Five lines below John Heywood's mention of our famous grey feline, this phrase jumped out at us:
"No man ought to look a given horse in the mouth."
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| Photo courtesy EPLEFPA Perpignan Roussillon via Creative Commons 3.0 |
"Ah-hah!" we thought. "We just found the origin of another saying!" Boy, were we wrong.
But hey, we were only off by about, uhh...let's see...1,100 years, give or take.
Saint Jerome, circa 420 CE, wrote in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians,
"Noli...ut vulgare proverbium est, equi dentes inspicere donati"
"Do not, as the common proverb says, look at the teeth of a gift horse."
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Sources:
Wikipedia
Phrases.org.uk
Grammarphobia
A Practical Guide to Lexicography, Piet van Sturkenberg, John Benjamins Publishing, 2003. Page 100.
Have a tremendous Thursday and Happy Halloween to all your family. Hope it is a spectacularly good spooky one.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes Molly
You know, many dogs look really cute when smiling. Me for example! But I am not so sure about horses.
ReplyDeleteToodle pip!
Bertie.
In Sweden we say, Skåda inte en given häst i munnen :)
ReplyDeleteWe knew that! But then again, we do have two horses in our family!
ReplyDeletePurrs,
The Chans
Hi Chans! We figured you guys probably knew this :-)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I know that one BOL Have a super SPOOKY Halloween xxoxx
ReplyDeleteMollie and Alfie
Happy Halloween to some of my favorite kitty friends!
ReplyDeleteYour pal, Angel Pip
Hey, we actually knew that one! Go figure! :)
ReplyDeleteMeow nice
ReplyDeleteI have to jump to last week and check that one
Research leads you to all kinds of interesting things ;)
ReplyDeleteBe sure to get some treats tonight!
Happy Halloween !
Tillie and Georgia,
Treasure,Tiger, JJ and Julie
I guess the true ones endure Happy Howl-O-Ween!
ReplyDeleteHee I am sure that saying would have been very useful to the Trojans. I always wondered about that gift horse.
ReplyDeleteAnd we know WHY! You stick yer face into a horse's mouth and it might bite yer NOSE off...
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, a horse BUYER examines a horses teef to learn its age and health to see if it is worth the price. So examining a GIFT horse in the mouf would be like getting a present from a friend and whipping out a Consumer Reports magazine to look up the rating and price!
And about the Trojans, "Beware of gifts bearing Greeks". ;)
Ha ha - that's a good one. Who would have ever thought that old saying went back that far.
ReplyDeleteWow, looks like this one wasn't too difficult to trace. The horse, however, makes the post. So funny showing all those teeth. Purrs and hugs, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
ReplyDelete