English and Arabic Proverbs

1. English and Arabic Proverbs According to Oxford Concise Dictionary Proverb is ‘a short saying in general use, held to embody a general truth’whereas, Idiom is: ‘a group of words established by usage and having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words’.

2. English and Arabic Proverbs • each culture has proverbs that are unique to it. The saying, "if you want to know a people, know their proverbs" illustrates this. For example, saying from various Native American tribes often reflect their view of the land as sacred: "Take only what you need and leave the land as you found it"

3. English and Arabic Proverbs • Japanese proverbs often refer to morals: "An evil deed remains with the evildoer" and discretion: "The tongue is like a sharp knife, it kills without drawing blood".

4. English and Arabic Proverbs • Many Mexican proverbs reflect the thinking and values of rural people or the average person on the street and hope is a common theme: "Hope dies last of all"

5. Origins of the English proverbs • To become a proverb, a saying has to be taken up and assimilated by the common people. In the process, its origin is forgotten. Once it has become proverbial, the saying is used as part of popular wisdom; the user is no longer interested in its origin. It is safe to assume that every proverb had an origin in a specific person or specific situation, but with many of the very old ones this origin has been completely lost.

6. Origins of the English proverbs • In general we can assume that proverbs with the more abstract type of wisdom began life in this way, proverbs like The end justifies themeans which appears to have taken its bow in a seventeenth century theological treatise, or the ‘wish is father to the thought’ which as far as we know was first given expression to by Julius Caesar, or ‘A soft answerturneth away wrath’, which certainly took that precise form from the Bible.

7. Borrowings: • Another important source of English proverbs is these of other languages. Here again it is difficult to be certain. If a proverb existed in Latin, French, or Spanish before it appeared in English, there is no proof that it was borrowed from the other language. It may very well be that it developed concurrently in English but happened never to have been recorded.

8. Biblical proverbs: • Proverbs deriving from the Bible are in a sense another kind of borrowing. In earlier times the English Bible was so widely read that many of its sayings have become so much part of popular wisdom that few users today are aware of their biblical origin, and the hardiest free thinker will show no hesitation in drawing upon them to illustrate a rational point. Nevertheless, a good many English proverbs come straight from the Authorized Version: • The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

9. Other literary sources: • Next to the Bible, Shakespeare is undoubtedly the greatest literary source of the modern proverb. No one can be sure, however, which of those attributed to him are the product of Shakespeare's own thought and how many were taken over more or less in the form in which they existed in the oral tradition around him. A number of proverbs from Shakespeare have survived in their original wording e.g.: • Cowards die many times before their deaths.

10. Interpretation: • How are proverbs to be interpreted? What is their full meaning? • This is clearly bound up with their use and goes right to the heart of the problem. The Dutch call proverbs the daughters of experience, and we have seen how many of the oldest ones were originally a summary of what experience had taught people in the performance of everyday chores. They were, then, at the outset interpreted literally. • A stitch in time saves nine was the literal truth the busy housewife had learnt in looking after the family's clothes.

11. The proverb in education: • The proverb has had a long and honorable history in the classroom. As early as the tenth century proverbs were used in England as a brighter method of teaching Latin. Many generations of children through the nineteenth century and beyond were expected to improve their minds as well as their writing by having to copy proverbs out in their copy books. The commonest proverbs still form part of the background of every English speaking child, and this is recognized in the early stages of modern Education, where many uses are made of them.

12. The proverb in education: • As a result of their metaphorical application, many proverbs widely different in wording have very similar meanings, and this too is a fruitful source of educational material, as may be seen by pairing the following: • Once bitten, twice shy. • A burnt child dreads the fire. • Barking dogs seldom bite. • Enough is good as a feast. • Many a little makes a mickle.