Proverbial Truths In Translation

Athens News ^ | 10-14-2003 | Mark Dragoumis

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Proverbial truths in translation

Many well-known sayings originated in ancient Greece; some of their Englishcounterparts may have subtle variations

BY MARK DRAGOUMIS

THE GREEK word ÐÁÑÏÉÌÉÁ (in Latin proverbium) has an impressive pedigree. It occurs for the first time in Aeschylus' play Agamemnon (lines 264-5) written in 458 BC. Hesychios of Alexandria, a Greek lexicographer, who lived during the 5th century AD, wrote that a proverb (ÐÁÑÏÉÌÉÁ) is a statement useful to life, which is said by-the-way, along the road as it were, ÏÉÌÏÓ - meaning road. Another theory has it that the word originated from the short, sharp, epigrammatic slogans that were written on the marble under the statuettes of the god Hermes that were posted in central spots, crossroads and squares of ancient Athens. Such easy to memorise and striking statements were then passed from mouth to mouth as proverbs*.

Descriptive, not prescriptive

Whether it's cooks in English, or cocks in Greece, both can create chaos when there's too many of them!

All experts agree today that proverbs contain keen observations of everyday life and can provide insights into human behaviour. However, they do not provide safe rules, or rather they offer rules that are often contradictory. This is true both of Greek and English proverbs. Here are some examples:

Those who realise that a necessary, long overdue, action has been taken at last can rightly say ÊÁËËÉÏ ÁÑÃÁ ÐÁÑÁ ÐÏÔÅ (better late than never). Greeks and English alike warn against confusing swift with hasty action. The Modern Greek proverb ÏÐÏÉÏÓ ÂÉÁÆÅÔÁÉ ÓÊÏÍÔÁÖÔÅÉ (he who is in a hurry will trip up) makes this point forcefully and so does the ancient Greek ÓÐÅÕÄÅ ÂÑÁÄÅÙÓ, perfectly rendered by two English proverbs 'make haste slowly', and 'haste makes waste'. Case closed? Not quite, because those who want to get things done quickly can always try to refute such cautionary sayings by insisting that ÔÏ ÓÉÄÅÑÏ ÓÔÇ ÂÑÁÓÇ ÔÏÕ ÊÏËËÁÅÉ (strike while the iron is hot).

Both cultures like to lecture people on the merits of personal responsibility of the type ÏÐÙÓ ÅÓÔÑÙÓÅÓ ÈÁ ÊÏÉÌÇÈÅÉÓ (as you made your bed, so you must sleep) or even Ï,ÔÉ ÓÐÅÉÑÅÉÓ ÈÁ ÈÅÑÉÓÅÉÓ (what you sow you must mow). Both value self-reliance, insisting that ÔÁ ÁÃÁÈÁ ÊÏÐÏÉÓ ÊÔÙÍÔÁÉ (literally, the good things in life are obtained through effort and proverbially, 'no pain, no gain'). The essence of self-reliance is, of course, not to rely on divine help because the gods are not trustworthy. The young Athenian in Pericles' time was told ÓÕÍ ÁÈÇÍÁ ÊÁÉ ×ÅÉÑÁ ÊÉÍÅÉ (literally, 'with Athena move your hand too' and proverbially 'God helps those who help themselves'). However, goal achievement is not always easy as many temptations stand in its way. A proverb that expresses this, is ÔÏ ÌÅÍ ÐÍÅÕÌÁ ÐÑÏÈÕÌÏÍ, Ç ÄÅ ÓÁÑÎ ÁÓÈÅÍÇÓ ie 'the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak'. In certain cases, however, it is impossible to achieve anything because ÖÕÓÉÍ ÐÏÍÇÑÁÍ ÌÅÔÁÂÁËËÅÉÍ ÏÕ ÑÁÄÉÏÍ, meaning literally that 'it is not easy to change a vicious nature'. The English say, in this instance, 'a leopard does not change its spots'.

Proverbial value of animals

The Greeks have taken a few lessons from the animal kingdom: try being 'fearless like a lion' and 'industrious like an ant', and you might succeed in what modern English-speaking westerners have termed the 'rat race' (the Greeks haven't got a term for this yet!)

Proverbs may be 'musty' as Shakespeare says but there are so many differing ones to choose from that they keep cancelling each other out. For instance, what should one abide by? 'Seek and ye shall find' or 'curiosity killed the cat?' If you take your cue from Virgil, you should be suspicious of 'Greeks bearing gifts' (by now an English proverb) but what if a Greek offers you a horse? Will you 'look this gift horse in the mouth' even though a proverb says you should not do that no matter who the donor? If you are a Modern Greek, mind you, the gift changes slightly as the proverb goes ÊÁÐÏÉÏÕ ×ÁÑÉÆÁÍ ÃÁÉÄÁÑÏ ÊÁÉ ÁÕÔÏÓ ÔÏÍ ÊÏÉÔÁÆÅ ÓÔÁ ÄÏÍÔÉÁ meaning 'they gave someone a donkey as a gift and he started looking at his teeth'. Donkeys outnumber horses in Greece. There is, generally speaking, a significant difference in the way Greek proverbs and more generally cliched expressions and similes view animals.

Here are some, very much in current use: ÁÄÕÍÁÔÏÓ ÓÁÍ ÔÓÉÑÏÓ (thin as a dried mackerel), ÌÁÕÑÏÓ ÓÁÍ ÊÁËÉÁÊÏÕÄÁ (black as a jackdaw), ÆÁÑÙÌÅÍÏÓ ÓÁÍ ÓÔÁÖÉÄÁ (wrinkled like a raisin, an expression used for those people that English slang dubs as wrinklies, crinklies or crumblies in ascending order of decrepitude). There is also ÁÔÑÏÌÇÔÏÓ ÓÁÍ ËÉÏÍÔÁÑÉ (fearless as a lion), ÓÔÏÉÂÁÃÌÅÍÏÉ ÓÁÍ ÓÁÑÄÅËÅÓ (squeezed like sardines), and ÅÑÃÁÔÉÊÏÓ ÓÁÍ ÌÕÑÌÇÃÊÉ (industrious like an ant). From the English side, familiar cliches are 'slippery as an eel', 'blind as a bat', 'busy as a bee', 'extinct as a dodo', 'slow as a snail', 'drunk as a newt', 'fat as a pig' and 'snug as a bug in a rug'.

Both linguistic communities display a very anthropomorphic view of animals, which they endow not just with fear and hunger but also with vindictiveness, anger, capacity for work, maternal love, and tenderness. Greeks, however, are keener on birds - especially the eagle, symbolising manliness and freedom - favouring some of them at the expense of others.

A proverb recording the eagle's high status runs like this: ÄÅÍ ÐÅÈÁÉÍÅÉ Ï ÁÅÔÏÓ ÐÏÔÅ ÔÏÕ ÓÁÍ ÏÑÍÉÈÉ ie 'an eagle never dies like a chicken'. There are other such class distinctions in the aviary of Greek proverbial wisdom. To express anger for having been overcharged, a Greek will say ÌÏÕ ÊÏÓÔÉÓÅ Ï ÊÏÕÊÏÓ ÁÇÄÏÍÉ, ie 'the cuckoo cost me the price of a nightingale'. There are also nasty birds likened to professionals that will support each other in fleecing their clients. ÊÏÑÁÊÁÓ ÊÏÑÁÊÏÕ ÌÁÔÉ ÄÅÍ ÂÃÁÆÅÉ means 'a crow does not pluck out another crow's eye'.

There is also a difference in how Greeks and English express the concept of too many busybodies making a nuisance of themselves. The Greeks say that ÏÐÏÕ ËÁËÏÕÍ ÐÏËËÏÉ ÊÏÊÏÑÏÉ ÁÑÃÅÉ ÍÁ ÎÇÌÅÑÙÓÅÉ i.e. 'where many cocks crow, the dawn is long in coming'. The English would say in this instance that 'too many cooks spoil the broth' which is fine and scientifically more correct because cocks neither cause nor impede sunrise while cooks do indeed cook broths. However, no Greek household in living memory ever had many cooks at its service except perhaps the royal family - when Greece had one - but in Greece royals never created proverbs, only problems. The prosperous Victorian era, with its many servants, has no real counterpart in modern Greece.

The truth in cliches

As could be expected, English cliches about the weather far outnumber Greek ones, probably because lightening, storms, fog, snow and rain used to be rather rare in Greece when proverbs were being created. So rare in fact, that the expression ÔÏÍ ÊÁÊÏ ÓÏÕ ÔÏÍ ÊÁÉÑÏ (may your weather be nasty) is a punishable insult under Greek law.

Ancient Greek wisdom does sometimes percolate through the centuries almost unchanged in both cultures. Thus, the anonymous ancient Greek saying É×ÈÕÓ ÅÊ ÔÇÓ ÊÅÖÁËÇÓ ÏÆÅÉÍ ÁÑ×ÅÔÁÉ that has become the well-known and often quoted modern Greek proverb ÁÐÏ ÔÏ ÊÅÖÁËÉ ÂÑÙÌÁÅÉ ÔÏ ØÁÑÉ is rendered in English as 'a fish stinks from the head' in literal translation and without any change of meaning at all. This proverb, recorded for the first time in English in 1581 referred then, as it does now, to the corrupting influence that often spreads from a leader to the rest of the organisation or the group.

Even simple notions about reciprocating favours - with often more than a hint of corruption involved - can be traced back thousands of years. ÔÏÍ ÎÕÍÏÍÔÁ ÁÍÔÉÎÕÅÉÍ (scratch him who scratches you) was how the ancient Greeks put it. 'You scratch my back and I will scratch yours' is how the English proverb runs. Modern Greeks have opted for a slightly different version of this proverb stemming from the Greek poet Epicharmus of the 5th century BC that says, in modern Greek, ÔÏÍÁ ×ÅÑÉ ÍÉÂÅÉ Ô' ÁËËÏ ÊÁÉ ÔÁ ÄÕÏ ÔÏ ÐÑÏÓÙÐÏ whose literal English translation is 'one hand washes the other and both the face'. In this sanitised version, there is no whiff of corruption, only an expectation of reciprocity when people help each other out. One could say that such proverbs are tailor-made to help Greeks make the most of their membership - since 1 January 2001 - of the eurozone.

On the whole then, Greeks are not all that unique in the EU and its culture of 'give and take'. Characteristically, though, 'give and take', or in ancient Greek ÄÏÕÍÁÉ ÊÁÉ ËÁÂÅÉÍ, has been inverted in modern Greek after centuries of Ottoman occupation that must have made the Greeks so suspicious they changed it into ÐÁÑÅ-ÄÙÓÅ or 'take and give' ...

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I gotta say it, it is Greek to me.

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