ABSTRACT

In his Second Frutes (1591), John Florio remarks that proverbs are the ‘pith, the proprieties, the proofes, the purities, the elegancies, as the commonest so the commendablest phrases of a language’ (sig *2r). As Erasmus comments, however, it is one thing to praise the proverb and another to define it (Intro to Adagia 1536, pub in Opera omnia 1540). His own tentative definition uses the triad of parts in medieval logic: ‘A saying [the genus] in popular use [the species or differentia] remarkable for some shrewd and novel turn [the particular characteristic, in Erasmus’ words].’ As such, proverbs are to be distinguished from aphorisms (sententiae), fables (ainoi), quick witty sayings (apophthegmata), and facetious remarks (skômmata).