PROVERBS (Lat. prorerbium, a common saying or word, Gr. paroimion, a wayside saying, corresponding to Eng. byword) are pithy, practical, popular sayings, expressive of certain more or less general convictions. The definitions of the proverb are almost as numerous as its own varieties of form. Aristotle speaks of them as "remnants, which, on account of their shortness and correctness, have been saved out of the wreck and ruins of ancient. philosophy." Agricola considers them sentences, into which, as in rules, the ancients have compressed life." Erasmus holds them to be " well-known and well-used diet a, framed in a somewhat out-of-the-way form of fashion." Cervantes explai ns them as "short sentences drawn from long experience." Johnson talks of them as " short sentences frequently repeated by the people." Less definitions of than general opinions on the proverbs, are sayings like that of Howell, that "sense, .shortness, and salt" form their component parts. They are "the genius, wit, and spirit of a nation," according to Bacon. "The wisdom of ninny, and the wit of one," according to earl Russell. In them, it has been said, is to be found an inexhaustible source of precious documents in to the interior history, the manners, the opinions, the beliefs, the customs of the people; and their use has been strikingly pointed out by George Herbert, who entitled his collection cf proverbs Jacula Pruclentium (Darts or Javelins of the Wise), a term probably derived from Plato's Protagoras.
Yet there have, on the other hand, not been wanting those who, like lord Chesterfield, have deprecated their use in polite society, on account of their occasional vulgarity. and recommended stilted sentences a In Rochefoucauld instead. Of these solitary voices, however, no more notice was ever taken than they deserve. From the earliest historical times, proverbs have been household words, not merely among the people at large, but among the greatest and wisest of men. The prodigious amount of sound wisdom and good common sense they contain, the spirit of justice and kindliness they breathe, their prudential rules for every stage and rank, their poetry. bold imagery. and passion, their wit and satire, and a thouaand other qualities, have, by universal consent, made them the most favorite mode of imparting hints, counsels, and warnings.
Being emphatically sayings originated within or commonly adopted by the people, end handed down, in most cases, from the remotest antiquity, the question as to their origin and age is an exceedingly difficult one. Some of their sources have been pointed out in the responses of oracles, in the allegorical symbols of Pythagoras, in the verses of the ancient poets, in mythological tales, in historical events to which they allude. That they existed to a great extent before the times of which written records have reached us. is clear from the number of them which lie imbedded—as a kind of well-known quota tions—in these records themselves; and what tends still further to increase the difficulty of giving them a kind of fixed habitation within a certain country or age, is the circum stance that the same proverbs are found, as it were, among all nations and at alt ages. From the east they were for the most part imported into Hellas, thence to Rome, and from thence they were scattered all over Europe, and partly brought back again, slightly altered, to the east. Even certain Jewish proverbs quoted by Christ and the apostles, which hitherto did not seem to offer any analogy in other languages, might he traced back to India,where they had existed for many long centuries before they found their way into the popular speech of Palestine and Babylonia, and thence into the Talmud. That the names of their authors should, as a rule, be lost, is not surprising; yet we do meet with single Instances in which either the author of a proverb is well known, or others whose nation ality and birthplace are easily recognized. In the former case, it is generally so:-re mem orable event in a celebrated man's life which is remembered in close connectior with a certain striking sentence he then uttered. In the latter, the scenery, the circumstances, the history of a special country, may so unmistakably be pointed, that they leave no room for any doubts on the birthplace of the special proverb; and more than ths•., even the special period which gave it birth may be recognized by some trace of its character, manners, fashions, and occupations. " What is nearest and dearest to the heart of a nation, the aspect under which they contemplate life, how honor and dishonor are distributed among them, what is of good or of evil report in their eyes," as a recent writer has it, will surely be apparent in their national proverbs. Thus, for instance, the Greek
proverbs may be designated as being fraught with a thorough knowledge of their own mythology, poetry, and history, bearing testimony to the high intellectual training that ran through all classes. The Roman ones—fewer in number, as far as they are the gen uine growth of their own soil—have much less poetry about them, and are also deficient in the refinement and delicacy which were indigenous to Hellas. On the other hand, the character of the people comes well out in the constantly reiterated lessons of fru. play, patience, perseverance, independence they inculcate; the practical hints as to marriage, education; and the various pursuits of that busy, vigorous, energetic nation —and among which agriculture played a prominent part. - Of the proverbs now in use among European nations—calculated at about 20,000—the Spaniards are supposed to have a very large, if not the largest proportion. They may be recognized by a certain q ra ndezza, a stateliness and thoughtfulness, blended though they he with humor and trony; and by the spirit of chivalry, honor, and freedom with which they are filled. The Italian proverbs, which come next as to quantity, are, to a certain extent, replete with a certain shrewdness and selfishness; and while they are fraught with unbridled passion, teach doctrines of cynicism and general distrust; yet, on the other hand, there are many of the noblest stamp, of a delicate refinement of beauty, of a subtle wisdom, teaching honor and honesty, plain-dealing and uprightness. In the same way, the French, the German, the English, as well as the Chinese and the Hindus, and every nation under the sun, impart a certain distinctive type and stamp to their homely sayings. which tells a distinct tale respecting their own inner life and national peculiarities. Of the Scotch proverbs, of which Kelly collected 3,000, it has been said that there is a shrewdness, although deficient in delicacy, about them; that they are "idiomatic, facetious, and strike home." Of the general utility of the proverb it is needless to speak, after what we have said; we will only adduce the well-known frequent use made of them for ethical purposes in Scripture, which containsran entire book of them, ascribed, for the greater part, to the wise king himself; in the Midrash and Talmud, which contains, likewise, a whole col lection of pithy sayings of the "fathers," or Inishnan teachers, and out of which several later collections have been compiled: in the patristic and later theological writers, who, like Luther, drew very largely upon these popular treasures.
Erasmus lays claim to be the first modern collector of proverbs, although Polydore Vergil, and not without a certain amount of truth,' accuses him of plagiarism. His Adagia (Par. 1500) fired the learned in Europe with a desire to collect and to publish proverbs of their own countries. F. Nunez and the marquis of Santellana edited Span ish Refranos; Florio, an Italian, Giardino di Riereatione (1501); which wits followed by the Italian collections of Angelus Monozini and Julius Varini, Ondin published French proverbs as Curiosites Frangoises. The first real German (Nether-Saxon) collection is due to Johann Agricola, whose Gesneine Spriloroerde appeared in 1598. In England. Cam Alen, Herbert. Howell, Fuller, Ray, Kelly, Bohn, and others; in Germany, Weber, Sailer, Nopitzseh, etc., have issued national collections. Freytag and Burkhardt pub lished Arabic Proverbs; Dukes, a small collection of Neo-Hebrew proverbs, etc. Thus, it may easily be seen, there is by no means a lack of material; and yet very little has been done toward the investigation and elucidation of the numerous points of interest connected with this subject. Disraeli's Curiosities of Literature contains a valuable essay oa the "Philosophy of Proverbs," from which (as also from Eiselein's Sprichut7rter and .Einnre,den, 1840) archbishop Trench has derived a great deal of information for his excel lent little book, On the Lessons in Proverbs. Freytag's introduction to his collection of Arabic Proverbs, and that of Le Roux do Lincy to his French collection, make honorable exceptions to the general run of vapid prefaces to most modern collections.