Proverbial Wisdom Research Articles

Proverbs in Aravind Adiga’s Novel: The White Tige

Proverbs are short and complex linguistic tools used in conversations as well as texts. Their brevity and power of expression is utilized by speakers and writes to say much with fewer words. Proverbs are used in literature such as dramas and novels. Writers use them to enhance meaning in their stories and create perspectives to make the unbelievable become believable. The perceived inherent general truth and element of universality of wisdom in proverbs is the reason as to why it is an important tool of writers who strive to convince their readers. Aravind Adiga has used proverbs in his novel, The White Tiger to that effect. This article is an investigation as to how the novelist has employed proverbs in the novel to create an enhanced sense of meaning. It explores the stylistical value they have added to his narration and the reason why the writer has depended on using proverbs in his work.

LINGUOCULTURAL ANALYSIS OF PAREMIOLOGICAL DICTIONARIES IN KARAKALPAK AND ENGLISH LANGUAGES

Language is a powerful tool that reflects the cultural identity and worldview of its speakers. Proverbs, in particular, are rich linguistic expressions that encapsulate the collective wisdom, traditions, and values of a culture. The study of proverbs, known as paremiology, provides invaluable insights into the way different societies perceive the world and convey their experiences. In this article, we will conduct a linguocultural analysis of paremiological dictionaries in the Karakalpak and English languages. Paremiological dictionaries serve as vital resources for documenting and preserving the proverbial wisdom of a culture. Through a comparative approach, this study will examine the linguistic features and cultural meanings embedded in the proverbs of both languages, highlighting how proverbs function as a bridge between language and culture. The Karakalpak and English languages represent two distinct linguistic and cultural traditions. By analyzing proverbs from these two languages, we aim to uncover the similarities and differences in how they express values, beliefs, and social norms.

CLASSIFICATION OF ENGLISH AND UZBEK PROVERBS CONTAINING THE NAMES OF MEDICAL PERSONNEL ACCORDING TO DIFFERENT CHARACTERISTICS

This article delves into the fascinating realm of proverbs that incorporate the names of medical personnel, such as doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. Drawing upon a diverse range of cultural and linguistic sources, this study explores the origins, meanings, and cultural significance of these unique proverbs. By examining the ways in which medical personnel are metaphorically represented in proverbial wisdom, this article sheds light on the intersection of medicine, language, and culture.

Memahami Peribahasa "Nai Ngalis Tuka Ngengga" dalam Budaya Hambor Manggarai melalui Konsep Otentisitas Martin Heidegger: Kontribusi terhadap Kesadaran Perdamaian

The main focus of this article is to explore the wealth of wisdom encapsulated in the proverb "Nai Ngalis Tuka Ngengga," which is ingrained in the culture of Hambor Manggarai. The goal of this writing is to make the local wisdom of Nai Ngalis Tuka Ngengga in the Hambor Manggarai culture a philosophical study to enhance the awareness of Indonesian society in living and interpreting their being in the midst of the community, particularly in embracing a narrative of peace. The concept of authenticity by Martin Heidegger emphasizes how Dasein, which is the human being aware of its existence in the world, plays a role in this context. In the exposition on authenticity, authentic Dasein becomes the answer to human forgetfulness of its existence in the world. In this context, "Being" describes the wisdom of the Manggarai people in understanding and embracing the Hambor culture in their daily lives. The research methodology used in this study is qualitative research with a literature review approach. The research findings indicate that the proverbial wisdom in embracing Hambor culture represents authentic consciousness in the community's celebration of the narrative of peace. This research contributes to addressing the conflicts present in society today, such as identity politics, conflicts related to the construction of places of worship, and widespread human rights violations due to a lack of understanding of the meaning of Hambor culture.

Paremiological Analysis of Francisco Franco’s New Year messages

ABSTRACTThis paper analyzes the New Year messages delivered by Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War and his mandate as chief of state (1937–1974) from a paremiological perspective to determine the frequency of use of proverbs in them and establish the characteristics and purpose of these paremiological uses in relation to the principles of the “National Movement,” the socio-political framework enforced by the francoist-regime. Although Franco’s speeches do not show a strong stylistic awareness, paremias find their way into them, usually as allusions to proverbial wisdom. In relation to this, some recurring items and themes have been found, among which, those with a religious origin or motivation stand out as the most frequent. This is coherent with the ideals that his regime imposed on the Spanish population during his rule and which will be commented on in relation to the paremias used and how they reflect those ideals.

The Crucified Book: Sacred Writing in the Age of Valentinus by Anne Starr Kreps

Reviewed by: The Crucified Book: Sacred Writing in the Age of Valentinus by Anne Starr Kreps David Brakke The Crucified Book: Sacred Writing in the Age of Valentinus. By Anne Starr Kreps. [Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion.] (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2022. Pp. 186. $65.00. ISBN 978-0-8122-5387-0.) According to the Gospel of Truth, preserved in Nag Hammadi Codex I (“Jung Codex”), “Jesus appeared. He rolled himself in that book and was nailed to a tree and published the edict of the Father on the cross” (1). This striking image of the crucified Jesus as a crucified book inspires Anne Starr Kreps’s innovative study of scriptural practices among Valentinians and other Christians and Jews of the second and third centuries. Kreps contributes significantly to recent scholarship that revises the standard narrative of the emergence of Christian scriptures and the development of the canon. Valentinian Christians, Kreps argues, effaced the distinctions between human being and text and among Christian, Jewish, and other revelatory books: “The body-as-book, then, signaled a mode of holy book that resisted Irenaeus’s call for a fixed collection of written texts” (p. 117). The Crucified Book consists of four chapters divided into two parts and framed by an introduction and conclusion. The two chapters of part 1 focus on Valentinus and the Valentinians. Chapter 1 studies closely two passages that present Jesus’s death as the publication of a book; Kreps contextualizes this image within Jewish and Christian interpretations of Wisdom in Proverbs 8 and within Roman book culture. Although she admits that it cannot be proved that Valentinus wrote this work, she accepts his authorship and says that attribution to another Valentinian would not affect her reading (p. 19). Chapter 2 examines the implications of understanding the book as at once divine, human, and textual for how Valentinian Christians wrote, read, and transmitted sacred texts (their scriptural practices). The fragments of Valentinus, Heracleon, and Ptolemy evince an openness to the continued dissemination of revelation in multiple books. Part 2 considers early Christians who opposed the Valentinian scriptural program and Jews whose practices resembled those of the Valentinians. Chapter 3 shows that the heresiologists Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Epiphanius recognized the Valentinians’ fluid approach to scripture, claimed that it led to contradiction and [End Page 789] error, and opposed it with the notion of a limited canon. Kreps suggests that the Jung Codex provides evidence for the persistence of the Valentinian “theory of open revelation” in fourth-century Egypt (p. 87). Working from two rabbinic stories of “Jewish sages mutating into scrolls upon their timely deaths” (p. 92), Chapter 4 argues that the rabbis also developed a “corpora of living books” with illuminating similarities with and differences from Valentinian practice (p. 114). A summary cannot capture this book’s many stimulating ideas, nor can it replicate its lucid, often eloquent prose. Kreps works easily with sources in Greek, Latin, Coptic, and Hebrew, and she adduces revealing comparative materials from across the Mediterranean; the book fulfills the Divinations series’ goal of “rereading late ancient religion.” I might complicate Kreps’s account by placing the Valentinians Ptolemy and Heracleon closer to Irenaeus and farther from Valentinus (Gospel of Truth and fragments) than she does; for example, I think that when Ptolemy invested authority in “the words of our Savior,” he had in mind written gospels, not oral traditions (p. 57). Nonetheless, as Kreps notes, I coined the term “scriptural practices” a decade ago as an invitation to scholars to write less teleological histories of the New Testament and early Christian literature. The Crucified Book represents precisely the kind of work that I hoped to see. I enthusiastically recommend it to historians of Christianity interested in textuality, canon formation, and what we used to call “Gnosticism.” David Brakke The Ohio State University Copyright © 2022 The Catholic University of America Press

Reformulating Philosophical Methodology or Rebuilding Our Picture of Philosophy

At some point, many of us have heard the following proverbial wisdom: ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.’ Although falsely attributed to Albert Einstein (and Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain), one might think it accurately describes the odyssey of conceptual analysis in philosophy. The aim of conceptual analysis is to uncover the basic criteria of key concepts, such as causation or knowledge, that underwrites categorizing members correctly. Conceptual analysis involves the intense scrutinizing of a variety of candidate members in diverse contexts. This scrutinizing is often referred to as the method of cases. Success in this endeavour is thought to be a distinct achievement – philosophical knowledge – accomplished largely apart from empirical input. As a consequence, the exercise is labelled ‘armchair philosophy’ by both advocates and critics. However, many philosophers have noted that armchair philosophy has not been very successful according to its own aims; there has not been a single successful analysis of any concept (Schroeter 2004, Huemer 2015). Experimental philosophy has grown to prominence through detailing this lack of success (Alexander 2012, Knobe et al. 2012). Yet many philosophers push ahead, working harder and harder to secure the desired outcome – hence the charge of insanity.

FORMATION OF THE MORAL CHARACTER OF A PRESCHOOLER IN THE PROCESS OF LABOR EDUCATION

The article emphasizes that the urgent problem of preschool is the formation of moral character in the process of labor education. The essence of such concepts as “personality”, “moral personality”, and “formation” is highlighted. It is noted that direct activity, which can take various forms (e.g., educational, cognitive, artistic, aesthetic; sports, games, and, in particular, labor) is an important component of the formation of personality.Certain features that are inherent only in the moral character are outlined. The basis of personality is its moral development, which is the level of assimilation of ideas about moral norms, the formation of moral feelings, and moral behavior.It is emphasized that a person becomes a moral character when they voluntarily subordinate their actions to the moral requirements of society, realize the meaning and content; are able to set moral goals and make decisions according to specific circumstances, self-assess their actions and actions of others, educate themselves, and resist environment.The invaluable role of labor education in the formation of the moral character of the preschooler is highlighted. It is emphasized that work as a means of moral development of the child, which our ancestors sang about and glorified it in songs and fairy tales, accumulated the quintessence of wisdom in proverbs and sayings that were passed down from great-grandfather to descendants.Theoretical analysis of pedagogical works of outstanding teachers, thinkers, and philosophers on the formation of the moral character of the preschooler in the process of labor education is presented. It is also noted that in the Renaissance, humanistic educators first introduced the concept of “labor education”. They justified that labor education is the basis for the formation of the moral character of a child. It is work that contributes to the formation of a child’s moral qualities, beliefs and feelings, moral behavior, and moral consciousness.Further research in this direction may be connected to the study of further development of the views of modern scientists on the formation of the moral character of the preschooler in the process of labor education.
 Keywords: child; preschooler; work; moral character; moral education; labor education; younger generation; moral qualities; moral behavior; labor skills.

In Defense of Heavenly Mother: Her Critical Importance for Mormon Culture and Theology

In Defense of Heavenly Mother: Her Critical Importance for Mormon Culture and Theology

PROVERBIAL MATERIALS IN THE ORAL TRADITION OF THE IGBO: A STUDY OF CHINUA ACHEBE’S MAGNUM OPUS

This paper is an attempt to find proverbial materials in Achebe’s magnum opus, to interpret and analyse them. The proverb is one of the elements of folklore which permeates the literary imagination of writers. It has for that matter been extant in verbal as well as written communication between people as it provides readers, users as well as listeners with the true essence of the culture of its originating society. Understandably, the proverb is one of the main discursive segments of oral tradition from which Chinua Achebe profusely draws to negate the colonial episteme. Since proverbs are part of the daily life of the Igbo people in which their culture is expressed, the novelist uses those not only as appropriate literary devices to depict social realities but also to help record the events of the past. Thus, Achebe’s intent in using proverbs is to give to his creative impulse an accurate stamp of uniqueness, authenticity as well as identity. Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is rich in proverbial materials in its endeavour to show that in non-literate oral cultures, proverbs, songs, poems as well as sayings are not the only fundamental repository of his people’s epistemology but also act as an explanatory meta-narrative. The study is based on theoretical frameworks proposed by both Mieder (2004) and McLeod (2002). While the former states that the wisdom of proverbs has guided people in their social interactions with the cultural values it carries; the latter adopts a postcolonial stand by positing that proverbs are used to overturn the dominant ways of seeing the world and representing reality in ways which do not replicate colonialist values. This suggests on the part of the postcolonial literary theorist, a dexterous manipulation of the English language; its syntactical structure as well as its semantics to project his own culture, outlook, and worldviews. Things Fall Apart is a compelling example of such a paradigm. The findings show that proverbial materials constitute a multifunction form of folk literature premised on significant cultural linguistic products created and used in social situations for social purposes: didactic as well as a depository of culture.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0938/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Doran H. Ross

Doran H. Ross

Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity

Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity

Proverbial Wisdom and the Pursuit of Knowledge in the Squire's Tale

ABSTRACT Chaucer was deeply interested in questions surrounding knowledge. He confronts the problem of knowledge in the Squire's Tale by examining various types of knowledge, epistemologies, the limits of knowledge, and curiosity. I argue that Chaucer offers a particular tool to approach this problem: proverbs. In the tale, the embedded microgenre of proverbs shows the value of traditionality and communal knowledge and regulates people's behavior. Guiding readers through a process of moral education to evaluate true and false knowledge, proverbs support the tale's argument for pursuing true knowledge grounded in traditional wisdom, while rejecting illicit curiosity and novelty. My examination engages challenging, informative, and diverse material that is widely integrated into Chaucer's works. Given the ubiquitous popularity of proverbs across social classes and their adaptability to a wide range of contexts, this microgenre reveals concerns and interests of fourteenth-century readers, and other aspects of medieval culture, that might otherwise remain hidden.

George Herbert's Outlandish Wisdom

George Herbert's Outlandish Proverbs has never been regarded as part of his literary corpus. The work is not a composition but a collection, an assemblage of proverbs translated mainly from French, Italian, and Spanish originals. These proverbs come with no front matter, commentary, or other signs of an authorial persona, and the small body of scholarship that has addressed Herbert's book of wisdom has treated it as raw material, a source or analogue for passages in his other works. But the Outlandish Proverbs can also be read otherwise. This essay claims that Herbert's translations, in the Proverbs, are pointedly enigmatic and ironic, distinctive compositions in their own right; that Herbert's practices as a translator reflect his collection's persistent concern with obscurity and apocalyptic disclosure; that the distinctive forms and concerns of Herbert's proverbs align not with the main bodies of early modern proverbial wisdom but with other discourses, older and stranger; and that these older discourses are vital not only to Herbert's proverbs but also to his poetry. The proverbs therefore raise fresh questions about Herbert's relationship with a literary past, and about the emerging literary modernity in light of which both his proverbs and his poetry must be understood.

An Eclipse of Femininity in the Description of the Logos: A Comparative Analysis of Personified Wisdom in Proverbs 8:22-31 and the Logos in John 1:1-3

본고는 최근 일부 요한복음 학자들이 제시한 지혜 모티브의 여성적 측면의 영향에 따른 예수의 양성적 묘사에 대해 재고한다. 구체적으로 해당 연구는 어떻게 요한복음 기자가 잠언 8장 22-21절에 사용된 지혜 모티브를 요한복음 1장 1-3절의 로고스 예수의 묘사에 차용함에 있어 남성적 특성을 강화했는지 증명함에 목표를 둔다. 본고는 일부 학자들이 주장하는 지혜 모티브의 여성적 측면이 예수의 남성적 측면에 의도적으로 결부되었다는 가설보다는 오히려 지혜 모티브의 여성적 측면이 배제되어 예수의 남성적 측면이 강화되는 방향으로 차용이 진행되었다고 보는 것이 타당함을 주장한다.<BR>제기된 주장을 뒷받침하기 위해 본고는 잠언 8장 22-31절의 지혜 모티브와 요한복음 1장 1-3절의 로고스 모티브를 비교 분석하여 요한복음 기자가 지혜 모티브의 여성성을 구성하는 두 가지 핵심 요소인 지혜의 수태와 부차적 역할을 의도적으로 배제했음에 대한 두 가지 가설을 제시한다. 첫째로 요한복음 기자가 예수의 신성성을 강조하는 데 있어서 지혜 모티브의 수태와 부차적 역할이 암시하는 예속적 특성의 부적절함에 의거 이 두 요소를 배제하였다고 제안한다. 둘째로 요한복음 기자는 고대 이스라엘의 사회와 문화에서의 여성의 위치를 암시하는 예속성이 예수를 남성적으로 묘사함에 있어 부적합하기 때문에 지혜 모티브의 두 가지 핵심 요소들을 배제하였다고 제안한다.

Rewriting Genesis

Abstract Barnett Newman’s abstract paintings are often explicitly linked to biblical narratives by their titles. In particular Newman regularly revisits the Genesis creation story. In the wake of the destruction of the Holocaust, Newman sets out to tell a revitalized story of creation in order to establish a new artistic beginning for the Jewish people (and modernism) in twentieth century New York. Through careful and nuanced visual analysis of Newman’s Genesis paintings, it is possible to construct a detailed mystical retelling of the creation story that is rooted in Jewish scriptures and develops a new receptive tradition. These paintings give Newman the opportunity to recreate the world through proverbial wisdom, Kabalistic mysticism, and Hebrew scriptures in order to create a new and hopeful vision for the future in the wake of tragedy.

Many Words, Many Turds: Middle English Proverbial Wisdom and the Alleged Incontinence of Female Speech

In a passage from The Castle of Perseverance, the reprehensible Malus Angelus dismisses the speech of the personified virtues who are attempting to lead mankind to salvation: ‘Ther wymmen arn, are many wordys. (…) Ther ges syttyn are many tordys’ (2649-51). As the quotation illustrates, likening someone’s words to turds is both an effective brush-off and a colourful insult. This particular insult derives its force from the familiar anti-feminist trope of the voluble woman: like women, the wicked angel implies, the female personifications of virtue talk too much, and the incontinence of their speech is presented in terms that are both scatological and bestial. These lines transform the virtues’ words into logorrhea, an object of ridicule rather than reverence. But upon closer examination, this eminently quotable passage and the dramatic context in which it is situated also suggest new ways in which we might approach such examples of anti-feminist discourse concerning women’s speech. This essay examines how the terms of Malus Angelus’s insult both rely on and destabilize anti-feminist proverbial sayings concerning women’s bodies and women’s speech.

Utilization of Proverbial Wisdom in Enhancing Harmony in Sports: A Case of Devil on the Cross

Proverbs are the sayings of the wise that affect the society in many various ways. In scholarship, proverbs constitute a significant field of study not only in the discipline of Literature but in other areas as well. This is possible due to the flexibility, contextuality and the multiplicity of their meanings. In African cultural settings, and particularly in Kenya and more specifically among Agĩkũyũ community, proverbs function as the infallible avenues for ferrying messages successfully to their assigned targets. Further, as proverbs enjoy the tenure of flexibility and contextuality they are able to bend to the discretion of the user rendering unequaled service to the community. This paper seeks to explore and investigate the utilization of proverbial wisdom in the sports arena. Sports is one of the developing sectors and constitute a significant portion of social harmony in the community, the nation as well as in international relations. The proverbs are drawn from Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s Devil on the Cross. This postcolonial novel has an imaginary geographical setting: Ilmorog. The study takes a qualitative research design based on the interpretivist paradigm. The interpretation is informed by poststructuralist theory. Data from the text are broken into quotations, analogies, metaphors and images to assist in the analysis. The findings of the study will contribute in the comprehension and appreciation of the role played by writers in highlighting the issues that affect society. Consequently, society will be motivated towards a positive multidisciplinary reading culture. The results of the study will also aid researchers who may want to carry out similar or related scholarship in Literature or any other related disciplines.

The Proverbial Wisdom of a Georgian Language Island in Iran

The Georgian language island in Iran is not yet on the radar of international scholars. Studies by Georgian scholars have mostly focused on linguistic, ethnologic and historic issues concerning the Georgian community living in Isfahan province; no paremiological approach has been undertaken. This article is based on the analysis of Fereydani proverbs recorded from 1968 to 2014. Study reveals that the proverbs used by the Georgians of the Fereydan region in their mother tongue are: proverbs translated from Persian; proverbs of Georgian origin and proverbs existing in both Persian and Georgian paremiological funds. Archaic Georgian vocabulary preserved in proverbs is also considered. This paper highlights the need for a deeper paremiological approach to the proverbs of the Fereydani Georgians.

The Usage of African Religious Symbolism, Proverbial Wisdom and Myths in Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding

All civilizations continue to tackle the challenge of finding peaceful solutions to protracted violent conflicts arising from everyday economic and socio-political interactions. In African societies, traditional religious beliefs, symbolism, proverbs, myths, rituals and practices constitute valuable resources for conflict management strategies for resolving everyday conflicts among individuals and inter- and –intra ethno-political forces. Nonetheless, violent and deadly conflicts continue to erupt periodically which necessitates the intervention of authoritative third parties (such as traditional political actors and community elders) employing mediation strategies like consensus-building and reconciliation, in order mitigate or restrain violence and restore peace and stability in the society. This comes as a surprise considering the fact that the religious and philosophical bases of African conflict transformation mechanisms has been given less attention in most of the peace and conflict programmes in the leading academic institutions in Africa and overseas. Hence, this piece enhances our understanding of the role of African religious doctrines, canons and philosophy expressed as proverbs, myths and symbols underpinning conflict resolution and peace-building activities. These African expressive cultural elements conform to the universal values of peace, tolerance, love and the respect for human life embedded in the major world religions. In sum, they have the potential to contribute immensely to the existing peace education programmes and the development of moral values and ethical norms for the building of sustainable peace in Africa and beyond.