The Durham Proverbs is a collection of 46 mediaeval proverbs from various sources. They were written down as a collection, in the eleventh century, on some pages (pages 43 verso to 45 verso, between a hymnal and a collection of canticles) of a manuscript that were originally left blank. The manuscript is currently in the collection of Durham Cathedral, to which it was donated in the eighteenth century. The Proverbs form the first part of the manuscript. The second part, to which it is bound, is a copy of Ælfric's Grammar (minus its glossary). Each proverb is written in both Latin and Old English, with the former preceding the latter. Olof Arngart's opinion is that the Proverbs were originally in Old English and translated to Latin, but this has since been disputed in a conference paper by T. A. Shippey (Shippey 1989).
Contents
Origin
While Richard Marsden’s introduction in The Cambridge Old English Reader discusses the essentials of the Durham Proverbs, there is still more to be learned. The Durham Proverbs are held in a manuscript that is kept in the library of Durham Cathedral, which is why they are named the “Durham” Proverbs. The original home of the manuscript is thought most likely to have been in Canterbury. The original manuscript of the Durham Proverbs contains copies of Ælfric’s own work. Several of the proverbs also appear in later works of the thirteenth-century. Considering the repetition of their use, during later times and in future works, stresses their importance from the eleventh-century society. For every one of the Durham Proverbs, there is a Latin version. The commonalities between the Latin version of the proverbs and the Old English version, in more than one manuscript, suggest that there was a common source from which the Durham Proverbs were created in Old English from Latin.
Background and history
The Durham Proverbs are considered to have been used to document everyday business of the people of Anglo-Saxon England. The proverbs were used in monastic schools to teach text along with other manuscripts such as the Disticha Catonis (also known as the “Dicts of Cato”) and a Middle English collection titled the Proverbs of Hendyng. Several of the proverbs have parallels within other proverbs listed below, as well as the Old English Disticha Catonis and the Proverbs of Hendyng. Despite their use, the source of these proverbs is largely debated and still considered unknown.
Olof Arngart’s notes on the Durham Proverbs say that some of the proverbs have a biblical reference. The book of Proverbs in the Bible resembles the Durham Proverbs by providing teachings on morals for a society of its time. Interestingly, the “Dicts of Cato” were also influenced by the Durham Proverbs, which in turn, influenced Christianity. The first of the Durham Proverbs can even be seen in the Dict of Cato 23.
Purpose
The Durham Proverbs comprise a mixture of true proverbs and maxims, and are clearer in this regard, according to linguist and Anglo-Saxon anthropologist Nigel Barley (Barley 1972), than the collection of Old English poems entitled the Maxims are — the latter's status being comparatively unclear. According to the Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages a maxim is a short statement that (as Laingui puts it) “sets out a general principle”, that briefly expounds a liturgical, legal, moral, or political rule as a short mnemonic device. The Durham Proverbs are called proverbs because the collection has what Marsden calls “transferability” to man.
The Durham Proverbs are not as serious as some of the Old English maxims and can even be considered humorous in some areas. The proverbs are similar to fables or parables seen in Modern English. Each proverb has a lesson to teach, as do the fables and parables. It is important to note the proverbs’ resemblance to Old English poetry. Using alliteration and rhythm, the proverbs show some of the earliest uses of words and phrases, such as “cwæþ se (þe)” which translates to “quoth he who”, and is later seen in more Middle English sources. In addition to their importance of gaining knowledge of the Old English history, the proverbs include many words that are not seen anywhere else in Old English writings. Arngart suggests that the study of the proverbs “furnishes insights into contemporary folklore and social life”.
The proverbs themselves
The proverbs have their roots in gnomic poetry, and show a relationship in some places to the Disticha Catonis and other works of the surviving Anglo-Saxon corpus. The Old English versions are sometimes (but not always) alliterative, or in verse form, and employ the same formulae with "sceal" and "byþ" as other works do. However, they have a distinctive flavour of their own, one outstanding characteristic of which is the humorous expression that they embody (as in number 11, for example) — a quality that is lacking in the gnomes. A yet more distinctive feature is how often the proverbs echo the verse of other works, such as the echo of The Wanderer in number 23.
Below are the first 25 Durham Proverbs:
Geþyld byð middes ēades.Frēond dēah feor ge nēah: byð near nyttra.Æt þearfe mann sceal freonda cunnian.Nafað ǣnigmann frēonda tō feala.Beforan his frēonde biddeþ, sē þe his wǣdel mǣneþ.Gōd gēr byþ þonne se hund þām hrefne gyfeð.Oft on sōtigum bylige searowa licgað.Hwīlum æfter medo menn mǣst geþyrsteð.Æfter leofan menn langað swīðost.Nū hit ys on swīnes dōme, cwæð se ceorl sæt on eoferes hricge.Ne swā þēah trēowde þēah þū teala ēode, cwæþ sē þe geseah hægtessan æfter hēafde geongan.Eall on mūðe þæt on mōde.Gemǣne sceal māga feoh.Man dēþ swā hē byþ þonne hē mōt swā hē wile.Ne saga sagan, cwæð sē gesēah hwer fulne hēalena sēoþan.Eaðe wīs man mæg witan spell and ēac secgan.Blind byþ bām ēagum, sē þe brēostum ne starat.Ðā ne sacað þe ætsamne ne bēoð.Ne dēah eall sōþ āsǣd ne eall sār ætwiten.Gyf þū well sprece, wyrc æfter swā. Earh mæg þæt an þæt he him ondræde.Nē sceal man tō ǣr forht nē tō ǣr fægen. Hwon gelpeð se þe wide siþað.