Proverbs can be without exaggeration called the treasury of any nation. They take shape historically, generalize worldly experience and folk wisdom. Regardless of the level of education and place of residence, each person regularly uses in conversation about 200-300 different jokes and winged expressions. The definition of "What is a proverb?" interpreted differently, and many philologists, historians are trying to find the right answer. These well-meaning sayings, having intelligible content, often consist of two rhyming parts. Sometimes we don’t even notice how often we use various proverbs in everyday life. After all, they are able to revive dry speech, add national color to it and succinctly give a description of a particular situation.
As a rule, good proverbs have two meanings: literal and figurative. With their help in a metaphorical form comes any thought or observation of life. These short sayings are a true national treasure and have not lost their relevance to this day.
How to define what a proverb is?
In order to understand what the success of this morphological structure lies in, you need to know what it is. The definition of "what is a proverb?" You can give this. This is a certain genre of folklore, a logically finished, figurative and capacious saying in rhythmic form, which has a large semantic load. This term is of Russian origin and implies that the proverb is used in lively colloquial speech. The following signs of folk sayings are most clearly manifested in it:
1. Collectivity of creativity (as a rule, sayings do not have an author, they were created over a certain period of time and supplemented by different people).
2. Tradition, that is, sustainability. As a rule, the text of the proverb is practically unchanged.
3. Oralness. These sayings are much more than others related to direct and immediate speech.
In order to explain the proverb, you need to know the language in which it is pronounced in order to catch the figurative meaning. Such sayings necessarily carry any conclusions about what is good and what is bad, how to act correctly, and how - it is not necessary.
Proverbs in other countries
Of course, this folklore genre arose and developed not only in Russia. Such winged expressions exist in almost every country, because they are an indispensable companion of the historical progress of mankind. What is noteworthy, almost every proverb has its own counterparts and other peoples. Of course, it is adapted to the living conditions and level of civilization of each ethnic group, but the very fact of such a common idea makes scientists puzzle over it. Most likely, this can be explained by the fact that the basic moral principles and ideas of social life are the same in all countries. This is a kind of set of rules, historical heritage and philosophical memory.
The most common proverb topics
If we consider this folklore genre in more detail, you will notice that there are areas of life, about which there are a lot of sayings and sayings. Most often, they are talking about the need to work to ensure a decent life, about how negative laziness and lack of goals are. All of them are aimed at motivating people to a useful and functional way of being. For example, how to understand a proverb:
"Lazy hands are not related to a smart head" or "Man feeds labor, but laziness spoils"? The answer is obvious: people who do not want to do anything are doomed to a boring and useless life. Labor, on the contrary, gives people joy and understanding of their own need for society and loved ones.
Wolf is a popular image for proverbs.
American philologists conducted interesting studies and found that in Russian sayings animal images are very often used. One of them, of course, is the wolf. In order to uncover the nature of this feature, one must remember that for centuries Russian people have been inextricably linked with the environment. They knew about wolves firsthand and thoroughly studied their habits and lifestyle.
It is not surprising that there are so many tales, riddles and proverbs associated with this beast. He has no compassion, he does not trust anyone and has no friends. It is these qualities of the forest animal that served as the impetus for playing out the image of the wolf in Russian folklore.
Proverbs of the Soviet people
When the USSR arose, the government was to create a completely new ideology. So such sayings arose as "The Soviet people are harder than stone". They carried a motivating meaning. These short and capacious sayings should have made it clear to the citizens of the USSR and the whole world how faithful the path of socialism chosen by this country was true.
But folklore cannot be subordinated to political goals. Proverbs that were created by professional writers and poets did not take root in ordinary life and remained to sound like slogans printed in newspapers and on banners. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, they instantly lost their significance and are of interest only to historians and philologists.
How to apply sayings in everyday speech?
Like any phraseological units, proverbs must be able to be added to the vocabulary in a timely and appropriate manner. If the speech is oversaturated with them, then the interlocutor will have the impression that the person does not have his own ideas, and he is able to think only in cliches. Everything should be in moderation.
Thus, having studied the features of this genre, we can define “what is a proverb” and understand its historical essence.