Animal proverbs

Abstract

Proverbs exist in a plethora of languages to express worldly wisdom, frequently in a metaphorical way. A number of proverbs are documented in more than one language since speakers adopt them from cultures they have been in contact with. The focus of the present study is on animal proverbs in English which have a foreign equivalent in another language, such as French, Latin, Greek, Japanese or Arabic. The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (henceforth referred to as the ODP ), edited by Jennifer Speake in 2015, is a valuable source for collecting the variety of animal proverbs which have become established in English over time.