Proverbs

[Koontz John E]

On Tue, 18 Dec 2001, Trechter, Sara wrote:
> I had never really thought about this, but it seems like the entire
> introduction to "Napping" from Deloria's Autobiographical texts is the
> speaker trying to explain a proverb but unsuccessfully. "Napping brings on
> consequences."

> Hé unwicháxcala thóiyepi kì él "Àpé ishtì'*mapi kì ...

This comes out pretty well traashed in pine, but may work with Windows
email programs.

> 8 Old men's precepts consisted of stock phrases, many of which are no longer
>    heard or even quoted, but which were a definite group or set of

This certainly sounds like a description of a body of proverbs.

>    One I heard elsewhere was "Hàhép﷓thani'*ya kì shíce ló;
>    oíyokpaza c'@'4* wakhanheza kì thíl awíchaku pó!" (The
>    breath of night is evil; when darkness falls, bring the children into the
>    house.")

And this, plus "Napping brings consequences." are presumably actual Dakota
proverbs.  In both cases there's no use of the sort of metaphorical
language that is common in English proverbs, but a proverb like "Feed a
cold; starve a (or, originally, I gather, of)  fever." isn't particularly
metaphorical, either, just an obscure way of saying "Eat sparingly when
you're sick."

Actually, the Omaha-Ponca texts are full of exhortations to "be active"
and "travel" which sound a lot like some of Deloria's sample exhortation.
There's even a text that represents a sort of homily on the subject that
must be relevant to the issue of proverbs.  Maybe my problem with
recognizing proverbs is recognizing them as stock phrases. A new proverb
sounds fresh.