Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-08-30
OFT QUOTED PHRASES.
THEIR ORIGIN TRACED BACK TO
GOOD OLD DAYS OF YORE.

GOOD OLD DAYS OF YORE.
They Didn't Spell Then just as We Do
Now, but They Did Some Good Think
ing-A Record That Will Be Useful in
Settling Disputes That Are Frequent.
Some of the commonest sayings we hear
| every day have been handed down TO US,
/ from father to son, for more than thousand
! years; and even long before these proverbs
are thought TO have been in use among our
( English forefathers il their old homeland, in
north Germany, before they conquered and
settled the island they afterward called Eng
| land. Many of them are common to the
whole Aryan race
! As King Alfred, who lived in the Ninth
century, was good and wise man, our an
cestOrs in the middle ages attributed TO him
many of these wise sayings, and there is a
tradition that this proverbial philosophy was
delivered by him to his Witanagemot, or old
English parliament.
AN OLD MANUSCRIPT
There is manuscript Of the Thirteenth
century containing many Of these proverbs,
which have been printed just as it was writ
ten, in the style and spelling Of 600 years ago
The specimens that follow viii be recognized
at once, in spite of their old fashioned Eng
lish dress
Brend child fur dredeth.
He is fre of hors that Ter made non
Wei fyht that vel flyth.
God beginning maketh god endyng.
Sottes bolt in son shote.
Fer from eye fer from herte
When the cope icupl is fullest theme Der hir
e feyrest.
When the bale is hest highest theme is the
bote boot remedy nest [nighestl.
Coming down to the Fourteenth century,
we find many of our common proverbs in
"Piers Plowman" and Chaucer The author
of piers Plowmann says that faith without
work Is
Ded rs dore nayle.
Wisdom and witte now is nought worth a carse.
This survives in our mot worth curse"
or don't care curse" where curse stands
for cress. Ia Turner's book on the Names
of Herbes' G549 both forms are in use, crosse
and kerse. An old alliterative poem contains
this line:
Anger gaynez fgainsl thee not a crosse.
And Chaucer has,
he raught freckedl he not kers.
In the Canterbury Tales" one would nat
urally expect to find many of our common
bywords such as:
Nordre viii out, that Sc we day by day
Than Is it WISDOM as it thinketh me,
To maken vertu Of neoesste
Hyt is not al eolde that aiareth
Upright es a bolt.
Bet than never is late.
Which we have changed into "better late
than never"
Besy as bees; piping hot etc.
To curry favor is corruption of middle
English--to curry favel-that Is, to rub down
a horse. Faven was common name for
horse in the Fourteenth century.
Specimens of proverbs found in the Fiji
tenth century literature are;
I know not an A from the wynd.mylne, ne B
from boe foot.-Jack Upland.
We have q craw TO pulle.--Towrly Mysteries
Odyous OF Ode been com earisol is---IyndgateAs
Poems
AFTER THE FIETRENrH CENTURY.
AS we reach the Sixteenth century many
proverbs appear for the first time. Tyndale,
the translator of the Bible, says that ''if the
porridge be burnt or when thing speedeth
not WELL we say: The bishop hath put his
foot in the pot"
This is partly revived in our day:
Put his foot in it.
Lyle's "Euphues:"
AS lyke as one pease is to another
Fainth hart neither winneth casteli nor lady
Trusser's Five Hundredth Pointes of Good
Husbandrie:n
Christmas comes but once year
Who goeth a-borrowing goeth a-sorrowing.
Haywood Proverbs" published in 1916:
No man ought to look a given horse in the
mouth.
Two heads are better than one.
Beggars should be no choosers.
Rome was not built in one day
New broom swepth cleene.
No fire without some smoke.
Leape out of the frying pan INTO the tyre.
l know on which side my bread is lattered
When give you an inch You take ell
She looketh butter will not melt in her
mouth
4 penny for your thought.
You can not soc the wood for the trees.
The gray mare is the better horse.
You might have gone further and Jared worse.
Hit the nail on the head.
"Rule the roost'' is corruption of ''rule
the roast" a genuine English proverb. 1t is
found in Gasooignes f'Stacl Glas" 1910, but
its appearance in literature is several cen
turtles earlier.
Forsooth, good sir. the lawyer leapeth in;
Nay, rather leapes both over hedge and ditch,
And rules the rost, but few men rule by right. |
The literature of the Seventeenth century |
abounds in our every Gay proverbs.
"Abbott's Account of His Trials" q620: |
A fool and his money is. soon parted
Mobiles translation of Life OF GuzrnanH |
a62S:
Make the best of bad bargain. |
As merry as the day IS long
Dead herring.
''Wycherley's Comedies n659-7D:
damn with praises-Plan Dealer |
Dreams 20 by co1trarfes
Forewarned is forearmed. - The Gentleman
Dancing Master.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
Walls have ears.-Lovs in Wood
Plain as pike state.
Fetch theri over the ec2ls.-Merry Dronery.
Congreve's Plays G6y3-l790;
Cut diamond with fia-noad-oh Bachelor.
Chip Of the old block.-LoVe for Love
turn my wife TO srass-vay Of the
World
This is perhaps the origin of our grass
widow.
Buffers "Hssiibrssn d67S:
ring the changes
Jeremy Golfers Short View of English
Stage" Q69s:
come Off with flying colo-s.
As long as there is life there Is hope.
e A. Allen in ST. Louis Republic,
There Are Exceptions.
ayes, sir" said Cally 20 Daily 1T is
,rand git 70 De able 10 hold ones tongue. /
The silent never expose themselves