Proverbs

[Jan F. Ullrich]

My comment is concerned with similes rather then proverbs, but I guess there
might be some relationship between the two. At least, both can be
metaphorical, and similes are often a part of a proverb.

In the introduction to her Dakota Texts Deloria says:

"These tales [ohuN'kakaN], in which generally some mythological character
like Iktomi, Iya, the Crazy Bull, the Witch, or Waziya (the Cold), takes
part together with human beings, are part of the common literary stock of
the people. CONSTANT ALLUSION IS MADE TO THEM; SIMILES ARE DRAWN FROM THEM
WHICH EVERY INTELLIGENT ADULT IS SURE TO UNDERSTAND. "Like shooting off the
sacred arrow," or, "They are dancing with eyes shut, to his singing" one
hears repeatedly. "He is playing Iktomi" is understood to mean that a person
is posing as a very agreeable fellow, simply to get what he wants."


Besides, I think there are several sayings within the Dakota Texts.
The one that I remembered immediately is from the "Turtle goes to war"
story:

Phatkasha cha mnil ayapi kte s'e.
Just like the turtle when they want to throw it into water.
Meaning that one really wants to get something by pretending the opposite.


There are lots more similes (and/or sayings) in Buechel, although some of
them are just idiomatic sayings, e.g.

KhaNgi s?e iyuN'ke.
To go to bed in the way of crows.
Meaning - to go to bed early (sorry, I don't know how this saying goes in
English, in Czech we "go to bed with hens/fowls" :-))

Iktomi s?e chiNca' o'ta la'xcake.
He's got as many children as a spider.

Wablu'shka mayu'ta yelo', oshi'ciN kta se'ce lo'.
Lit.: "Worms are eating me, so the weather is going to be bad".
(Said when someone has a headache or pain in his bones.)

Phezhi' tho ai'camna.
It is snowing on green grass.
(Saying when snow fall in late spring.)

Shake' nitha'pa kte.
Your fingers will change into balls.
When scolding children for pointing at the rainbow.

ShuN'ka themni' t?a'pi kte lo.
Dogs will sweat to death. (It is going to be very hot.)

MashtiN'ca hiN' yupo'te xce lo'.
The rabbit has torn his hair up.
(Only few snow flakes have fallen.)
This one may as well be derived from a trickster tale in which rabbit shows
Iktomi how to cause snowing by tearing rabbit's hair.



Talking of proverbs vs. similes: it should be interesting to note that many
Indo-European proverbs come from fairytales or from the biblical stories.
Most of such tales/stories are concluded with a moral, which is later turned
into a proverb. But the Siouan tales/myths (at least the pre-missionary
ones) usually don't include any moral. Instead a simile is often derived
from the tales' character behavior. Could that be any hint for why Siouan
languages lack proverbs?

Jan Ullrich