198 



PROVERBS 



Hindustani are also excellent, ami in the Turkish, 

 together with abundant worldly shrewdness, then 

 i sometime* a vein of poetry that i- very striking 

 It is questionable whether the ' teniler BWUlty,' ti 

 use Trench's phrase, i>f our own proverb of the 

 shorn lainh is not livalhil liy its Tinkisli parallel, 

 'God makea a nest for the Mind hird.' 



The bibliography of proverb* in, of coarse. a sul'jecl 

 which cannot be compressed within the limits of an article 

 Even the admirable work of M. Duplea*is, Biblioyraphie 

 Parrminioiiique (Paris. 1847). full as it is, has been out- 

 grown by the proverb literature that hag sprung up since 

 it* appearance; and Nopitzsch's Litrratiir der Sprieh- 

 wMer (Nuremberg, 1833) is still more out of date. The 

 oldest collection! of proverbs true proverbs, that is to 

 say, not aphorisms or maxims of sages are probably the 

 French Prorrrl** ruraiix et rulimux and Prorerbet an 

 Villain, a significant title a* indicating the recognised 

 source of proverbial wisdom. Both of these are of the 

 13th century, and there are one or two others of the 

 same sort almost as old. The Marquis of Saiitillaua, the 

 Spanish jtoet, statesman, and soldier, is the oldest collec- 

 tor of proverb* of whom we know anything. His collec- 

 tion of G25 'Proverbs that the old women repeat over 

 the fire' was made at the request of John II. of Castile 

 about the middle of the 15th century, hut was not printed 

 till 1508. The earliest German collections were those of 

 Johann Agricola in 152S, and Sebastian Franck in 1541, 

 for Kebel's 'ProverbiaOermanica ' (1508), being in Latin, 

 cannot t>e counted. Of Italian proverbs the first genuine 

 collection was the I'rot'erbi of Antonio Cornazzano 

 (Venice, 1518). Comparatively little attention has been 

 paid to our own. John Heywood, the dramatist, in 1546 

 composed in verse A dialoyue conteyniny in effect the 

 number of all Uie prorerlia in tlie KruilM tunje, which 

 has a certain interest and value as the first attempt 

 towards a colli ction in the language. George Herbert's 

 Jarulii Prwtentum is, as its original title of Outtaiuliult 

 Prorerbn implies, merely a collection of foreign proverbs 

 in an Knilish dress. Howell in 1659 collected a few 

 which he appended to his lexicon Tttraiilntkm. 1 1 take 

 away the reproach against England ' that she is hut 

 barren in this point, and those proverlw she hath are but 

 flat und empty.' The first deserving the namo of a col- 

 lection was Kay's in 1670, which, though faulty in system 

 and arrangement, brought together a considerable ninn- 

 IH.T of genuine, racy, popular proverbs, and has passed 

 through seven or eight editions. The best, that in 

 Holm's Handbook of Prorerbi (1855), is supplemented 

 by a copious 'Alphabet of Proverbs,' to which the com- 

 panion volume, the PotiHjIott of Foreiffa Prorerbi ( 1857 ), 

 forms a useful adjunct. A later collection is Mr \V. C 

 Hazlitt's (2d ed. 1882 p. Scotch proverbs have fared 

 better. A. collection by David Fergusson appeared in 

 1(141, and a much larger one by Kelly in 1721, followed 

 by Allan Kamsay's in 1737. Henderson's was pub- 

 lished in ix:t2, an<l Hislop's in 18W>. A collection of 

 Gaelic proverbs was made by Donald Macintosh in 

 17">, and a more complete one by Alexander N'loolson 

 in 1S.S2. Trench's Anuwtu in Prorerb* (1853| somc- 

 what relieves the poverty of English |iroverb literature. 

 In strong contrast to Knglish neglect is the zeal of i .. . 

 man collectors. Cocdckc eiiiiinerates seventy five names, 

 and Duplessis more than thrice that number of works. 

 A few of the more notable, after Agrioola and Kranck, are 

 I^liinann, Pt>lititr/i,r Hiiii,,i,i,trt< H iliKIOi; >ie>ienkecs 

 (1790); Wander, Nrliridemihi;. (1S32) mid .S/.rtcAw Vrfcr 

 l^'i" I; Korte I 1837 I; Kiselein ( 1H40 1 ; Sin,. 

 rock (1*1(1 1 ; Silt, run i-t-r, Xrlnreizeriifhe Spriekn 

 (1869); Binder. SprickwOrtenelM* (1873); Schriider, 

 l'l,<n,lu,l-h, .s>. ^HaU (1876); Rheinsberg- 



1 )iu -ingxfcld, Nia-ieh ir ,rtrr drr Oermanuchen und Roman- 

 urA'ii X,n-<irh-n i 1X71! -76). The last is probably the 

 most masterly work on proverbs ever written. It is not 

 o much a collection as a concordance of proverbs, in 

 which more than 1700 arc traced through all the Teutonic 

 and l.ntin languages and most of their dialect*. The 

 chief Fr.nch collections are Proverbet Communt (15th 

 century); Lebon, Ailai/et rt Prorerbri de Solon de Voge 

 (16th century); Meurier, Trfmr da Sentence* (|(i!7'i; 

 Ondiu, Curioiitez f'rancoitei (1640); Pancoucke, I 

 tumnniredeiProrerbet(17i9); Tuet, Matintti Sinonauei 

 '89) ; Le Ronx de Lincy, Litre dei Proverbei Franeaii 

 (1869; the best; over-elaborate in arrangement, but 



valuable for its introduction and appendices) ; Oihenart, 

 Proverb* Baiqun (1657; reprinted 1847); SauvtS, Pro- 

 rerbet de la Bane Kretaijnt ( 1878) ; Lespy, Protrrbrt du 

 Pay* de Beam (1876); Toselli, Rscuei de Prourrrbi 

 (Nice, 1878). Italian: Cynthio, Proeerbi (1626)- Pes- 

 cetti. Prorerbi Italiani ( I5UK) ; (iiusti. Prorerbi Totaani 

 (1863; new ed. by G. Capponi, 1884); Bonifacio, Pro- 

 rrroi Lombardi (1858); Tomnuueo, Pnrerb, Corti 

 1H41); Pawiualigo, Proverbi Veneti (3d ed. 1882). 

 Spanish: JMhsMi Famutiaimo* Olouadoi (150ill- 

 Buwoo de Garay, Cartat en Refranei (154 

 Valle*, Libra de Rtfranet (1M!); llernan Nunei 

 de Guzman, Refranei o Prorerbiot (1658); Hallara, 

 Philotofla r^ar(1668); Palmireno, El Kttudio*. 

 triano (1587); Oudin, Refranet Canteltunot |1(W6); 

 Sora|>an, Mederina.en Prmcrbioi (Itilfi); (Vjudo, Re- 

 fi-aiu* (1675), Refranet de la Lentum (',/-/,////,/ (1815, 

 from the Dictionary of the Academy): Collins, . 

 MoMno/^mKlk Proverb* (\8Z2) ; U. K. Hurk 

 Sail ( 1877 ; the proverb* in Don Quixote) ; Haller, Alt- 

 tpanitcAe Sprichwrter (1883). Portuguese : Ada>not, 

 Proverbiot, Ac. (1780-1841). Duteh : MarreLo 

 Spreehworden (1858-63). Danish : Molbech, Dautte 

 Ordtprog (1850); Kok (1870); Grundtvig (1875). 

 Swedish: IJeuterdiihl, (lamia Ordtpr&k ( 1840) ; Kvrnika 

 OnbprUbokm (1865). Norwegian: Assen, Wm-tke 

 Ordtprog ( 1856). Icelandic: Dr H. Scheving (1847). 

 Flemish: Willeins (1824). Modem Greek: Negris, 

 Dictionary of Modern Greek Proverbi ( 1834). Russinn : 

 A selection in appendix to Duplessis (1847). Arabic : 

 Scaliger and Krpenius, Pravrrbium Arabum Cenlurut 

 D*a(10K); Burkhardt, Arabic Proverbt (1830; 2d ed. 

 1875); Freytag, Prortrbia (18;W-4:<); I^ndberg, Pro- 

 rerbet et Dittoiu de la Province de Syrie ( 188,'f ). - Persian 

 and Hindustani: Koebuck, (1824). liengali and Sans- 

 krit: Morton (1832). Behar : Christian (1891). 

 Turkish : Decourdemanche, Mtile et tin Protxrbet Turet 

 (1878); Oimamsche Sprichw'irter ( 1865 ; K.K. Orient. 

 Akad., Wien ). Chinese : ffau Kiou Chooan, or the 

 Plratinti History (1761), contains a small collection. 

 Jaiianeae: Steenackers and Ueda Tokunosuke, Cent 

 Proverbet Japonaii ( 1884). 



Proverbs. THK BOOK OF, a canonical l>ook of 



the Old Testament, 1ml. Is the MVC>HC| pliu-e aiming 

 tlieHajjiograplia, eoniiiij,'iniiiie<lintclx iifler I'salins. 

 The Hebrew word tnnxJiaJ, transl.-iteii in tin- title by 

 jiaroimui in the LXX. and jtrotwrbnim in the Vul- 

 gate, primarily means 'similitude,' and is applic- 

 able to any kind of allegory, simile, or comparisi.n, 

 especially when made for purposes of instruction: 

 and every kind of didactic poetry is also included 

 under the name. Typical instances of the u>e ,.f 

 the wont occur in Lzek. xvii. 2 (I. XX. /><n;i/,c,le, 

 A.V. 'parable'), 1 Sam. x. 12 ( 1,XX. ///,-,/,, 

 A. V. _' proverb'), I's. xlix. 4 ( 'juiralile '), EMU xiv. 4 



_ , . 



I. XX. t/irciiiM, A.V. 'proverb')) it ilms np]ili(>g 



(((iially to that brief R|Mintaiieons pniduct of poimlar 

 wit or wisdom which in ordinary Knglish parlance 

 is most usually understood by tiie word 'proverb,' 

 mil also to that special kind of literary production 

 which the liomaiix called . 'lift nlin, ' (lie Creeks 

 gnome, and which is known to the modern French 

 is the maxim. The ](ook of Proverbs as we now 

 tiave it is made up of a number of originally separ- 

 ue collections: l>osides tbe general preface (i. 1 7). 

 isually attributed to the author of chap, i.-ix., it 

 onsists of the followinir eight part* : ( 1 ) i. 8-ix. 18 



I more appearance of plan, method, and freecom- 

 limn any of the others, and is specially 

 by tbe elaborateness with which it's 



noral lexsoiiH are enforced. Its personilieation of 

 i-'l ..... as the first creation of God is HIM- of the 

 nost lemarkalde and (M-aiitifiil things in Hebrew 

 iterature,' and clearly marks it a.s Lelonging to 

 ic ..... paratively late phase of Hebrew tliought not 

 ar removed from the beginnings of Alexandrian 

 speculation. (2) x. 1-xxii. 16, headed 'the pro 

 verlw of .Solomon,' conUU of 376 miscellaneous 

 li-tiehs, mostly of the antithetic type, of which a 

 good example is furnished by the o|>ening verse of 

 he collection. (3) xxii. 17-xxiv. 22 consists of 



