100 Examples of Paremias

The paremia It is a short, sententious and ingenious statement, of popular origin, invariably transmitted, in which an advice, a teaching or a moral reflection is expressed. These are commonly called sayings, proverbial phrases and locutions, dialogisms, aphorisms, proverbs. For example: The one that covers a lot, squeezes little (saying).

The word “paremia” comes from the Greek paroimia, composed of the prefix for-, which means 'next to' or 'on behalf of', and from the word we hear, which means 'road'. That is to say, it refers to the things that are said on the road or, as Antonio Machado affirms in the proverbs and songs, to the so-called "walker's wisdom". The paremias have been fixed in speech and are part of the sociocultural heritage of a speaking community.

Paremiology is called the study of paremias, and it is the discipline dedicated to compiling their typology in repertoires, dictionaries or corpus.

• See also: Sayings, proverbs and proclamations

Types of paremia

The various types of paremia can be grouped into two large groups: those of popular use (generally anonymous) and those of learned use (of known origin).

PAREMIES OF POPULAR USE

• Saying. It is that limited sentence that is used to set an example, call for reflection or give some teaching about something. It is a paremia of anonymous origin and popular use, whose structure is, in general, bimember. It has mnemonic elements and has a universal truth value. Sayings constitute the largest group of paremias. They can be classified into two large groups according to thematic-semantic criteria:
  • General proverbs. They are the ones that address universal issues. They can be moral sayings (Caution is forearmed), medical sayings (To the cold, with the jug) and economic proverbs (Who keeps, finds).
  • Restricted Sayings. They are limited, in time and space, and to certain groups of speakers. They are divided into temporal and meteorological proverbs (April, thousand waters), labor proverbs (For San Martín, kill your guarrín and uncover your wine), superstitious sayings (Leap year, sinister year) and geographical proverbs (Who has not seen Seville, has not seen wonder).
• proverbial phrase. It is that phrase made with which a sentence is expressed as a proverb. It is a paremia of anonymous origin (generally) and of popular use. Its structure is unimember and does not have mnemonic elements. For example: A dead king, put king.
• Dialogism. It is that paremia of anonymous origin and popular use, which has a two-member or three-member sentence structure. It is presented as a narrative microtext, in which the dialogue is an essential part. It usually features mnemonic elements and a comic effect or ironic. It has no truth value: it is based on the personal experience of each character. There are three types of dialogism: the bimembre form (He said the donkey to the mule: "Go (to) there / herd here, big ears"), the quarterly form ("It was nothing about the eye," said an old woman, and she had the eye in her hand) and the dialogue constituted by a question and an answer without a narrative voice interceding to clarify which of the interlocutors is speaking (Where are you going? ─To the bulls. ─Where do you come from? ─Of the bulls).
• proverbial locution. It is considered paremia only when it is endowed with a judgmental character. It has an anonymous origin and is of popular use. It presents a sentence structure whose verbal nucleus is conjugated in weather, person, appearance and mode. It usually has humorous elements and has a universal value. Many proverbial phrases are preceded by a negative command formula: For example: You don't have to start the house from the roof.

PAREMIAS OF CULTURAL USE AND OF KNOWN ORIGIN

• Aphorism. It is a sententious statement, which is characterized by its educated origin and known origin. In general, the aphorisms were or are attributed to famous people, whether real or fictional, of all time. Also called maxims, apothegms or sentences, aphorisms can be classified according to their content and their origin in:
  • ethical aphorism. For example: Know yourself (attributed to Thales of Miletus or Chilon of Sparta).
  • political aphorism. For example: man is a political animal (from Aristotle, Politics 1)
  • Aphorism of scientific or professional origin. For example: The whole is greater than the part (from Euclid, The Elements).
• Proverb. It is that sententious statement, which is characterized by its educated origin, known and ancient origin. It is endowed with a serious tone and an idiomatic gradation. They can potentially be varied. According to their origin, proverbs can be classified into:
  • Greco-Latin proverb. For example: Aquila non capit muscas (The eagle does not catch flies).
  • biblical proverb. For example: God created man in his image and likeness (OT, Genesis 1,27)
  • Proverbs from other sources. They are usually accompanied by metalinguistic comments in the style of “as the Chinese / Arabic proverb goes”.

It should be noted that many paremias of cultured use acquire a popular character by presenting a high frequency in their use, in non-cultured speech registers. by communities that ignore their origin, which is why many of them usually appear in proverbs or are usually considered phrases proverbial.

Classification of paremias

At the same time, paremias can be classified into:

• paremias proper.They are those that concern observations and ideas established based on the customs and behavior of people, according to the point of view of a certain community. They are constituted by an instructive, instructive and critical intention against behaviors considered morally wrong and that must be corrected according to the models described in the paremia. For example: Idle youth, ailing old age.
• Jocular or ironic paremias. They are those that are characterized mainly by their funny and fun content in which it is highlighted dialogism, as if the speaker were talking to himself or referring to the speech of another person, animal or stuff personified. For example: He said milk to wine:"You are welcome, friend, if you are not my enemy."
• scientific paremias. They are those that express a scientific intention and have a cultured origin, which is why they are mostly used within a specific field of knowledge. This means that the paremia will make sense only within this field. For example: A bad settlement is better than a good lawsuit.
• Knightly or heroic paremias. They are those that contain a set of ideals that were used to encourage and exalt the knights of the Middle Ages. In certain cases, the paremia chivalresca includes a motto in which the understanding of the content is facilitated, and also the nickname in which the ancient knights expressed their intention of confrontation and fight, although many of these required a Explanation. Among these paremias the war cry, the motto and the epic paremia stand out. For example: For my king and for my faith, either I will die or I will win (Buerdo in Asturias).
• Advertising or propaganda paremias. They are those made with the intention of promoting a product or service, to attract customers or other behaviors. In this way, the paremia is applied to achieve admiration, agreement or seek to persuade with respect to the public to which it is addressed. For example: The man and the bear, the uglier the more beautiful (advertisement for a shaving cream).

paremia examples

sayings

1. Although the monkey dresses in silk, monkey stays.
2. Both the pitcher goes to the source.
3. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
4. Tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are.
5. Shrimp that falls asleep, it carries current.
6. Tell me what you used to sing and I'll tell you what you think now.
7. Tell me how you export and I'll tell you how you are.
8. I didn't send my ships to fight the elements.
9. After the storm comes calm.
10. Keep what to eat and don't [keep] what to do.
11. Many few make a lot.
12. An apple a day, keeps away from doctor would save you.
13. Loose lips sink ships.
14. Better skill than strength.
15. God squeezes but he does not drown / hangs.
16. Barking dog, little biter.
17. Do not leave for tomorrow what you can do today.
18. Out of sight, out of mind.
19. Love can conquer all and conquers all.
20. Food done, company undone.
21. Indian eaten, Indian gone.
22. Friends in the square are better than money in the coffer.
23. La Alcarria produces two products: honey and raw.
24. In Salamanca, students; in Medina, silversmiths, and in Ávila, gentlemen.
25. The good chorizo ​​and salchichón are from Candelario.
26. Sow the parsley in May, and you will have parsley for the whole year.
27. Hen that sings like a rooster, or announces her death or that of her master.
28. To whoever destroys an anthill, a duel will come.
29. Tuesday, don't get married or embark or leave your family.
30. He enters with the right foot if you want to do your deed.
31. For San Blas, you will see the stork, and if you don't see it, snowy year.
32. When the cat washes its face, rain nearby.
33. Windy March and rainy April make May flowery and beautiful.
34. East wind, rain like plague.

• See more at: sayings

proverbial phrases

1. Paris is well worth a mass. (Henry of Bourbon or Navarre)
2. God, what a good vassal, yes oviesse good sir! (Poem of Mio Cid)
3. With his bread he eats it.
4. Blas said it, round point.
5. To keep quiet they call Sancho.
6. With you bread and onion.
7. The Eagle does not hunt flies
8. The walls are listening.
9. The avarice breaks the bag.
10. Love is blind.
11. Misfortunes never come alone.
12. Life takes many turns.
13. You only live once.
14. A day is a day.

dialogues

1. Said the raven to the farm: "Get over there, black."
2. He said the frying pan to the boiler: “Get over there, black-eyed / black-eyed”.
3. “We will see”, said a blind man, and he never saw.
4. "Poor you, Toledo, how depopulated you are!" And a tailor came out.
5. "Tomorrow will be another day!". And the one-eyed man will see the asparagus.
6. "Well it was!" And he died.

proverbial locutions

1. The hunger and the desire to eat were united.
2. Leave Guatemala and get into Guatepeor.
3. Go for wool and return/exit shorn.

aphorisms

1. Nothing with/in excess, everything with/in its proper measure. (Attributed to Solon of Athens, one of the Seven Wise Men of Antiquity) 
2. I only know that I know nothing. (Socrates according to Plato)
3. Blood, sweat and tears. (W. Churchill)
4. My kingdom for a horse. (Shakespeare, Richard III)
5. To be or not to be, [here is the dilemma]. (Shakespeare, Hamlet)
6. To err is human, to forgive divine. (Pope, "An Essay on Criticism") 
7. Man proposes, and/but God disposes. (kempis, By Imitatione Cristi)
8. To err is human, to forgive divine. (Pope, "An Essay on Criticism")
9. Man proposes, and/but God disposes. (kempis, By Imitatione Cristi)
10. The die is cast. (Julius Caesar) 
11. I came, I saw, I conquered. (Julius Caesar) 
12. I didn't send my ships to fight the elements. (Attributed to Philip II of Spain) 
13. I am the state. (Louis XIV of France)
14. After us the deluge. (Louis XV of France) 
15. There are no more Pyrenees. (Acclamation of the French court to the Duke of Anjou, future Philip V of Spain).
16. If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. (Voltaire) 
17. Religion is people's opium. (Karl Marx)
18. Imagination to power. (Motto of the Parisian riots of May 1968) 
19. Make love and not war. (Peace slogan against the Vietnam War)
20.  The order of the factors does not alter the product. (Axiom of mathematics) 
21. Opposites attract. (law of physics) 
22. Everything that moves is moved by another. (Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle)
23. Nothing is absolute, everything is relative. (Attributed to Albert Einstein) 
24. The exception confirm the rule. (from medieval legal Latin) 
25. The ends meet. (Aphorism that we also find in French and modern Greek: The extremities are touched. Τα άκρα συναντιούνται).
26. Wine quenches hunger. (Hippocrates) 
27. Autumn for consumptives is disastrous. (Hippocrates)

Proverbs

1. Constantia fundamentum est omnium virtutum (Constancy is the foundation of all virtues).
2. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. (NT, Saint John 8,7) 
3. Man does not live by bread alone [but by the word of God/the Lord]. (NT, Saint Matthew, 4,4)
4. Don't judge and you won't be/if you don't want to be judged. (NT, Saint Matthew 7,1)
5. With the rod that you measure, you will be measured. (NT, Mark 4,24)
6. Peace to men of good will. (NT, Luke 2,14)
7. See the speck in someone else's eye and not the beam in your own. (NT, Luke 6,41)

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