[Lexicog] "lamb" as a metaphor

[Katerina Stathi]

In Modern Greek the word for lamb (/arní/) is used to refer to someone as ‘tame, calm, or peaceful’ (cf. the Greek translation of the 1967 film “The Taming of the Shrew” as lit. “The Shrew who became a little lamb”). In this sense the word is prototypically used in the diminutive (/arnáki/) and usually as a predicative (s.o. becomes (= is turned into) a little lamb). Contextually it is typically contrasted with a previous situation where he/she was “wild”, “mad”, “unpleasant”, etc.


The religious uses which have been mentioned exist also, of course, also in Modern Greek.


Ekaterini Stathi


Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling at sil.org> wrote:
What is associated with the image "lamb" when predicated of a person
in your language (not only English?
I can only think of "pious as a lamb" (lammfromm) in German.
To my knowledge in English you can say "as innocent as a lamb"
or "as docile/quiet/obedient as a lamb". And it can be
used with reference to someone who you are fond of and who
is gentle and lovable.

Fritz Goerling





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