Polish proverbs
Template:Short description Template:Good article
Tens of thousands of Polish proverbs exist;<ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref> many have origins in the Middle Ages.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> The oldest known Polish proverb dates to 1407. A number of scholarly studies of Polish proverbs (paremiology) exist; and Polish proverbs have been collected in numerous dictionaries and similar works from the 17th century onward.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":2">Template:Cite journal</ref> Studies in Polish paremiology have begun in the 19th century.<ref name=":3" /> The largest and most reputable collection of Polish proverbs to date, edited by Julian Krzyżanowski, was published in 1970s.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />
History
[edit]The oldest known Polish proverb, dating to 1407, was written in Latin and Old Polish: "Quando sø lika drø, tunc ea drzi", which translates to "When bast can be torn, then tear it." This is analogous to "Make hay while the sun shines" or "Strike while the iron is hot". The oldest Polish proverb thus reminded peasants to seize the opportunity when the time was right – to harvest bast in the spring, which they would turn into bast shoes, textiles, and cordage in winter.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=mlyn>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Some Polish proverbs have been medieval translations of Latin classics. Thus, "Oko pańskie konia tuczy" – "The master's eye fattens the horse" – comes from the Latin "Oculus domini saginat equum"; and the latter Latin proverb was likely translated from a still older Persian one. Other proverbs have taken their origin from other European languages.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4">Template:Cite book</ref>
Many proverbs have been popularized by Polish literature. For example, the popularity of "Oko pańskie konia tuczy" has been attributed to its inclusion in Adam Mickiewicz's epic poem, Pan Tadeusz.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Themes
[edit]As with proverbs of other peoples around the world, Polish proverbs concern many topics;<ref name=":3" /> at least 2,000 Polish proverbs relate to weather and climate alone.<ref name=":1" /> Many concern classic topics such as fortune and misfortune, religion, family, everyday life, health, love, wealth, and women; others, like the first recorded Polish proverb (referring to bast production), and those about weather, offer practical advice.<ref name=":3" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A theme unique to Polish proverbs is about Poles and Poland; one of the most famous of these states that "Polacy nie gęsi lecz własny język mają" ("Poles are not geese, they have their own tongue"), in a 1562 verse by Mikołaj Rej, and commonly interpreted as stressing the importance of having one's own national language (here, Polish).<ref name=":3" />
Similarly to English proverbs, Polish proverbs have been criticized for being sexist.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Polish paremiology
[edit]The first known Polish author interested in proverbs was the poet Biernat of Lublin, who in 1522 published a collection of them titled Template:Ill, mędrca obyczajnego i z przypowieściami jego (The life of Aesop the Phrygian, a Decent Sage, and with His Parables).<ref name=":3" /> The first Polish scholar of paremiology was Template:Ill (Solomone Rysinio), who in 1618 published the first known Polish work dedicated solely to collecting and discussing proverbs (Proverbiorum polonicorum a Salomone Rysino collectorum Centuriae decem et octo). This work, first published in Latin, but subsequently in Polish (Przypowieści polskie, przez Salomona Rysińskiego zebrane, a teraz nowo przydane i na wielu miejscach poprawione, 1620<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>), collected over 1,800 proverbs which, according to the author, were "of Polish origin".<ref name=":3" /> In 1632, Grzegorz Knapski, a Polish Jesuit, published an even larger collection (in volume three of his Thesaurus Polono-Latino-Graecus), with over 6,000 collected proverbs.<ref name=":3" /> In 1658 Polish writer Andrzej Maksymilian Fredro published another collection of proverbs, Przysłowia mów potocznych albo przestrogi obyczajowe, radne, wojenne, which was said to have been widely popular in contemporary Poland.<ref name=":3" />
The 19th century saw the first work dedicated more to analyzing the proverbs and their history than solely collecting them, the Przysłowia narodowe, z wyjaśnieniem źródła, początku oraz sposobu ich użycia, okazujące charakter, zwyczaje i obyczaje, przesądy, starożytności i wspomnienia ojczyste (1830) of Template:Ill.<ref name=":3" /> Other early works on Polish paremiology were published in the 19th century by Oskar Kolberg and Samuel Adalberg, the latter publishing a collection of over 30,000 Polish proverbs (Księga przysłów, przypowieści i wyrażeń przysłowiowych polskich - The Book of Polish Proverbs - 1889–1894).<ref name=":3" /> Adalberg's work was praised as "the first modern work on this topic in Polish"<ref name=":02">Template:Cite web</ref> and "the most extensive collection ever made in this field".<ref name=":12">Template:Cite web</ref> The early 20th century saw further scholarly analysis of Polish proverbs by scholars such as Aleksander Brückner and Jan Stanisław Bystroń, the latter known as "the father of modern Polish paremiology", and the author of the monograph simply titled Przysłowia polskie (Polish proverbs, 1933).<ref name=":3" /> After World War II, significant contributions to the field of Polish paremiology were carried out by Julian Krzyżanowski.<ref name=":3" /> He was the editor of the largest and most reputable collection of Polish proverbs to date,<ref name=":3" /> Nowa księga przysłów i wyrażeń przysłowiowych polskich (New Book of Polish Proverbs and Proverbial Expressions, also known as Nowa Księga przysłów polskich, A New Book of Polish Proverbs, published in several volumes in the years 1969–1978), dubbed the "bible of Polish proverbs".<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> Despite the proliferation of similar works in later years, in 2012 his work was still described as "the most comprehensive" of its type in Poland.<ref name=":3" /> Other notable modern Polish paremiologists include Template:Ill, Dobrosława Świerczyńska, Template:Ill, Template:Ill and Władysław Kopaliński.<ref name=":3" />
In 2009–2018 alone, 16 collections of proverbs aimed at young readers were published in Poland; many addressed to a mass audience are of varying quality.<ref name=":2" />
List of Polish proverbs
[edit]- Heaven for the nobility, purgatory for townspeople, hell for peasants, paradise for Jews
- Pole and Hungarian brothers be
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Template:Wikiquote Template:Wiktionarycat Template:Commonscat