The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

625 Pages·2014·3.53 MB·English

OXFORD PAPERBACK REFERENCE
The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

Jennifer Speake is a freelance writer. She is the editor of the Oxford Dictionary of
Foreign Words and Phrases (1997) and of the Oxford Dictionary of Idioms (1999).
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The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

Edited by
JENNIFER SPEAKE

Previously co-edited with
JOHN SIMPSON

Fifth Edition
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP
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First published as The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, edited by John Simpson,
1982
Second edition, edited by John Simpson and Jennifer Speake, 1992 Third edition, edited by
John Simpson and Jennifer Speake, 1998 Fourth edition, edited by Jennifer Speake, 2003 Fifth
edition, edited by Jennifer Speake, 2008
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Editor’s Preface

The fifth edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs represents the latest stage in Oxford
University Press’s coverage of proverbs and reflects the changes that have taken place in the
quarter-century since the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs first appeared. The Concise
itself grew out of the monumental Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs, first published in
1935 and substantially revised by F. P. Wilson in 1970. A massive work of historical
scholarship, the Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs cast its net over the corpus of English
literature and brought together a rich haul of metaphor, idiom, and proverb from all stages of
the language. From the outset, however, the Concise was intended to fulfil a different need
from the larger volume, in its focus on contemporary usage and on what the late twentieth-
century English-speaker regarded as a proverb—as John Simpson explains in his Introduction.
It is this conception that underlies the present dictionary.

Research for the Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs has shown that the proverb in Britain and
North America is as vital and varied as ever. The resources of the Internet play an increasing
role, not least in providing evidence for the continued currency of an appreciable number of
older proverbs for which previous editions had offered no citations dating later than the
nineteenth century. Over forty additional proverbs have been included in this edition, many of
them from African, Middle Eastern, and Far Eastern traditions. Some of these are apparently
modern coinages; others have venerable roots but have recently been revived.

For this edition some citations of older proverbs have been deleted, but material showing
different forms of the proverb has been retained. Some proverbs settle quickly to a standard
form; others seem to be more susceptible of variation, and by citing variants it is possible to
trace their evolution. The notes on the individual proverbs draw attention to such points of
interest.

Proverb usage once again shows itself an index of linguistic and social change. Whereas
many older proverbs use ‘man’ for the human subject, modern users often attempt to avoid
such non-inclusive language, preferring ‘someone’ or ‘a person’. While examples of up-to-
date usage have been found for nearly four hundred of the proverbs in this book, it seems clear
that other proverbs are starting to undergo obsolescence by reason of social change.
Expressions of the received wisdom of a patriarchal agrarian society that organized itself
according to the rhythms of the seasons and the Church’s calendar become antiquarian
oddities in a modern environment. Thus a woman, a dog, and a walnut tree, the more you beat
them the better they be offends a slew of twenty-first-century sensibilities, while Candlemas
day, put beans in the clay has little to say to an urban secular society.
On the other hand, recent pithy expressions of universal predicaments (when all you have is
a hammer, everything looks like a nail) or general truths (justice delayed is justice denied)
demonstrate a good proverb’s ability to circulate, thrive, and evolve in a variety of contexts.
Cartoonists and humorists can assume the easy familiarity of their audience with proverbs, as
is shown by recent examples of the opera isn’t over till the fat lady sings and two heads are
better than one. Although proverbs may be used as clichés by the linguistically lazy, very
frequently they are used in contexts that show the user’s often sophisticated awareness of their
resonance.

Over the years many people have been kind enough to demonstrate their interest in this
work by drawing my attention to proverbs or discussing them with me. Others, notably
William F. Deeck, have provided invaluable citations. I thank them all for their involvement
and encouragement.

Jennifer Speake
Oxford
December 2007