Conduct of modern science– 2016 • Díl 1

Science without borders - 2020 ★ Volume 14
Proverbs and sayings have linguistic features which distinguish them from 
ordinary sentences. P r o v e r b s are brief statements which show in a condensed form the 
accumulated life experience of the society. They are usually short familiar epigrammatic 
sayings, expressive and have generalized meaning. They are also image bearing. They 
express the wisdom of the people and never lose their freshness and vigor. E.g.:
"Better late than never"
"Out o f sight, out o f mind
"He laughs best, who laughs last
”
"A great ship asks deep waters"
Proverbs have much in common with set expressions because their lexical 
components are also constant, their meaning is traditional an mostly figurative, and 
they are introduced into speech ready-made.
The study of proverbs is called paremiology which has a variety of uses in 
the study of such topics as Philosophy, Linguistics, Folklore.
There are several types and styles of proverbs which are analyzed within 
Paremiology as is the use and misuse of familiar expressions which are not strictly 
'proverbial' in the dictionary definition of being fixed sentences.
Defining a “proverb” is a difficult task. Proverb scholars often quote Archer 
Taylor’s classic “The definition of a proverb is too difficult to repay the undertaking... 
An incommunicable quality tells us this sentence is proverbial and that one is not. 
Hence no definition will enable us to identify positively a sentence as proverbial” 
Another common definition is from Lord John Russell “A proverb is the wit of one, 
and the wisdom of many.”
Proverbs are often borrowed from similar languages and cultures, and 
sometimes come down to the present through more than one language. Both the Bible 
(including, but not limited to the Book of Proverbs) and medieval Latin (aided by the 
work of Erasmus) have played a considerable role in distributing proverbs across 
Europe. Mieder has concluded that cultures that treat the Bible as their "major spiritual 
book contain between three hundred and five hundred proverbs that stem from the 
Bible." However, almost every culture has examples of its own unique proverbs. 
Proverbs constitute a cultural heritage, which is bequeathed to us by the past 
generations. They are considered to be the items of traditional knowledge, occurring 
for centuries over the world.
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