Towards a Ka:rmik Linguistic Approach to the Definition of the Proverb:

A Series of Four Articles

Chilukuri Bhuvaneswar, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India
In the history of proverbiology, right from the time of Aristotle to the modern day scholars such
as Mieder, numerous definitions of proverbs have been offered. In Bhuvaneswar (2015) which
is an abridged version of Bhuvaneswar (2003) in which the characteristics of definition, the
inadequacies of the existing definitions of the proverb, and the ka:rmik linguistic approach to its
definition are discussed the problem of lack of scientific rigor in the derivation of the definition
of the proverb is taken up and three important characteristics of proverbs which are secondary,
essential, and uncommon characteristics have been identified and described. Unfortunately,
owing to the constraints of space, even though the 50 definitions of the proverb and many
examples are important on their own, they have not been cited and reviewed in the literature
review; in addition, many examples could not be provided in that paper of Bhuvaneswar (2015).
To fill that gap, a series of four articles containing: 1. 50 definitions of the proverb and their
common characteristics, 2. a ka:rmik linguistic review of the defects in the 50 definitions, 3. the
characteristics of a proverbs definition and the Ka:rmik Linguistic Definition, and 4. an
evaluation of the ka:rmik linguistic definition of the proverb with examples is attempted as
follows.
Towards the Definition of the Proverb 1:
A Checklist of 50 Important Definitions and Their Characteristics
Chilukuri Bhuvaneswar, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India
Abstract
In the history of proverbiology, right from the time of Aristotle to the modern day scholars such
as Mieder, numerous definitions of proverbs have been offered. However, on a close scrutiny, we
find that the reason for the proliferation of proverb definitions is a lack of clear- cut, linguistic
understanding of what proverbs are, how they are used, and why they are used in the context of
their creation and application as well as a lack of scientific rigor in the derivation of the
definition of the proverb. A list of 50 definitions has been made from important sources (see
Mieder 1993a, b and 2004, Reddy 1983) and the common characteristics mentioned in these
definitions have been identified in this paper to know their inadequacies so that a theoretical
base for defining the proverb more systematically, precisely, and holistically can be formulated..
Key words: proverbiology, Aristotle, Mieder, 50 definitions of proverbs, linguistic understanding
of proverbs, ka:rmik linguistic review, theoretical definition base, holistically

I.
INTRODUCTION
In the history of western proverbiology, many scholars have looked at the definition of the
proverb. They have reviewed a large number of definitions given in the past from Aristotle to the
present by Mieder. However, the characteristics of proverbs mentioned in their definitions could
not hit the bulls eye of the definition of the proverb and as a result, many definitions started
trickling down the proverb lane without any satisfactory results. According to Mieder (2001:
395-396), there are 206 entries on the definition of the proverb in the Subject Index, and he tells

me that there are hundreds of definitions of the proverb (personal communication November 6,
2015). As such, there is a need to revisit the field of proverb definitions and re-examine what has
gone wrong with the methodology and process of defining the proverb and getting a
scientifically rigorous definition.
In this first paper (Bhuvaneswar 2015a) in a series of four papers, an attempt has been made to
identify what common characteristics have been chosen to define the proverb in 50 selected
definitions; and in the second paper (ibid, 2015b), these defining characteristics are critically
evaluated and their defects are pointed out. In the third paper (ibid, 2015c), the characteristics of
a definition are analyzed following Sri: A:di Samkara Bhagavatpu:jyapa:dahs identification of
the three defects of a definition (avya:pti under-extension, ativya:pti over-extension,
asmabhava impossibility) and the proper asa:dha:raNa ka:raNa uncommon characteristic
that distinguishes the genre from others and fixes the definition properly. In the fourth paper
(ibid, 2015d), the definition of the proverb as a culturally frozen prototypical illocution (as a
text) arrived at by the application of Ka:rmik Linguistic Theory has been put to test by taking
literary and figurative proverbs used in their P1 (proverb alone), P2 (proverb embedded in an
utterance), and P3 (proverb used initially, medially, or finally in a turn of a conversational
exchange) forms (see Bhuvaneswar 2012). In addition, polyfunctionality, polysemanticity, and
polysituativity of proverbs are also discussed to prove that these factors do not affect the efficacy
of the definition.
II. Literature Review
Among the major proverbiologists who examined and defined the proverb, Richard Chenevix
Trench (1853 as 1905 as 2003: 1-25), Edward Hulme (1856 as 2007: 1-25), Archer Taylor
(1931), Bartlett Jere Whiting (1932: 273-307), Wolfgang Mieder (1993: 3-17; 18-40; 2004: 116), and Bhuvaneswar (2015) are important. These critics except Bhuvaneswar have reviewed a
number of definitions given by their predecessors and then offered their own definition in their
articles on the definition of the proverb. Nonetheless, their definitions have still remained
descriptions only! The reason is that there is a research gap in proverbiology which is lack of
research in conversational discourse analysis of proverbs, especially, proverbial conversational
exchanges (as Bhuvaneswar (2012) calls them), and also in the methodology of not identifying
the uncommon characteristic of the proverb which identifies the proverbness proper of the
proverb a parallel term proverbiality is broad and it may cover any of the properties of
proverbs and so it is not used here since it does not precisely reflect the concept of the
uncommon characteristic that marks off a proverb from other genres. In Bhuvaneswar (2013,
15), the uncommon characteristic is identified as a mixed characteristic of the three essential
characteristics which are: frozen textuality; cultural confirmation; and pro-cat instantiation. He
claims that any and every proverb should possess these three characteristics as a whole to be a
proverb.
In the next section, a checklist of 50 important definitions by proverbiologists is taken into
consideration and the important characteristics of proverbs mentioned by them in their
definitions are identified below each definition. At the end of the 50 definitions, the prominent
common characteristics mentioned in all the 50 definitions are consolidated. In addition, they are
very briefly contrasted with the general properties that proverbs can have as language.

III. Definitions of the Proverb: A Checklist of 50 Definitions with Their Characteristics

In 3.1., 50 distinct definitions of the proverb are given and the important characteristics
mentioned in each definition are given below each definition in brackets and in 3. 2., the
common characteristics mentioned in these 50 definitions are sorted out and then contrasted with
the general properties that proverbs can have as a genre of language.
3. 1. Distinct Definitions of the Proverb
In this section, 50 definitions of important authors are listed and the characteristics identified in
them are listed immediately below each definition in brackets. All these definitions are taken
from 1. Edward Hulme (1856 as 2007: 1-25), 2. Richard Chenevix Trench (1905 as 2003: 1-25),
3. Archer Taylor (1931), 4. Bartlett Jere Whiting (1932: 302), and 5. Wolfgang Mieder (1993: 317; 18-40); 2004: 1-16), who have extensively quoted large numbers of definitions in their
works. As such, to save space, each of these western critics references is not cited again in the
References section. The reader is requested to refer to these five sources given above for further
details.
1.
ARISTOTLE (4C. B.C.)
a. The fragments of an elder wisdom, which, on account of their brevity and aptness, had amid
a general wreck and ruin been preserved.
b. Proverbs are metaphors from one species to another (Rhetorica Bk. 11/21).
[wisdom, brevity, aptness, preservation] (quoted in Trench 1853 & 1905 as 2003 by Mieder: 26]
2.
GOETHE
Es ist ein grosser Unterschied, ob der Dlichter zum Allgemeinen das Bosondere such order in
Besonderen das Allegemeine schant. Aus jener Art entsteht Allegorie, wo das besondere nur als
Beispiel, als Exempel des Allgemeinen gilt: die letztere aber ist eigentlich die Natur der Poesie,
sie spricht ein Besonderes aus, ohne ans Allgemeine zu dunken oder darauf hinzuweissen. Wer
nun dieses Besondere lebendig fast, erhalt zngleich das Allgemeine mit, ohne es gewahr zu
warden, order erst spat.
3.
MATHIEN DE VENDOME (12 CENTURY)
A proverb is a popular phrase accredited by custom, accepted by the general opinion,
expressing a truth that has been proved genuine (As quoted by Gyula Paczolay 1978).
[popular phrase, truth, genuine, cultural acceptance]
4.
Lord John Russell (1792-1878)
The wisdom of many, the wit of one or One mans wit, and all mens wisdom (Memoirs of
the Life of the Right Honourable Sir James Mackintosh, edited by his son Robert James
Mackintosh, Esz., 2. Vols. (London 1835), 2. 472.
[wisdom, wit]
5.
a.

RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH (1905 as 2003)

Without this popularity, without these suffrages and this consent of the many, no saying,
however brief, however wise, however seasoned with salt, however worthy on all these
accounts to have become a proverb, however fulfilling all other its conditions, can yet be
esteemed as much. This popularity, omitted in that enumeration of the essential notes on
the proverb, is yet the only one whose presence is absolutely necessary, whose absence is
fatal to the claims of any saying to be regarded as such. (P. 10)

b.

6.
a.

b.

(Proverbs and Their Lessons: 10) (italics mine).

one quality of the proverb, and that the most essential of all I mean popularity,
acceptance and adoption on the part of the people. (Proverbs and Their Lessons: 10)
[popularity, brevity, wisdom]
ARCHER TAYLOR (1931)
The definition of the proverb is too difficult to repay the undertaking; and should we
fortunately combine in a single definition all the essential elements and give each the
proper emphasis, we should not even then a touchstone. An incommunicable quality tells
us this sentence is proverbial and that one is not. Hence no definition will enable us
identify positively a sentence as proverbial. Those who do not speak a language can
never recognize all its proverbs, and similarly much that is truly proverbial escapes us in
Elizabethan and older English. Let us be content with recognizing that a proverb is a
saying current among the folk. At least so much of a definition is indisputable, and we
shall see and weigh the significance of other elements later. (The Proverb: 3).
A saying which summarizes a situation and in its own inimitable way passes some sort
of judgement on it or characterizes its essence.
[an incommunicable quality, current]

7.
a.

Bartlett Jere Whiting (1932)

A proverb is an expression which, owing its birth to the people, testifies to its origin in
form and phrase. It expresses what is apparently a fundamental truth-that is a truism in
homely language often adorned, however, with alliteration and rhyme. It is usually short,
but need not be; it is usually true, but need not be. Some proverbs have both a literal and
figurative meaning, either of which makes perfect sense; but more often they have but
one of the two. A proverb must be venerable; it must bear the sign of antiquity, and,
since such signs may be counterfeited by a clever literary man, it should be attested in
different places at different times. This last requirement we must often waive in dealing
with very early literature, where the material at our disposal is incomplete.
(The Nature of the Proverb: 302)

b.

A short pithy saying in common and recognized use, a concise sentence often
metaphorical or alliterative in form, which is held to express some truth ascertained by
experience or observation familiar to all, an adage, a wise saw
(As quoted in Oxford Dictionary)

c.

What is a proverb? The question has been often asked, frequently by those dissatisfied
with definitions previously given. Of such queries there is no end. What is truth? Asked
jesting Pilate, but, jester or not, Pilate, wise in this generation, would not stay for an
answer . It is somewhat disconcerting experience of one who, through the years (since,
to be definite, 1932), has made several attempts at formulating a definition, that those
who do stay for an answer are rarely pleased with what they receive. One might, in
effect, as well answer why is a mouse when it spins?
(Early American Proverb and Proverbial Phrases 1977: XIX-XX)
[birth from the people, truism, homely language, figures of speech,
short, true, literal and figurative, venerable, antiquity, attestation]

8.
G.L. Apperson (1935)
A proverb is a crystallized summary of popular wisdom or fancy.

(As quoted by Joanna Wilson in the Introduction to the Third Edition of The Oxford
Dictionary of English Proverbs. Oxford: Clarendom Press. 1970, vii)
[popular wisdom or fancy]
9.
Kenneth Burke (1941)
Proverbs are strategies for dealing with situations. In so far as situations are typical and
recurrent in a given social structure, people develop names for them and strategies for handling
them. Another name for strategies might be attitudes. (Literature as Equipment for Living in
The Philosophy of Literary Form: Studies in Symbolic Action, 1941: 256)
[strategies, attitudes]
10.
Marjorie Kimmerle (1947)
Alan Dundes comments as follows on her treatment of proverbs:
Her scheme was closely tied to linguistic and syntactic formulas. Not all her seventeen
categories were relevant to proverbs and the use of such grammatical distinctions as the presence
of a predicate noun or predicate adjective or direct object suggests that her analysis was more of
surface structure than deep structure, to employ the Chomsky metaphor. (Dundes 1975: 962)
[linguistic and syntactic formulas]
11.
Anonymous (1961)
Many people have loved proverbs for the wisdom embedded in them. Others have treasured
proverbs for the vividness or earthiness of their imagery. But students of the subject are
impressed by still another characteristic of the proverb: its verbal economy. Proverbs are rarely
wordy. The usual proverb is spare and austere in expression, and some are marvels of
compactness.
[Can Anybody Compare a Proverb. The New York Times (November 12, 1961), section IV,
pp.8, col.3. As quoted in Mieder 1993b, pp.32]
[wisdom, vividness of imagery, verbal economy, compactness]
12.
Matti Kuusi (1957)
Monumenta humana.
[monuments of human experience]
13.
a.
b.

Horace Reynolds (1959)

A proverb in the hand is often worth a thousand words.
Like Poetry, the proverb is indefinable. There have been some good tries. Francis
Bacon called proverbs: The edged tools of speech. Lord John Russell in a much quoted
appraisal called a proverb the wisdom of many and the wit of one. But the definition I
like best comes from the good old Encyclopaedia Britannica: A pungent criticism of
life. That seems to fit the insight and compassion which mark the proverbs at its best.
[A proverb in the Hand Is often Worth a Thousand Words. The New York Times
Magazine (September 13, 1959), pp.74. As quoted in Mieder 1993b, pp.30]
[worthiness, indefinable, pungent criticism of life]

14.
Stuart A. Gallacher (1906-1977)
A proverb is a concise statement of an apparent truth which has [had or will have] currency
among the people. (Frare enlobs Bits of Wisdom: Fruits of this environment, 1959)
[concise statement, apparent truth, currency]

15.
Mario Pei (1964)
Proverbs are among the most ancient of human institutions. Criticism of life, in brief and pithy
form, is characteristic of proverbs, while their popular philosophy is, indeed, proverbial.
Proverbs are the wisdom of peoples goes an Italian saying. This is perhaps an exaggeration,
but there is no doubt that much of nations old-philosophy gets into proverbs, along with the
spice of national customs and, above all, the peculiar flavour of the nations language and
phraseology .. proverbs are generalizations of human experience, condensations, oft-reported
occurrences of the trail-and-error variety. Above all, they are the fruit of observation and
inductive reasoning, two of the great faculties of the human mind a generalization .. caught on
became popular, was passed from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation. Ultimately it
became an integral part of the groups folklore, and was repeated whenever the situation it
described recurred every proverb tells a story and teaches a lesson.
[As summarized in A Proverb is a short sentence of Wisdom by Wolfgang Mieder in Proverbs
Are Never out of Season, 1993, pp.32. Gringinally in Mario Pei (May 2, 1964). Parallel
proverbs. Saturday Review, pp.16-17 and p.53 (here pp.16)].
[ancient, criticism of life, brief, pithy, popular philosophy of life, wisdom,
generalizations, condensations, fruit of observation, inductive reasoning, a story, lesson]
16.
F.L. Lucas (1965)
A proverb is by definition a popular maxim Proverbs are among the most ancient literacy
forms, and among the most universal Even if it [the proverb] holds its measure of truth
Proverbs are anonymous wisdom literature of the common man in ages past. Yet they often
bear the stamp of minds by no means common. They can throw fascinating light on human
nature, on national character, on life itself. And even when we doubt their wisdom, we can still
often admire their trenchancy, their brevity, their imaginative imagery. A proverb, says the
Arab, is to speech as salt to food.
[F.L.Lucas (September 1965). The Art of Proverbs. Holiday, 38.8 and 10 13 (here pp. 10 11); quoted in Mieder 1993b]
[popular maxim, ancient, anonymous wisdom, folk literature,
human nature, national character, on life, trenchancy, brevity, imagery]
17.
Peter Seitel (1969 and 1976)
Proverbs in English may be provisionally defined as short, traditional, out-of-context
statements used to further some social end
(Proverbs: A Social Use of Metaphor in Folklore Genres, p. 127)
[short, traditional, out of context, social ends]
18.
George B. Milner (1969)
in its most typical form a traditional saying is a quadripartite structure in two halves, each
consisting of two quarters. It is possible to allocate plus or minus values to each quarter (or to its
constituent segment) in such a way that the combined values of the quarters and their segments
match the values of each half. (Quadripartite Structures in Proverbium 14, 1969, pp.380
81)
[traditional saying, quadripartite structure]
19.
Gyuala Paczolay(1970)
A proverb is a short statement, having an evident or implied general meaning, related to a
certain typical field of general human conditions, attitudes or actions, where it is valid with
implied limitations. It is known and often quoted in a period of time in a certain language

community, sometimes in a short form (the rest being implied). In common knowledge it has no
known author or literary source.
[some notes on the Theory of Proverbs. Proverbium No.20, 1970, 737 750 (here p.742)]
[short statement, general meaning, currency, popularity, anonymity]
20.
Roger D. Abrahams (1972)
Proverbs are short and witty traditional expressions that arise as part of everyday discourse as
well as in the more highly structured situations of education and judicial proceedings. Each
proverb is a full statement of an approach to a recurrent problem. It presents a point of view and
a strategy that is self-sufficient, needing nothing more than an event of communication to bring it
into play . Proverbs take a personal circumstance and embody it in impersonal and witty
form.
(Proverbs and proverbial Expressions. Folklore and Folklife An Indtroduction. Ed by Richard
M Dorson. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972: 119)
[short, witty, traditional, approach tyo recurrent problems, strategy, point of view, impersonal]
21.
Barbara Kirshenblatt Gimblett (1973)
No definition is given but a general observation is offered at the beginning as follows: Proverbs
sound authoritative. The truths they proclaim feel absolute. This impression is created by the
proverbs traditionality and the weight of impersonal community consensus it invokes. The
proverbs form reinforces this effect by sounding so right. Neat symmetries and witty
convergences of sound and meaning, tight formulations of logical relations, highly patterned
repetitions, structural balance, and familiar metaphors encapsulate general principles and
contribute to the feeling that anything that sounds so right must be true. (Proverbium 1973, vol.
22, P. 821)
[authoritative, absolute truths, traditionality, impersonal community consensus,
schemes and tropes, general principles]
22.
Alan Dundes (1975)
In summary, the proverb appears to be a traditional propositional statement consisting of at least
one descriptive element, a descriptive element consisting of a topic and a comment. This means
that proverbs must have at least two words. Proverbs which contain a single descriptive element
are non-appositional. Proverbs with two or more descriptive elements may be either oppositional
or non-appositional. (On the structure of the Proverb, Proverbium 25, 1975: 970)
[traditional propositional statement]
23.
Nigel Barley (1972)
A Proverb may be taken as a standard statement of moral or categorical imperatives in fixed
metaphorical paradigmatic form. It deals with fundamental logical relationships.
(A Structural Approach to the proverb and Maxim with Special Reference to the Anglo-Saxon
Corpus, Proverbium 20, 1972, p. 741)
[standard statement of moral or categorical imperatives, fixed, metaphorical, paradigmatic
form]
24.
Harald Burger (1977)
A proverb is a general statement or judgement, explaining, classifying or assessing a situation.
(As quoted in Mieder 1977, pp.2)
[general statement on a situation]

25.
O. Nagy (1979)
A proverb is a popular set phrase having no author, known mostly in different languages,
expressing in one sentence a principle, advice, a genuine or assumed truth in a general, concise
form, its basic idea being of general validity, or at least its use considers it as such.
(Encyclopedia of World Literature vol. 6 Budapest: Akademiai Kiado, 1979, pp.645).
[popular set phrase, no author, truth, concise form, general validity]
26.
Galit Hasan Rokem (1982)
A common genre of folk literature is the proverb, a multivalent poetical summary of a
communitys collective experience. It is precisely the multivalence of the proverb which
determines the potency of its meaning; proverbs combine poetic structure with frozen meaning in
ways that render their usage exceptional.
(The Pragmatics of Proverbs: How the Proverb Gets its Meaning, Exceptional Language and
Linguistics, 1982, pp.169).
[multivalent poetical summary, collective experience, poetic structure, frozen meaning,
exceptional usage]
27.
Oxford Dictionary
A short pithy saying in common and recognized use; a concise sentence, often metaphorical or
alliterative in form, which is held to express some truth ascertained by experience or observation
familiar to all; an adage, a wise saw.
[short, pithy, saying, common and recognized usage, truth from experience or observation]
28.
a.

Wolfgang Mieder (1993)

A proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom,
truth, morals and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed and memorizable form and
which is handed down from generation to generation or
b.
A proverb is a short sentence of wisdom.
(A proverb is a short sentence of Wisdom, in Proverbs are Never out of Season, p. 29)
[metaphorical, fixed, memorizable, antiquity or tradition, short sentence, wisdom]
29.
Hugh Kenner (1983)
Being recipes for managing our affairs, proverbs have been cherished like wise we say it [the
proverb] now because it had seemed worth saying again and again descending father to son,
mother to daughter, mouth to mouth for centuries before It was useful because it touched on a
general truth . Proverbs use the experience people gain in skills to project what we are always
wanting, some general guide for action. They did this for millennia before we had acquired the
habit of seeking guidance from something written. They were short and memorable and self
explanatory.
[The Wisdom of the tribe. Why proverbs are Better than Aphorisms. Harpers (May 6, 1983).
84-86 (here pp. 84-85). As quoted in Mieder 1993 b, p. 35]
[tradition and antiquity, general truth, guide for action, short, memorable, self-explanatory]
30.
Stephan Kanfer (1983)
The aphorism is a personal observation inflated into a universal truth, a private posing as a
general. A proverb is anonymous human history compressed to the size of a seed.
[Proverbs or Aphorims? Time (July 11, 1983), pp.74. As quoted in Mieder 1999 b, p.35]
[universal truth, anonymous, shortness]

31.
Peter Grzybek (1994)
There is no generally accepted definition which covers all specifics of the proverbial genre.
(Proverb. Simple Forms: An Encyclopedia of Simple Text Types in Lore and Literature. Ed.
Walter Koch. Bochum: Brochmeyer, 1994. 227-41 (here pp.227). As quoted in Hernadi &
Steen 1999)
[no generally accepted definition]
32.
Jan Harold Brunvand (1986)
Popular saying in a relatively fixed form which is or has been, in oral circulation. (The Study
of American Follore: An Introduction. 3rd ed. Now York: Norton, 1986, pp. 74)
[popular saying, fixed form, currency]
33.
Paul Hernadi and Francis Steen (1999)
Proverbs are brief, memorable, and intuitively convincing formulations of socially sanctioned
advice.
(The Tropical Landscape of Proverbia: A Cross Disciplinary Travelogue. Style 33. 1.
Dekalb: Northern Villinois University. 1-20 (here pp.1))
[brief, memorable, socially sanctioned advice]
34.
Voo (1989)
A proverb is a stereotype linguistic entity expressing a fixed idea. On the linguistic level it is an
artistic picture, on the level of ideas a judgment. As a work of art of folklore it belongs to the
secondary semiotic systems. It is a communication system with a double code, a carrier of
information at the level of language, but at the same time the information carries another content
too, becoming an instrument of poetic expressions. (A true man tells the truth. Proverbs from
the folklore of Hungarians in Romania. Kriterion. Bucharest. 1989, pp. 19. As quoted in
Paczolay 1998)
[stereotype, fixed idea, artistic picture, judgement, double code, poetic expression]
35.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.

English (a-k) and Telugu (l) Proverbs about Proverbs

All the good sense of the world runs into proverbs.
[good sense]
Proverbs are the children of experience.
[experience]
Proverbs are the daughters of daily experience.
[experience]
Proverbs are the wisdom of the streets.
[wisdom of the streets]
The wisdom of the proverb cannot be surpassed.
[wisdom]
Common proverb seldom lies.
[truth]
Every proverb is truth.
[truth]
Old proverbs are the children of truth.
[truth]
Man folks and proverbs reveal many truths.
[truth]
Patch grief with proverbs.
[consolation]
Wise men make proverbs and fools repeat them.
[wisdom]
Sa:metha (proverb) le:ni (without) ma:ta (word) a:metha (feast) le: ni (without) illu
(house)
A word (discourse) without a proverb (is) a house without a feast [Telugu Proverb]
[ornamental]

m. we lin o ro ; b o ro -o b sn, we la fi w a.
[Yoruba Proverb]
(Proverb is the horse of speech; when speech is lost, proverb is the means we use to hunt for it)
[horses of speech]

36.
Stevenson (1969)
A maxim is the sententious expression of some general truth or rule of conduct, that it is a
proverb in the caterpillar stage and that it becomes a proverb when it gets its wings by
winning popular acceptance, and flutters out into the highways and byways of the world.
(As quoted in The Kinds of Folk Literature in The Fundamentals of Folk Literature by George
W. Boswell and J. Russell Reaver. OO sheerhoat: Anthropological publications. 1969, pp. 21)
[general truth, rule of conduct, popular acceptance, wide transmission]
37.
Dr. Champion (1928)
A racial aphorism which has been, or still is, in common use, conveying advice or counsel,
invariably camouflaged figuratively, disguised in metaphor or allegory.
(Champion, Selwyn Gurney, Racial Proverbs. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1928)
[racial aphorism, common use, advice or counsel, figurative, metaphor or allegory]
38.
Erasmus
Celebre dictum, scita quapium nouitate insigne (a saying in frequent use marked by some
shrewdness and originality)
(As quoted in Trench 1853, reprinted by Mieder 2003: 10)]
[frequent use, shrewdness, originality]
39.
Eif(s)elein (1840)
The Proverb is a coinage of the popular mint and owns its currency and acknowledged value to
the people. (Sprichworter de deutschen Volkes, Friburg, 1840, p. x)
(As translated in Trench 1853 and 1905, and reprinted by Mieder 2003: 11)
[popular mint, currency, value ]
40.
James Howell (17c)
The peoples voice the voice of God will call;
And what are proverbs but the peoples voice?
Coined first, and current made by common choice?
Then sure they must have weight and truth withal.
(As quoted in Trench 1853 and reprinted by Mieder 2003, p.14)
[peoples voice, coined and made current by common choice, weight, truth]
41.
a.

b.

Lord Bacon
(They (proverbs)) serve not only for ornament and delight but also for active and civil
use; as being the edged tools of speech which cut and penetrate the knots of business and
affairs.
(As quoted in Trench 1853 and reprinted by Mieder 2003, pp. 14-15)
[ornament, delight, active and civil use, edged tools of speech]
The genius, wit and spirit of a nation are discovered in its proverbs.
[genius, wit and spirit of a nation]

42.
Cervantes
Short sentences drawn from long experience.
[short sentences, long experience]

43.
Samuel Palmer
A proverb is an instructive sentence, in which more is generally designed than expressed and
which has passed into the common use and esteem either among the learned or vulgar (Moral
Essays in proverbs, p. 1710)
[instructive, common use, profound]
44.
John Ray
A proverb is usually defined as an instructive sentence, or common and pithy saying which is
generally designed than expressed.
(English Proverbs, Preface to the Fourth Edition, p. 1767)
[instructive, common use, pithy, profound]
45. Chilukuri Narayana Rao (1965 as 1974 in Diva:karla Venkata:vadha:ni, et al).
Sa:mya cabdamunake: sa:myata anu asa:dhu ru:pa me:rpaDiyundavatctcunaniyu, adiye:
sa:metaga Telugulo: ma:ri pracha:ramulo: nunnadi
Only from the word sa:mya, the colloquial form sa:myatamight have been formed; that
(word) only changed into sa:metaand became popular (as quoted in Telugu Sa:metalu by
Raghavachari (1974: ii)).
[similarity, popularity]
46. Sampat Raghava:chari (1959 as1974 in Diva:karla Venkata:vadha:ni, et al)
Sa:meta (proverb) anaga: (means) janavyavaha:rakshuNNamaina (popular) ukti (saying).
A proverb is a saying which is comprehensively used by people (popular).
[popular saying]
47.
Visvana:tha Satyana:ra:yaNa (1965 as 1974 in Diva:karla Venkata:vadha:ni, et al)
oka (one) pinDita:rdha:nni (filtered meaning) koddi (a few) ma:Tallo (words in) tchebutundi
(expresses) sa:meta (proverb)
Proverbs convey a quintessential meaning in a few letters.
[brevity, quinteessential meaning]
48. Nedunu:ri Gangadharam (1964 as in Narasimha Reddy, Papireddy 1983).
The individual experiences expressed in a formulaic form by our ancestors became proverbs.
Gradually some morals, stories, and preachings also stood as (became) proverbs.
[individual experiences, formulaic, traditional]
49. Pa:pireddy Narasimha:reddy (1983)
A short sentence, incorporating social experiences of several generations, and having similarity,
perlocutionary force, significance of sound, currency among people, and melody is a proverb.
[short sentence, social experiences, antiquity, similarity, figurative, melodious, currency]
50. Jayadeva (as in B.V. S. Murthy 2000)
Lo:ka prava:da:nukrutirlo:ko:ktiriti kathyate:
A saying that is popular and current among people is called a loko:kti (peoples saying)
[popular, current, saying]
In Bhuvaneswar (2015), the revised definition of the proverb given in 1997, 1999 and presented
in Lucknow in 2003 was published. This definition has been created after making a review of
numerous proverb definitions as mentioned above in Bhuvaneswar 2015b. Then the secondary,
essential, and uncommon characteristics of a definition are taken up by following Sri: A:di

Samkara Bhagavtpu:jyapa:dahs logic in Bhuvaneswar ((2015 as) 2015c) and a new definition is
formulated as follows:
51. Chilukuri Bhuvaneswar (1997, 2003, 2015)
A proverb is a culturally confirmed frozen text of a prototypical practice used as an illocution
over a categorical action in a setting for a projected view of life. Or
A proverb is a culturally (confirmed) frozen prototypical illocution (as a text)]
[frozen textuality, cultural confirmation, pro-cat instantiation, illocution]
Finally, in Bhuvaneswar (2015d), this new definition is confirmed by illustration of literary and
figurative proverbs in P1, P2, and P3 forms in proverbial exchanges.
3. 2. Common Characteristics Mentioned in the 50 Definitions
In this section, the important characteristics mentioned in the 50 definitions under each definition
are further grouped together to arrive at the common characteristics mentioned in these
definitions.
A quick glance at the 50 definitions shows that there is no systematic and scientific framework
for arriving at a definition of the proverb and as a result the definitions vary in their
characterization of the proverb. That is the reason why we see so many characteristics mentioned
in the definitions. Nonetheless in their free variation we can still identify some important
characteristics shared in common in many of these definitions. Among these characteristics, we
find
i. popularity including tradition, currency, and cultural acceptance
(30 definitions),
ii. brevity
(19 definitions),
iii. wisdom
(13 definitions),
iv. truth
(13 definitions),
v. experience
(8 definitions),
vi.a. figurative language and imagery (7 definitions),
vii. anonymity
(7 definitions),
b. metaphorical
(5 definitions)
viii. social advice (5 definitions),
ix. strategies
(3 definitions)
x. generalizations (3 definitions)
to be frequently mentioned in these definitions. It is surprising that xi. fixed form is obtained only
twice in definitions 28 and 32 and xii. memorable also only twice in definitions 28 and 33; xiii.
syntactic formulas only four times in 10, 18, 21, and 22; whereas xiv. formulaic and xv. authority
only once in 48 and 21 as defining characteristics. Except the formal characteristics of brevity,
fixed form, syntactic formulas, and formulaic as well as the rhetorical features of figurative
language and imagery, all the other characteristics such as popularity, tradition, currency,
cultural acceptance, wisdom, truth, experience, and anonymity are outside formal language
proper. Even though 6b, 17, 19, 20 and 24 refer to social action, they have not pin pointed the
linguistic function of prototype-categorial instantiation as I call it in its contextual usage.
One noteworthy feature in these definitions is the identification of the process of formation of a
proverb. 15, 36, 39, and 40 capture this process very clearly: somebody coining the proverb first
and later on others using it to transform the expression into a proverb. Howell (Definition No.
40) puts it poetically as, coined first, current made by common choice; Stevenson (Definition
36) says, A maxim is the sententious expression of some general truth or rule of conduct, that it
is a proverb in the caterpillar stage and that it becomes a proverb when it gets its wings by
winning popular acceptance, and flutters out into the highways and byways of the world; and
Mario Pei (Definition 15) sums it up as a generalization .. caught on became popular, was
passed from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation. Ultimately it became an integral

part of the groups folklore, and was repeated whenever the situation it described recurred
every proverb tells a story and teaches a lesson. Mieder (1993: 13) neatly summarizes the
discussion on the formation of a proverb by referring to Agnes Szemerkenyi and Vilmos Voigt
(1972: 95-108) as cited in Mieder (ibid.). In Bhuvaneswar (2015), this process is independently
arrived at and captured in a graphic ICCCSA network of his Ka:rmik Linguistic paradigm with
an example.
On a closer examination, we find that there is a reference to functional structural discourse
properties in the definitions 6b, 17, 19, 20, 24, and 29 but they are not well-articulated in a
discourse model. In a similar way, some definitions are pointed (e.g., 1b, 4, 14, 27, 32, 33) but,
in many cases (e.g., 5, 6, 7, 13, 15, 16, 21, 29, 34), the nature of the definitions is not compact
and pointed they tend to be descriptions.
IV. Conclusion
Since proverbs are language, they must be endowed with the general properties of language
cutting across formal, functional, semantic, and discourse properties; at the same time, style and
context also come into play in endowing proverbs with their own features. Among the formal
properties, phonetic, phonological, and lexical properties are not uniform throughout the corpus
of proverbs and hence they cannot be included in the definition of the proverb. So it is
understandable that these properties are not taken into consideration in the definitions of
proverbs. In a similar way, except in the case of 10, 18, 21 and 22, the syntactic properties are
also not included even though proverbs share many common patterns of syntax. Nonetheless,
there are certain properties as fixed form, popularity, and cultural acceptance which are common
to all proverbs. These properties (except the property of prototype-categorial instantiation) have
been successfully identified but not properly integrated into the definition as will be shown in
Bhuvaneswar 2015b. Again, proverbs as a genre should also have their own special and
distinguishing properties without which they cannot be marked off from other genres. In these
definitions, no such awareness of such properties is exhibited. Moreover, in the 50 definitions
given above, there is no strict adherence to a theoretical model in defining proverbs by a
systematic selection of the defining characteristics. Each critic defined proverbs from his own
vantage point by taking some characteristics which he thought to be important.
A careful analysis of the above mentioned 50 definitions (excluding 51) and their testing in the
proverb corpuses shows that all of them are defective they suffer from the defects of a
definition which are either under-extension, or over-extension and do not have the uncommon
characteristic that distinguishes a proverb from the other genres. In the second paper in this
series, such an analysis of these definitions will be attempted to show why they are defective.
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