Let's finish this year with something a bit more cheerful. Do you know Saturnin? No? It's a story from the writer Zdeněk Jirotka about one wonderful butler whose name is Saturnin. He is a butler of Jiří Oulický, young man with interesting relatives. One of those relatives is Aunt Kateřina who loves to use proverbs. And as Czech is very interesting language, I decided to write a blog post about these proverbs. I translated some of them literally, some of them have English parallels.
Aunt Kateřina
Víc děr - víc syslů. Víc hlav - víc smyslů.
More holes - more marmots. More heads - more senses.
Mnoho psů - zajícova smrt.
Many dogs - hare's death.
Host do domu - Bůh do domu.
Guest to the house = God to the house.
Kam čert nemůže, nastrčí babu.
The old hag rushes in where the Devil fears to tread.
Ranní ptáče dál doskáče.
The early bird catches the worm.
Neštěstí nechodí po horách, ale po lidech.
The misfortune does not hike the mountains but people. (Accidents will happen)
Co se v mládí naučíš, ve stáří jako když najdeš.
Learning in one's youth is engraving in stone.
Kdo pozdě chodí, sám sobě škodí.
Time and tide wait for no man.
Není všechno zlato, co se třpytí.
All that glitters is not gold.
Mladí ležáci, staří žebráci.
A young man idle, an old man needy.
Na každém šprochu pravdy trochu.
There is no smoke without fire.
Nehas, co tě nepálí.
Let sleeping dogs lie.
The one about marmots is great. :) I also love the image of the old hag rushing in where even the devil is afraid to go.
ReplyDeleteIf you are ever looking for a topic to blog about, I'd love to know more about shepherds (pastyri). Given that it's a job that requires you to move around a lot, would it be reasonable to assume that a shepherd's children might be born in a number of different villages on the estate (crossing parish lines)?
Happy New Year!
My old Irish grandmother said "Lie down with the dogs, get up with the fleas."
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