A Dictionary of English and Romanian Equivalent Proverbs

By Teodor Flonta

This dictionary assembles more than 1450 English proverbs and their Romanian equivalents. Equivalent proverbs are those which express the same concept, be it literally, such as "All that glitters is not gold" = "Nu tot ce sclipeşte e aur", or with completely different words, such as "Every cloud has a silver lining" = "Nici un rău fără bine." The Dictionary is a very useful reference tool for scholars of the two languages, for researchers working in various associated fields such as linguistics, literature, folklore, anthropology, psychology, sociology, history, and for workers in newer areas such as advertising and contemporary media. The Dictionary is also of interest to diplomats and politicians who try to improve their communication by sharing ideas formulated in some common meaningful expressions; it will assist interpreters and translators, and teachers and students for whom it is important to understand not only what the target culture expresses in the same way as their own, but also what is formulated in a different way. The Dictionary is also of benefit to non-professionals who, for the sheer enjoyment of it, wish to savour the wisdom, wit, poetry and the colourful language of proverbs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Teodor Flonta
• Release date: Oct 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465777638

Teodor Flonta

Transylvanian born Teodor Flonta is a retired academic and author of multilingual proverb dictionaries. He lives in Tasmania, Australia, with his wife, Ariella, surrounded by beautiful grandchildren.

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A Dictionary of English and Romanian Equivalent Proverbs

Teodor Flonta

DeProverbio.com

Copyright 2011 Teodor Flonta

Smashwords Edition

CONTENTS

Introduction

Dictionary

Bibliography

Introduction

From time immemorial proverbs have fascinated people of all ages and from all walks of life. As it happened throughout centuries, common people today still avail themselves of the proverb’s rich oral tradition to convey their culture and values, while scholars collect and study them from a wide range of angles: linguistic, social, psychological, political... Although the problem of proverb definition is still open, it is broadly accepted that proverbs were born from experience and that they generally express, in a very succinct way, common-sense truths, give sound advice and reflect the human condition. But, as we know and as this dictionary proves, human nature is both good and bad and the latter is often mirrored by discriminatory proverbs, be they against women, different nationalities or particular social groups. For a thorough discussion of proverb definition, see Popular Views of the Proverb(www.deproverbio.com) by Prof. Wolfgang Mieder.

As to the origin of proverbs we tend to assume that they were born in times when human society began to self-impose rules and embrace principles necessary for communal living. Research can trace them back only to the time when language was recorded by means of some type of writing. The Sumerian civilisation of more than five thousand years ago is the oldest known civilisation to have made use of proverbs, some of which have been passed on through its cuneiform inscriptions. One such proverb, in its Latin version, is Canis festinans caecos parit catuloswhich spread to other languages such as English, in the form The hasty bitch brings forth blind whelps, French, La chienne dans sa hâte a mis bas des chiots aveugles,Italian, La gatta frettolosa fece i gattini ciechi (here the ‘bitch’ has been replaced by ‘cat’), Portuguese, Cadelas apressadas parem cães tortos, and Romanian, Căţeaua de pripă îşi naşte căţeii fără ochi.

Given their widespread use over the millennia, it is no wonder that scholars of the past started assembling proverbs in collections. Aristotle is believed to be among the first paremiographers (collectors of proverbs), but, unfortunately, his collection was lost. In more recent times a great impetus to the collection of proverbs was given by Erasmus, whose fame spread from Venice throughout Europe after the publication in 1508 of his Adagiorum Chiliades which contained 3,260 proverbs drawn from classical authors. The success of the book led to several augmented editions culminating with that of 1536, revised by Erasmus himself, which contains 4,151 proverbs. Erasmus’ work was translated into several European languages and became the model for future proverb collections in those languages. The latter were, in turn, widely copied and translated. One good example of such a practice is the 1591 Italian collection Giardino di Ricreatione, nel quale crescono fronde, fiori e frutti, vaghe, leggiadri e soavi, sotto nome di sei miglia proverbii, e piacevoli riboboli Italiani, colti e scelti da Giovanni Florio, which appeared in French two decades later as Le Jardin de Récréation, au quel croissent rameaux, fleurs et fruits très-beaux, gentils et souefs, soubz le nom de Six mille proverbes et plaisantes rencontres françoises, recueillis et triéez par GOMÈS DE TRIER, non seulement utiles mais délectables pour tous espritz désireux de la très-noble et copieuse langue françoise, nouvellement mis en lumière, à Amsterdam, par PAUL DE RAVESTEYN.

Apart from use on a wide scale in day-to-day speech, there is ample evidence that proverbs were essential tools in teaching and learning. The pedagogical use of proverbs was encountered first in Sumerian society and subsequently this use became widespread throughout Medieval Europe. In the preface to the first edition of theOxford Dictionary of English Proverbs, J. Heseltine states that proverbs and proverbial expressions are found in religious manuscripts of the first half of the eighth century. The aim of introducing proverbs into religious texts was to help novices to learn Latin, and this practice became widespread by the tenth century. The use of proverbs in teaching and learning was not circumscribed to England. Relatively new research attests to the use of proverbs in teaching in the eleventh century in Liège, France. In Italy the famous medical School of Salerno of the eleventh century formulated medical precepts which later became proverbs adopted by different cultures, such as Post prandium stabis, post coenam ambulabis translatedAfter dinner sit awhile, after supper walk a mile in English, Après dîner repose un peu, après souper promène une mille in French, Dopo pranzo riposar un poco, dopo cena passeggiar un miglio in Italian, Después de yantar reposad un poco, después de cenar pasead una milla in Spanish and Depois de jantar, dormir; depois de cear, passos mil in Portuguese.

Joanna Wilson, in her Introduction to the third edition of The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs, said, regarding the foreign proverbs’ contribution to the English proverbial stock, that these enriched our language, for many proverbs of foreign origin were quickly absorbed into English life and these have a rightful place in an English dictionary. And, indeed, a close scrutiny of that dictionary reveals that more than two hundred and fifty proverbs are listed as first existing in Italian. This is also true for other modern languages, particularly French and Spanish. The translation is not always literal; at times it is adapted to the new language and the resulting proverb is often enriched in its expression, for instance the Latin Homo sine pecunia est imago mortis (A man without money is the image of death) is rather closely translated in Italian as Uomo senza quattrini è un morto che cammina(A man without money is a dead man walking), but in English the metaphor changes and the proverb becomes A man without money is a bow without an arrow, in French Un homme sans argent / Est un loup sans dents (A man without money is a wolf without teeth) where an element of rhyme is introduced, while the Romanian adaptation is a real poetic gem Omul fără bani e ca pasărea fără aripi; Când dă să zboare / Cade jos şi moare (A man without money is like a bird without wings; When he tries to fly / He falls down and dies). The concept is essentially the same: the man without money lacks something important...

But from use comes abuse, as a Spanish proverb says, and there is no doubt that the capacity of the proverb to convey universal truths concisely led to their abuse and manipulation. Hitler and his Nazi regime employed proverbs as emotional slogans for propaganda purposes and encouraged the publication of anti-semitic collections of proverbs. For a thorough analysis of this phenomenon, please read the fascinating article ... as if I were the master of situation. Proverbial Manipulation in Adolf Hitler (www.deproverbio.com) by Prof. Wolfgang Mieder. At the opposite end of the political spectrum, communist regimes of the past have not only manipulated proverbs, but also ‘purged’ popular collections of features which did not reflect their political ends. The former Soviet regime is at the forefront of such actions. One type of manipulation described by Jean Breuillard in Proverbes et pouvoir politique: Le cas de l’U.R.S.S. (published in Richesse du proverbe, Eds. François Suard and Claude Buridant. Lille: Université de Lille, 1984. II, 155-166) consisted in modifying ancient proverbs like La vérité parcourt le monde (Truth spreads all over the world) into La vérité de Lénine parcourt le monde (Lenin’s truth spreads all over the world) where the new ‘creation’ is unequivocably charged with a specific ideological message. Manipulation did not stop at individual proverbs, it extended to entire collections. The first Soviet edition (1957) of Vladimir Dal’s mid-nineteen century collection of Russian proverbs reduces the proverbs containing the wordGod from 283 to 7 only, while proverbs which express compassion for human weaknesses, such as alcoholism, disappear altogether. In more recent years, in Ceauşescu’s Romania, the 1985 edition of Proverbele românilor (published in 1877 by I. C. Hinţescu) suffered the same treatment: more than 150 proverbs were eliminated or changed in order to respond rigidly to the communist ideology.

In spite of their ups and downs, proverbs and their study are alive and well today as illustrated by the hundreds of studies and collections published every year all over the world. For a bibliography of the most recent publications see the invaluable international bibliographies (www.deproverbio.com) published each year by Prof. Wolfgang Mieder.

While proverbs are still used today in a traditional way, that is in speech, literature and teaching, they have found a new ever expanding use in the advertising industry and in the mass media. Proverbs like Here today, gone tomorrow become Hair today, gone tomorrow in the hair-removal industry, while the mass media has a variety of paraphrases such as Hear today, gone tomorrow, Heir today, gone tomorrow. Before the Barcelona Olympic Games the old proverb All roads lead to Rome became All roads lead to... Barcelona in many English language newspapers and magazines. This is a phenomenon encountered in many languages nowadays and is undoubtedly a sign of the proverb’s resilience and vitality.

* * *

This dictionary assembles more than 1450 English proverbs and their Romanian equivalents. Equivalent proverbs are those which express the same concept, be it literally, such as All that glitters is not gold = Nu tot ce sclipeşte e aur, or with completely different words, such as Every cloud has a silver lining = Nici un rău fără bine. The Dictionary is a very useful reference tool for scholars of the two languages, for researchers working in various associated fields such as linguistics, literature, folklore, anthropology, psychology, sociology, history, and for workers in newer areas such as advertising and contemporary media. The Dictionary is also of interest to diplomats and politicians who try to improve their communication by sharing ideas formulated in some common meaningful expressions; it will assist interpreters and translators, and teachers and students for whom it is important to understand not only what the target culture expresses in the same way as their own, but also what is formulated in a different way. The Dictionary is also of benefit to non-professionals who, for the sheer enjoyment of it, wish to savour the wisdom, wit, poetry and the colourful language of proverbs.

DICTIONARY

A

1 ABSENCE makes the heart grow fonder.

Ochii care se văd rar se iubesc.

Mai răruţ, mai drăguţ.

2 ABSENCE sharpens love, presence strengthens it.

Celor ce duc mai mult dorul, le pare mai dulce odorul.

3 Long ABSENT, soon forgotten.

Prin depărtare dragostea se uită.

Cf. Out of SIGHT, out of mind.

4 The ABSENT are always in the wrong.

Cei ce lipsesc nu capătă dreptate.

Sim. He is neither absent without fault, nor present without excuse.

5 ABUNDANCE, like want, ruins many.

Bogăţia strică pe om.

6 Out of the ABUNDANCE of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Din prisosul inimii grăieşte gura.

Var. Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.

Cf. What the HEART thinks, the tongue speaks.

o Matthew 12, 34 / Matei 12, 34; Luke 6, 45 / Luca 6, 45

7 There is no good ACCORD where every man would be a lord.

Vai de casa cu mulţi stăpâni.

Cf. Where every man is MASTER the world goes to wreck.

8 There is no ACCOUNTING for tastes.

Gustul dispută n-are.

Sim. Everyone as they like best / Tastes differ.

Cf. Every man to his TASTE.

9 ACORNS were good till bread was found.

Bună şi mămăliga, când ne lipseşte pâinea.

Bună-i plăcinta, dar dacă nu-i, e bună şi pita.

Dacă nu e colac e bună şi pâinea.

Sim. If you have not a capon, feed on onion / They that have no other meat, bread and butter are glad to eat / Better a mouse (louse) in the pot than no flesh at all.

10 ACTIONS speak louder than words.

Faptele grăiesc mai apăsat decât vorbele.

Cf. DEEDS, not words.

11 When ADAM delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?

Dacă ar fi fost toţi bogaţi, cine ar fi săpat ogoarele?

12 If the ADDER could hear, and the blindworm could see, neither man nor beast would ever go free.

Să te ferească Dumnezeu când o face râma ochi, că-i mai rea decât şarpele.

Când ar fi după corbi, toţi caii ar fi morţi.

13 Much ADO about nothing.

Mult zgomot pentru nimic.

Sim. Much cry and little wool.

14 ADVERSITY makes a man wise, not rich.

Cine păgubeşte se înţelepţeşte.

Cf. EXPERIENCE is the mother of knowledge / EXPERIENCE is the best teacher / An ounce of PRACTICE is worth a pound of precept.

15 A woman's ADVICE is no great thing, but he who won't take it is a fool.

Bine