In present-day English, it is quite often recorded in contexts referring to environmental pollution (see ODP).
Proverbs that are associated with ‘caution–trust’ comprise the third dichotomy identified in the sample of ODP entries. It is well known that a significant number of proverbs give advice. Among the animal proverbs examined in the present study, a number of sayings recommend caution. Some of them refer to humility, negation or describe what not to do. Examples are One swallow does not make a summer, Don't count your chickens before they are hatched and Don't call a wolf to help you against the dogs. One swallow does not make a summer dates back to the Greek μία χελιδὼν ἔαρ οὐ ποιεῖ, ‘one swallow does not make a spring’, implying that a single happy event does not mean that what follows will be good. Don't count your chickens before they are hatched reflects the Latin Ad praesens ova, cras pullis sunt meliora, ‘eggs today are better than chickens tomorrow’, meaning ‘Do not make, or act upon, an assumption (usually favourable or optimistic) which might turn out to be wrong’ (ODP). Don't call a wolf to help you against the dogs is of Russian origin, considered ‘[a] warning against summoning help from forces that you are unable to control, as they are as likely to turn on you as on your enemies’ (ODP).
Finally, there are some proverbs to do with precautions, trust or what-if-scenarios, such as If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas and Trust in God but tie your camel. The former is derived from the Latin Qui cum canibus concumbunt cum pulicibus surgent, ‘they who lie with dogs will rise with fleas’, meaning ‘[v]ices are easily acquired from bad associations’ (ODP). The latter is of Arabic provenance. It reminds us that we should trust that everything will work out, but at the same time do what we can to ensure a positive outcome.
Conclusion
It has emerged in the present study that the most common animals in the linguistic data are those that are native within the geographical boundaries of the language community in which the proverbs were coined. This may reflect the fact that these animals tend to be well known by everyone; it may also be that they are often attributed stereotypical characteristics in the respective culture. For example, Sameer (Reference Sameer2016) points out that from a cognitive point of view, the semantic ‘molecules’ of animals, i.e. the cultural and ideological associations of an animal, are usually reflected in proverbs through the use of metaphor. Similarly, Ibáñez Moreno (Reference Ibáñez Moreno2005) draws attention to the fact that animal proverbs reflect cultural beliefs.
In terms of language contact, the amount of proverb borrowing between English and other languages seems to roughly correspond to the borrowing of loanwords (Durkin, Reference Durkin2014: 35). However, it is surprising that after the 17th century, the ODP does not contain any animal proverb with a French or Latin equivalent, although the linguistic contact between these languages and English continues to this day.
From a semantic perspective, the animal proverbs emphasize above all the struggle for survival of animals, as well as related topics such as risk, predation and hunger and metaphorically transfer these meanings to human behavior. A typical example is the Latin-derived proverb Self-preservation is the first law in nature, which basically summarizes this attitude. This is also related to the significance of the Great Chain Metaphor, i.e. the hierarchy of human beings, and associated topics such as predation, which can be used to analyse metaphors in proverbs.
JULIA LANDMANN is a lecturer in English Linguistics at the University of Basel. In 2022, she completed her habilitation at Heidelberg University. Julia's publications are related to lexicology, phraseology, historical semantics, language contact and the relationship between language and emotion. Her most recent book publication, The Dynamic Lexicon of English: A Socio-cognitive Approach towards Loan Processes and Their Linguistic Effects, examines the complex interrelation between usage, meaning and the mind as an essential issue of contact-induced language variation. Email: [email protected]
YANNICK GANZ is a graduate student of linguistics and a student assistant at the University of Heidelberg. He is currently finishing his MA and writing his MA thesis. His main research foci include language contact and cultural contact, varieties of English, and historical linguistics and language change. Email: [email protected]
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